2007 Award Winners | 2005 Award Winners
For the inaugural 2007 John M. Clancy award program, the jurors reviewed 56 projects submitted by architects and organizations from 20 states.
Jury Comments In this, the second year of the John M. Clancy award program, we examined 30 submissions that represented projects built nationwide. We were pleased to review projects that incorporated strategies for transitional housing as well as projects meant for permanent residence. The bulk of this year's entries represented strong projects, many showing depth and breadth in both programming and design. We agreed that to be called socially responsible, a project must contribute to the community, the built and natural environment that make up its physical context, and meet the special requirements of people in need. Greatly appealing to us was evidence of a trend toward projects that provided not only mixed-income occupancy but mixed-used programming. Integrating various life-cycle activities such as shopping, dining, or healthcare visits into housing projects often enlivens an environment and creates opportunities for community engagement. We acknowledged the fundamental economic balance that allows market rate units in mixed-income settings to subsidize more affordable ones and admired those projects whose designers took care to appoint both types of unit with comparable aesthetic details and practical amenities. There were several Hope VI projects, of course, and we noted that many of them articulated similar goals. The project teams all tried to create mixed-income opportunities, though at times the task seemed challenging. Like many other design juries, we wished for more storytelling to provide geographic and social context to the submissions. It would also help understand the process of development, who implemented the process and why. This note is offered in the hope that future designers will understand the importance of presenting ideas in words as well as images. We also wished for more proof of concept, perhaps in the form of post-occupancy assessment. We found one mixed-use facility that glowed with confidence in its ability to enliven an entire neighborhood in an economically demoralized city. And we found one that startled us with its innovative use of high-density tower design in a mixed-income, mixed-age, mixed-use facility. It pushed our assumptions about how design might work under certain conditions. But these projects, as courageous and delightful as we found them, lacked a compelling design strategy. In the end, we identified five projects to honor, judging each to be an outstanding example of socially responsible housing. Their designers gracefully met many challenges whether building new structures or adapting existing buildings. In all five instances, the designers exceeded the goal to develop an aesthetically appealing project that is responsive to residents and community alike, while providing sunny, pleasant, safe residences that are affordable for all. The Jurors Sherry Ahrentzen Ph.D. (Stardust Center for Affordable Housing and the Family, Arizona State University, Phoenix) Blair Kamin (Chicago Tribune) David Parish (Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston) Geoff Wooding AIA (Goody Clancy, Boston) Contact the Boston Society of Architects with questions: 617-951-1433x225 / ewhite@architects.org |
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