11 L.A. Firms Earn Honors

Eleven Los Angeles architecture firms received honor or merit awards in the annual statewide competition sponsored by the American Institute of Architects, California Council (AIACC).

From a total of 220 entries, 11 honor and eight merit awards were selected. Five honor and six merit awards were given to L.A. firms.

Honor Awards to Los Angeles Firms Project: Showscan Prototype Theater, City Walk, Universal City, a 4,000-square-foot motion-based attraction. Architect: Ellerbe Becket Inc., Santa Monica Category: Entertainment

Project: Nicola Restaurant, Los Angeles, a 100-seat restaurant and food service operation in a Downtown high-rise building. Architect: ROTOndi, Los Angeles Category: Interior

Project: McCutchen Doyle Brown & Enersen law offices, which occupy two contiguous floors of a Downtown Los Angeles high-rise building. Architect: Keating Mann Jernigan Rottet, Los Angeles Category: Interior

Project: Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum, University of Minneapolis, Minn., overlooking the Mississippi River and the Minneapolis skyline beyond. Architect: Frank O. Gehry & Associates, Santa Monica Category: Institutional

Project: 31st House, Santa Monica, a remodel and addition to a 1930s cottage. Architect: Koning Eizenberg Architecture, Santa Monica Category: Single-Family Residential

Merit Awards to Los Angeles-Area Firms

Project: Gas Co. Tower, Los Angeles, linking the expanded Central Library and the renovated Pershing Square. Architect: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, Los Angeles Category: Corporate Office Tower

Project: Crawford Residence, Montecito, a newly built home on a two-acre ocean-view site. Architect: Morphosis Architects, Santa Monica Category: Single-Family Residential

Project: Pacific Heritage Bank, Little Tokyo, Los Angeles, in which the philosophy of the bank was reflected without direct references to traditional Japanese design. Architect: Rockefeller/Hricak Architects, Venice Category: Interior Architecture/Renovation

Project: South Coast Air Quality Management District’s Child Day Care Center, Diamond Bar, a workday home for 72 children. Architect: Aleks Istanbullu and John Kaliski, Architecture and City Design Category: Governmental/Institutional

Project: Sweet Sixteen Plaza, Santa Monica, a nondescript row of stores and restaurants reworked into a succession of architectural billboards. Architect: Kanner Architects, Los Angeles Category: Historic Preservation/Adaptive Reuse/Renovation

Project: Experimental House, Hollywood Hills, on a steep hillside site, originally considered unbuildable. Architect: Angelil/Graham Architecture, Los Angeles Category: Single-Family Residential *

The contest judges were William Turnbull Jr., FAIA, Turnbull Associates, San Francisco; Carol Ross Barney, FAIA, Ross Barney + Jankowski Inc., Chicago; Mack B. Scogin, AIA, Scogin Elam and Bray Architects Inc., Atlanta; and James L. Cutler, FAIA, James Cutler Architects, Bainbridge Island, Wash.