Trampoline park, library earn architecture awards
A branch library and an airplane hangar turned trampoline park are among the recipients of awards presented Thursday by the San Francisco chapter of the American Institute of Architects.
The honor award for the architecture category – as in new structures – went to the office building for the Community Foundation of Santa Cruz, designed by Mark Cavagnero Associates. The 30-member firm was the top award recipient overall: It received a merit award in architecture for ODC Theater in the Mission District and a merit award in interiors for Durant Hall on the UC Berkeley campus, as well as a historic preservation honor award for the East Bay Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Richmond.
Honor awards in preservation also went to Mark Horton/Architecture for the House of Air trampoline park facing Crissy Field in the Presidio, and the Golden Gate Branch Library in Pacific Heights by Paulett Taggart Architects + Tom Eliot Fisch.
San Francisco’s Pavement to Parks program, which oversees the creation of miniature “parklets” from parking spaces, received a special achievement award, with the jury calling it “innovative … a beacon of bright light.” A parklet at 46th Avenue and Noriega Street by Matarozzi Pelsinger Design + Build was cited in the architecture category.
Another special achievement award went to the Hayes Valley Neighborhood Association. The group is known for championing contemporary design rather than resisting it, as do other local groups.
Overall, just 25 awards were selected from more than 180 entries, the sign of a tough jury that included Craig Dykers of Snøhetta, the firm designing the new wing of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.
Any firm in the chapter could submit entries; designs also could be entered in the running if they are within 30 miles of downtown San Francisco.
A full list of winners is at www.aiasf.org.
John King is the San Francisco Chronicle’s urban design critic. Twitter: @johnkingsfchron. jking@sfchronicle.com
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