2023 AIA Idaho Honors and Awards

AIA Idaho Design Awards Committee invites all licensed AIA Idaho Chapter members to submit recently completed works forreview by a jury composed of a distinguished group of Architects.

Awards are an expression of recognition for superior performance, but they are also an important educational tool. These awards give us a chance to focus our attention on Idaho’s broad range of Architectural activity. By highlighting exemplary Architectural work from the diverse regions of the state, we hope to inform and elevate the general quality of Architectural practice and establish a standard of excellence against which all Architects can measure their performance. In addition, these awards will help provide for us a forum for addressing a public audience, giving concrete examples of design excellence and thereby increasing awareness of the benefits of good Architectural design.

"The jury evaluates entries based on how successfully projects have met their individual requirements. Entries are judged individually—not in competition with each other. All projects must demonstrate design achievement, including a sense of place and purpose, of ecology and environmental sustainability, and of history.”

Eligibility Criteria

·  Projects are eligible for three consecutive honor award cycles and must have been completed by 2017.

·  The Architect submitting for the Idaho Honor Awards must reside in the state, be licensed in the state, be a member of the Idaho Chapter of the AIA and be the lead designer of the submitted project. Lead designer means the Idaho firm is the primary author of the concepts and features unique to the design, including aesthetics.

·  Project does not need to be located in the State of Idaho.

·  Projects previously honored by an award in this program are not eligible for entry.

·  Projects submitted for an Honor Award may also be submitted for Energy / Sustainability Award, Best Use of Wood Award and Best Use of Steel Award if entered separately for those awards. 

·  Project types/categories shown below should be listed in the submission and will be mentioned in the award, but the jurors will make final determination of which projects best celebrate contemporary Idaho architecture regardless of budget, size, style, or type.

Entry Categories

Commercial: Any Mixed-Use (combination of Office, Retail, or Residential type), Office, Retail, and Religious projects.

Public: Any City, County, State Agency, and Federal Government projects. Types can range from collegiate buildings of anytype, K-12 Schools of any type, Agency/Department Office and Operations Buildings, and Parks and Recreational type projects.

Single-Family Residential  

Multi-Family Residential  

Architect as Client: Architect is owner or occupant of structure.

Renovation, Adaptive Reuse and Preservation: Any residential or commercial remodeling, revitalization type projects.

Special Categories / Awards

Energy / Sustainability Design Award

AIA Idaho’s Energy / Sustainability Award is sponsored by Idaho Power Company and is meant to educate the profession and the industry about sustainability and energy efficiency issues through exceptional design practice. A winning project will tell a compelling story about teamwork, stewardship, goals, analysis, or performance within the Framework for Design Excellence. The Energy / Sustainability Award recognizes projects that exemplify the integration of design and performance. Energy / Sustainability Design  Award aims to advance design thinking and practice around climate action, health, resilience, and equity and to elevate exemplary projects from which we can all learn.

Energy / Sustainability Commercial: Any Mixed-Use (combination of Office, Retail, or Residential type), Office, Retail, and Religious projects OR any City, County, State Agency, and Federal Government projects. Types can range from collegiate buildings of any type, K-12 Schools of any type, Agency/Department Office and Operations Buildings, and Parks and Recreational type projects.

Energy / Sustainability Residential: Single-Family (low density), Multi-Family (up to duplex) OR Multi-Family (high density).

Best Use of Steel Award

Sponsored by the American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC), AIA Idaho Best Use of Steel Award recognizes outstanding achievements in engineering and architecture on steel-framed building projects or in the use of exposed structural steel. The award is among the highest honors bestowed on building projects by the structural steel industry in the U.S. and recognizes the importance of teamwork, coordination, and collaboration in fostering successful construction projects.

Best Use of Steel Commercial: Any Mixed-Use (combination of Office, Retail, or Residential type), Office, Retail, and Religious projects OR any City, County, State Agency, and Federal Government projects. Types can range from collegiate buildings of any type, K-12 Schools of any type, Agency/Department Office and Operations Buildings, and Parks and Recreational type projects.

Best Use of Steel Residential: Single-Family (low density), Multi-Family (up to duplex) OR Multi-Family (high density).

Best Use of Wood Award

AIA Idaho’s Best Use of Wood award is intended to showcase the use of wood products to educate the profession and theindustry about the use of Wood in exceptional design practice. A winning award will tell a compelling story about teamwork,stewardship, goals, analysis, or performance.

Best Use of Wood Commercial: Any Mixed-Use (combination of Office, Retail, or Residential type), Office, Retail, and Religious projects OR any City, County, State Agency, and Federal Government projects. Types can range from collegiate buildings of any type, K-12 Schools of any type, Agency/Department Office and Operations Buildings, and Parks and Recreational type projects.

Best Use of Wood Residential: Single-Family (low density), Multi-Family (up to duplex) OR Multi-Family (high density).

Best Use of Wood Open: A category intended to encourage designers to apply the use of Wood to other types of projectsthat do not clearly fit in Commercial or Residential such as bridges, towers, information kiosks or other open category ideas.

Submittal Requirements

Each entry in the Awards Program will be judged individually for the success with which it has met its programmatic requirements. Entries will be weighed individually and not in competition with one another. Criteria for evaluating design achievements include the demonstration of exemplary skill and sensitivity in resolution of formal, functional, and technical requirements and/or the advancement of the contemporary understanding of design, by proposing new approaches to the development of the architectural form.

Entry Process

1.  The registration link will go live on www.aiaidaho.com on June 1, 2023.

2.  Participants must register to enter the awards and pay the submission fees online: $150.00 for the first entry and $100.00 for each additional entry; $75.00 late fee per project if received after August 1st, 2023. August 15th, 2023, 5:00 PM is the final deadline. 

3.  Upon receipt of the registration, the submittal requirements and forms will be e-mailed to you, along with the official entry number.

4.  Submit your design awards entries to: aiaidawards@gmail.com.

Please contact the AIA Idaho office or the Honor Awards Committee at aiaidawards@gmail.com if you have any questionsregarding your submission. Good luck and we hope to see you in September for the awards gala!

Sincerely,

The Honor Awards Committee

June 1, 2023                     Submissions open

June 1-15, 2023               Submissions Support Q&A, email: aiaidawards@gmail.com

August 1, 2023.              Submission deadline

August 1 - August 15, 2023  Late submission, $75 additional fee applies

August 15, 2023             Final submission deadline. All submission form(s) and payment must be completed online by this deadline, no exceptions.

September 1, 2023        Jurors receive the submissions. 

September 29, 2023     Design Awards Conference and Gala

Save the date for the AIA Idaho Design Awards Conference and Gala on September 29th, 2023!  Special lodging rate is available for AIA Design Awards Conference at the:

Inn at 500 Capitol

500 S. Capitol Blvd

Boise, Idaho 83702

Main: 208.227.0500

Reserve rooms HERE

REGISTER HERE LINK