“Commercial, Institutional, Educational and Multi-Family Residential Design” sounds like a pretty dull category.
But the American Institute of Architects found 12 projects worthy of honors this year.
Two — a full 16% — are in Westport. In fact, they’re within a few yards of each other.
Bedford Square’s Centerbrook Architects and Planners earned a citation for its “thoughtful and highly sympathetic renovation and re-adaption” of the former Westport Weston Family YMCA.
The judges noted, “it’s a multi piece development, and when you walk along the sidewalk, it’s just a remarkable improvement and investment. Westport was lucky to have selected this architect.”
Bedford Square (Photo/Nathaniel Riley)
Across Jesup Green, HMA2 Architects earned a citation too. They transformed the Westport Library from a less-than-workable building on a beautiful property into a functional and handsome space, now worthy of its setting.
Library director Bill Harmer praises HMA2’s “fine sense of design (and) keen understanding of how we were altering the space for 21st century use.”
The firm’s founder, Henry Myerberg, adds, “The design of the transformed library speaks to the extraordinary energy and participation of the Westport Library staff and community. The pandemic has not slowed them down to find new ways to make the library a special part of everyone’s life.”
The Westport Library, before coronavirus. (Photo/Aida Sulova)
Now, if only an architect could do something about the Post Road that separates these 2 award winning projects …
(Click here for the full story of AIA Connecticut Design Award winners.)
Fine architecture, just as fine planning of spaces, is so very important for the enduring beauty of a location, as well as for the contribution such efforts generate for all of us as we experience our world. Congratulations to all involved in these two, justly recognized projects.
Don Bergmann