2018 Design Awards

Welcome to the 2018 Design Awards!

The East Tennessee Chapter of the American Institute of Architects held its annual Design Awards Gala on Saturday, April 14, at the Knoxville Botanical Gardens and Arboretum’s Dogwood Center.  A record number 40 submissions were received for the Design Competition, which had the event charged with energy to see who had won.  In the end, ten projects were recognized by the jury, chaired this year by Steven D. Schuster, FAIA, of Clearscapes Architecture in Raleigh, NC.  Additionally, both the Friend of Architecture Award and Gold Award were given.

Presidential Citations were given by President Richard A. Foster, AIA, recognizing service and volunteerism to members with long histories of service to the association.  Those included Brian Pierce, for his years of contribution to the Board of Directors, the State AIA and the AIA Golf Tournament; David Collins and Kevin Diegel for their years of dedication to the AIA Golf Tournament; Scott Busby and Eric Bowen for their leadership with the AIA Volleyball League and Peter Osickey for his championing of Design Slam for the past five years.  

Retired West Valley Middle School Art teacher Suzanne Wedekind was presented the Friend of Architecture Award, the Chapter’s highest honor for a non-architect.  Suzanne has long-championed programs (Knoxville Bound, Barkitecture, Go To 2033, and AIA Think!) that meld art, architecture and planning.  Go To 2033 was given a national Award of Merit for K-12 Architectural Education by the American Architectural Foundation in 2005.  Ms. Wedekind continues to work with the Chapter’s K-12 Outreach Committee.

John Sanders, FAIA, was recognized for his recent elevation to AIA’s College of Fellows.  

Mark Schimmenti, FAAR, Professor Emeritus of the University of Tennessee College of Architecture + Design, was presented with the Gold Medal Award, the Chapter’s highest honor for an architect.  Professor Schimmenti was the inspiration for several downtown developers to save the older buildings of Knoxville, and he was instrumental in starting Nashville’s Downtown Design Center.  

In the Design Competition, popular vote awards were given to Michael Brady, Inc. for the Lenoir City Utilities Board Administration and Operations Building (People’s Choice Award) and to Chad Boetger for the residence he designed for his family (Chapter Choice Award).  In the juried competition, the awards were as follows:

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Honor Awards

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Merit Awards

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Citation Awards

Design Jury Info

Jury Chair – Steve Schuster, FAIA
Ellen Cassilly, FAIA
David Hill, AIA
Roberta Fox, RA, RLA

Sponsors