The Board of Directors and the Strategic Council of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) voted for Snow Kreilich Architects to receive the 2018 AIA Architecture Firm Award. The AIA Architecture Firm Award, given annually, is the highest honor the AIA bestows on an architecture firm and recognizes a practice that consistently has produced distinguished architecture for at least 10 years. Snow Kreilich Architects will be honored at the AIA Conference on Architecture 2018 in New York City.
Julie Snow, FAIA, founded the firm in Minneapolis in 1995, and later was joined by partner Matt Kreilich, AIA. Snow Kreilich’s practice benefits greatly from the diversity and background of its studio members. Eschewing the demographic norms of many firms, 50 percent of the staff consists of women and minorities, strengthening the culture through holistic collaboration.
All of Snow Kreilich's work springs from the idea that architecture can transform the human experience. Two of the firm's most famous projects — ports of entry for the U.S. Department of Customs and Border Protection in Maine and Minnesota — embody that idea perfectly. Together, the forms of the buildings — the first welcome to America for tens of thousands per year — are about border security as much as they are about a progressive vision for architecture. Their warm materials and glowing interiors project an embracing welcome to all and quietly, but confidently, state that this is a country of bold design solutions.
“This is an architecture of use and convenience, permanence, and beauty, deeply rooted to its place, and constructed of materials choreographed in an emotive way, with poetic qualities that move us deeply,” Marlon Blackwell, FAIA, wrote in a letter supporting Snow Kreilich Architects’ nomination for the Architecture Firm Award. “Their body of work is distinguished by a restrained formal elegance and a refined minimal tectonic sensibility while avoiding the nostalgic and technological excesses of our discipline. Indeed, they see architecture as a material practice and a cultural act born of a sensual pragmatism.”
The Minneapolis firm is also highly regarded for its other building types, from ballparks to single family homes, that each in its own way accomplishes the same mission of elevating the experience of its users. Much of that is done by exercising restraint, eliminating indulgent flourishes in favor of straightforward forms that speak about material richness and tectonic refinement.
Across the Mississippi River in a Minneapolis warehouse district, the firm's 2014 Brunsfield North Loop Apartment uses metal cladding and angular balconies that jut from the facade to set the building apart from its neighbors as the hippest offering in a hot rental market.
Giving back to the communities of Minnesota and the profession are key initiatives beyond design excellence, and many studio members are involved in local architecture schools. In 2017, the firm provided $120,000 in pro bono services to outlets such as the Kibera Girls Soccer Academy in Kenya and the Leatherback Trust in Costa Rica. By shelving the idea of all-night charrettes and promoting a healthy work/life balance, Snow Kreilich has proven that important and award-winning architecture can be conceived during regular business hours.
Other notable projects include:
CHS Field
This project in St. Paul, Minn., was named the best New Ballpark of 2015 by Ballpark Digest. The facility is not only a beautiful venue to watch a baseball game or concert, but also has attracted major investments in housing and restaurants in the neighborhood.
B + W HOUSE
The design replicates the neighborhood’s residential pattern while creating an affordable, sustainable home. A concrete wall encloses the perimeter of the private spaces at grade. The wall is a cast-in-place concrete system with a 4-inch high performance insulation core, providing a cost-effective, energy-efficient, and durable enclosure.
KNOCK INC.
The renovation of a neglected 1960’s food distribution center on the edge of downtown Minneapolis into the new workplace for the creative innovators at KNOCK Inc. Daylight penetrates the space with expanded window openings, floor-to-ceiling glazed office walls, and more than 25 solar light tubes enhancing the work environment and reducing energy consumption. Healthy and local building materials such as reclaimed walnut enhance the workday.
Snow Kreilich Architects is the 55th AIA Architecture Firm Award recipient. Previous recipients of the AIA Firm Award include Leddy Maytum Stacy Architects (2017), LMN Architects (2016), Ehrlich Architects (2015), Eskew + Dumez + Ripple (2014), Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects (2013), VJAA (2012), Lake| Flato (2004), Gensler (2000), Perkins & Will (1999), Bohlin Cywinski Jackson (1994), and Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (1962).
Related Stories
| Jul 12, 2013
12 award-winning healthcare projects [slideshow]
AIA's Academy of Architecture for Health announced the recipients of the 2013 AIA National Healthcare Design Awards.
| Jul 11, 2013
Bill to borrow more for college spending in Michigan criticized due to ‘higher-ed bubble’
An amendment to a Michigan appropriations budget authorizes an increase in state debt to pay for state university construction projects. But some experts see a “higher education bubble” on the horizon, and said more taxpayer debt for more buildings is a bad idea.
| Jul 11, 2013
Skanska exits U.S. Chamber of Commerce over LEED controversy
Skanska USA resigned from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce over the Chamber’s decision to support the American High-Performance Buildings Coalition.
| Jul 11, 2013
DOE releases stricter energy efficiency standards for new federal buildings taking effect in 2014
The Energy Department released stricter energy efficiency standards this month for new federal buildings.
| Jul 11, 2013
Pennsylvania legislators work on bill to update demolition codes following fatal building collapse
Pennsylvania lawmakers are working on a bill to update demolition codes, in the wake of a fatal building collapse in Philadelphia in June.
| Jul 11, 2013
Lawsuit challenges modular apartment project in New York City
A plan to build pre-fab apartment buildings at Atlantic Yards in Brooklyn, N.Y., has been challenged by a lawsuit filed by the Plumbing Foundation in Manhattan Supreme Court.
| Jul 10, 2013
SmithGroupJJR hires Don Posson as Co-director of Sustainable Design
SmithGroupJJR has hired veteran mechanical engineer Don Posson, PE, CCP, CPD, LEED AP, as the firm’s co-director of sustainable design.
| Jul 10, 2013
World's best new skyscrapers [slideshow]
The Bow in Calgary and CCTV Headquarters in Beijing are among the world's best new high-rise projects, according to the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat.
| Jul 10, 2013
TED talk: Architect Michael Green on why we should build tomorrow's skyscrapers out of wood
In a newly posted TED talk, wood skyscraper expert Michael Green makes the case for building the next-generation of mid- and high-rise buildings out of wood.
| Jul 9, 2013
Where are they now? 40 Under 40 alumni make their mark in D.C.
Every month we’ll be touching base with past 40 Under 40 honorees to see what’s been happening in their professional and personal lives since winning the award. This month, we feature two outstanding professionals: HKS's Shannon Kraus and Roger Chang from Westlake Reed Leskosky.
