Architects Pay Tribute to 11 Projects : 14th Annual Awards Program Has Its Problems--but Nothing Like the Diatribes of Last Year

Plagued by a malfunctioning sound system and the absence of two judges, the American Institute of Architects/Orange County Chapter’s 14th annual awards program Friday night at the Noguchi sculpture garden in Costa Mesa was a disjointed and tepid affair.

But the tone was vastly different from last year’s meeting, at which members were surprised by the judges’ diatribes against certain trends in Orange County architecture and by awards to parking garages.

This year, Steward Woodard, one of the five Honor Award winners, drew laughter from the 500 guests when he quipped that he “tried very hard to find a way to make my house look like a parking garage.”

No criticisms were offered by the 1989 judging panel, which bestowed awards on 11 projects. Winners were chosen from 69 submissions by 39 Orange County architectural firms.

The judges--all practicing architects-- were Judith Chafee of Tucson; Franklin David Israel of Beverly Hills; E. Fay Jones of Fayetteville, Ark., and Paul R. Neel of San Luis Obispo. Israel and Neel were unable to attend the ceremony.

Honor Awards went to:

-- The Irvine Civic Center (Klages Carter Vail/CRSS Inc., architect; the SWA Group, landscape architect), lauded for addressing “the spirit and nature of this developing community.”

-- The Woodard residence, Corona del Mar (Stewart Woodard, AIA & Associates, architect; John Hourian Landscape Architecture), “an excellent solution to building on a very small corner lot.”

-- Wilshire Courtyard, Los Angeles (McLarand, Vasquez & Partners, architect; Fong & Associates, landscape architect), “a pleasant and beautiful oasis in an area of high-rise development.”

-- CalMat Corporate Headquarters, Los Angeles (Leason Pomeroy Associates, architect; POD Inc., landscape architect), “a very elegant solution to the problem of linking two structures,” with unique use of materials and spatial relationships.

-- University Montessori School of Irvine, UC Irvine (Leason Pomeroy Associates; POD Inc.), “reminders of lessons learned about the realities of forms, light, shade and different kinds of movement.”

Awards of Merit were bestowed on the Troop Operational Training Facility Naval Amphibious Base, Coronado (Ralph Allen & Partners, architect; David S. Hayes, landscape architect); Palm Desert Dialysis Center (Knowles and La Bonte Architects Inc.; Ronald Gregory Associates, landscape architect); the UC Irvine Engineering Laboratory Faculty (Ficker & Ruffing Architects), and Volt Information Sciences Building, Orange (WZMH Architects; SWA Group Inc., landscape architect).

Honorable mention awards went to the Davis residence, Indian Wells (McLarand, Vasquez & Partners; POD Inc.) and the Woodbury University campus relocation, Los Angeles (Coleman/Caskey Architects Inc.; William Yocum, landscape architect).

Votes were solicited during a two-week period from shoppers at South Coast Plaza’s Jewel Court for the “People’s Choice” award, which went to Architects Orange for the Selman residence in Tustin Hills.