Iowa architecture firms were recognized at the American Institute of Architects, Iowa Chapter’s Annual Awards Celebration held recently at Mainframe Studios in Des Moines. Awards handed out and their winners include:

AIA Iowa Craft Award, Merit: Dowling Catholic Memorial Garden by RDG Planning & Design. The jury commented: “The poetry paired with the weathering of the Corten is beautiful.”

AIA Iowa Craft Award, Honor: Murmuration Public Art Installation by RDG Planning & Design. The jury commented: “The essence of this category is captured in this project. The scale of the handcrafting is well captured.”

AIA Iowa Craft Award, Honor: University of Iowa Stanley Museum of Art by Seedorff Masonry Inc. The jury commented: “The exterior is extremely well done and designed, masterful in its execution. The precision of the whole assembly is the beauty of this project as much as the brick.”

AIA Iowa Design Award Honorable Mention: MidAmerican Energy Co. Training Center for Excellence by Invision Architecture. The jury commented: “This project took a bizarre program and elevated it, making something out of nothing and creating some really nice moments of engagement.”

AIA Iowa Design Award Merit: Stanley Center for Peace and Security by Neumann Monson Architects. The jury commented: “We loved the reuse story of this project and that it wears sustainability as a badge of honor. They’ve created a whole world with different scaled spaces in this project. It’s like a little city.”

AIA Iowa Design Award Merit: Lely North America by Substance Architecture. The jury commented: “The interiors on this project really shined and brought things down to a human scale. There was clear rigor with respect to mechanical routing and how things are laid out.”

AIA Iowa Design Award Merit: Neighborhood Design Studio by Studio Melee. The jury commented: “The idea of architects championing the creativity of adaptive reuse while being both designer and contractor is admirable. We appreciated the rigor of the interior in exposing everything.”

AIA Iowa Design Award Merit: Grask Peterbilt Office Addition by OPN Architects Inc. The jury commented: “The Peterbilt screen creates an iconic image and incorporates the logo well and we loved how it evoked a sense of nostalgia of a Matchbox or Hot Wheels in a container.”

AIA Iowa Design Award Honor: The Tuesday Agency by Neumann Monson Architects. The jury commented: “This project feels like it’s in a genre of interiors that is unique and not predictable – in the thick vs. thin, slick vs. textured detailing. There is a depth of craft that is clearly well detailed and has a richness in the refined vs. raw nature of things.”

AIA Iowa Design Award Honor: University of Iowa Stanley Museum of Art by BNIM Architects. The jury commented: “This is architecture with a capital A. There is a lot to love about this project and the level of restraint. It is no way corporate and no way dull.”