We are delighted to announce the winners of the 2020 Residential Design Architecture Awards. RDAA exceeded our greatest expectations and received nearly 400 entries in 11 categories of residential design. With such a large pool of entries, the competition was robust, and our judges had some very difficult decisions to make in their two long days of deliberation. Ultimately, the judges selected just 20 projects for awards, including one Project of the Year, seven Honor awards, and twelve Citation awards.
Some of the winning projects may look familiar to you, and, indeed, some have appeared previously in this magazine or have been awarded in other competitions. Previous publication or award status were not disqualifications for entry into this program. Residential projects completed after January 1, 2015 were eligible for entry. It was our goal that all good work be considered on its own merits in this competition, mano a mano.
Serving on this year’s judges panel were six accomplished architects with deep expertise in residential architecture: Heidi Richardson, Richardson Pribuss Architects; Brad Lynch, Brininstool+Lynch; Grant Marani, AIA, Robert A.M. Stern Architects; Brian Johnsen, FAIA, Johnsen Schmaling Architects; Richard Williams, FAIA, Richard Williams Architects; and Michael Frederick, AIA, Frederick+Frederick Architects. They gathered in person in Chicago, just as the COVID-19 pandemic threatened to shut down all travel across the country. Shortly upon our return to various locations east, west, north, and south, we each packed up our offices and decamped to our homes to shelter in place.
Never has the idea of home and the primal necessity of shelter loomed so large in the public’s consciousness. No doubt everyone has a renewed appreciation for the form and function of their dwellings and a freshly discerning eye to its flaws and shortcomings. Myriad plans are hatching for how our homesteads may be improved upon when this plague abates. We design lovers hope that will lead to even more great opportunities for residential architects in the near future.
Residential Design had intended to honor our award winners during the American Institute of Architects Conference on Architecture in Los Angeles this month. The conference was first postponed and then cancelled. We will celebrate this year’s winners along with those from RDAA 2021 at the next AIA national conference, when we hope the world may have regained some of its reassuring routines.
Although we created 11 categories of entry in the competition, we gave our jury wide latitude to eliminate whichever ones they felt were less strong than others and to assign entries to ones that better played to their strengths. Categories the judges eliminated for this competition include: Architectural Details; Custom Outdoor Living Design; and Custom on the Boards. Additionally, due to a publication rights issue, there is no winner in the Custom Period, Contextual, or Vernacular House category. We hope to see strong entries and strong winners in those and other categories next year.
Full editorial coverage of the winning projects will appear in the next print edition of Residential Design and online following the issue’s publication. Start thinking now of what you’d like to enter next year!
Project of the Year
Addition to the Stretto House
Dallas, Texas
Architect: Max Levy Architect
Custom Rural or Vacation House
Honor Award
Whidbey Farm
Freeland, Washington
Architect: mwworks
Honor Award
Smith Residence
Kingsburg, Nova Scotia
Architect: MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple Architects
Honor Award
Michigan Lake House
Leelanau, Michigan
Architect: Desai Chia Architecture
Honor Award
Pennsylvania Farmhouse
Lakewood, Pennsylvania
Architect: Cutler Anderson Architects
Citation Award
SkyFall Residence
The Sea Ranch, California
Architect: Turnbull Griffin Haesloop Architects
Citation Award
Horizon House
Las Vegas, Nevada
Architect: Lake|Flato Architects
Custom Urban House
Citation Award
Spectral Bridge House
Venice, California
Architect: Ehrlich Yanai Rhee Chaney Architects
Citation Award
The Sanctuary
Palo Alto, California
Architect: Feldman Architecture
Citation Award
Manifold House
Arlington, Virginia
Architect: David Jameson Architect
Citation Award
Ontario House
Washington, D.C.
Architect: David Jameson Architect
Renovation
Honor Award
Amagansett Addition and Garage
Amagansett, New York
Architect: Resolution: 4 Architecture
Citation Award
21st Century Cabin
Highland, Maryland
Architect: McInturff Architects
Custom Period, Contextual, or Vernacular Renovation
Honor Award
Morgan Phoa Library & Residence
Los Angeles, California
Architect: SPFA: architects
Citation Award
Victorian Music Box
Aspen, Colorado
Architect: CCY Architects
Residential Special Constraints
Citation Award
St. Paul Residences
St. Paul, Minnesota
Architect: Snow Kreilich Architects
Citation Award
ivrv House
Westmont, California
Architect: SCI-Arc directed by Darin Johnstone
Architectural Interiors
Honor Award
The Jewel Box
New York, New York
Architect: Messana O’Rorke
Custom Accessory Dwelling
Citation Award
Lantern Studio
Wellesley, Massachusetts
Architect: Flavin Architects
Citation Award
Alley Armor
Washington, D.C.
Architect: KUBE Architecture