Page 7 - Fall 2019

A SINGULAR EMPHASIS Contributors

Bradley W. Johnson Architecture magazines often devote considerable space to Steven K. Dickens, AIA, LEED AP
championing suburban and exurban single-family houses.
(“Institutional Investments” and
Architectural Record’s annual Record Houses issue, for example, tends
“Private; First-Class”), is senior associate
to focus mostly on large, detached, single-family houses located outside
with Eric Colbert & Associates.
urban centers. They are beautiful objects in a landscape. And while
some single-family design is truly path-breaking (see pages 64-87)
Louis Duva (“Commercial Interests”)
for recent award-winning examples by DC-area architects), this
serves as the communications
housing format is on its way out.
The emphasis in some of these magazines on these singular coordinator at AIA|DC.
objects risks sending several unfortunate messages about residential
architecture and residential architects, among them that living Deane Madsen, Assoc. AIA (“Urban
outside a city is better than urban life, that bigger houses are inherently better than smaller Amenities”), is a writer and architectural
ones, that townhouses don’t pose design challenges or involve design solutions equal to photographer based in Washington, DC,
those of detached homes, and perhaps most of all, that when it comes to designing a and founder of the informal architectural
house, hiring an architect is a luxury that only the wealthy can afford. Indeed, in this era appreciation society Brutalist DC.
of growing debate over income and wealth inequality, the parade of these homes risks
making the architectural profession look not just tin-eared, but dangerously out of touch.
G. Martin Moeller, Jr., Assoc. AIA
(“Midtown Funk” and “Washington at
Welcome! Home”), is an independent curator and
writer, as well as senior curator at the
National Building Museum. He is the

Whatever their merits, single-family residences outside the city represent only a editor of ARCHITECTUREDC.
Ronald O’Rourke (“Strength in
fraction of the residential architectural market, and one whose share is declining, in part Numbers” and “Properly Cited”) is a
because the demographics that once supported single-family-only suburbs just aren’t regular contributor to ARCHITECTUREDC.
there anymore. A Brookings Institution study estimates that there is currently a gap of
His father, Jack O’Rourke, was an
20% to 35% between the demand for walkable urban living choices and the supply of
architect in San Francisco for more
such residences, while a study by the University of Utah shows that there is a nationwide
than four decades.
shortage of three million small-lot and attached-housing units. Census data, moreover,
show that nearly 30% of the nation’s households are single-person households (and the
percentage in Washington is even higher). By 2025—only six years from now—the Census Jurors for 2019
estimates, 75% to 85% percent of households will be without children. AIA|DC Awards
A recent design competition in Chicago called Disruptive Design challenged architects Programs
to submit ideas for affordable owner-occupied homes that included a wealth-building
component, such as a rentable unit or a live/work space. The winning two-story design,
by Chicago architect Greg Tamborino, AIA, allows the property to morph as family Chapter Design Awards
dynamics change. As a young couple, the owners might want two flats, one for living and • Barbara A. Campagna, FAIA, LEED AP,
one that earns income. As the family grows, the owners might recapture that rented Barbara A. Campagna/Architecture
space. And as the owners age, they might enjoy one-floor living again with some rental + Planning, PLLC; Buffalo, NY
income. It’s a single design that offers different options to meet changing needs. The • Michael Gabellini, FAIA, Gabellini
house of the future might not be a house in the conventional sense at all. Sheppard Associates, New York, NY
In this issue, which presents this year’s collection of award-winning projects of • Dina Griffin, FAIA, NOMA, IIDA,
various types as selected in juried competitions, the residential award winners include Interactive Design Architects; Chicago, IL
not only single-family homes outside the city, but other types of housing projects as well, • James E. Richärd, AIA,
including townhouses, rental apartment and condominium buildings, co-living houses, richärd+bauer; Phoenix, AZ
and a building that provides short-term transitional housing for homeless families. • Andrew West, AIA,
Residential architecture has many branches, and it is gratifying to see that the jurors Elkus Manfredi Architects; Boston, MA
reflected that in their deliberations.
We hope you enjoy this annual awards issue. As always, we appreciate your comments, Washingtonian Residential
so please feel free to drop me a line. Design Awards
• Richard Buchanan, AIA,
Archer Buchanan; West Chester, PA
Mary Fitch, AICP, Hon. AIA • Anne Fougeron, FAIA,
Publisher Fougeron Architecture; San Francisco, CA
mfitch@aiadc.com • David Leven, AIA,
@marycfitch LevenBetts; New York, NY

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