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
Mixed-Use | Jun 29, 2023
Massive work-live-play development opens in LA's new Cumulus District
VOX at Cumulus, a 14-acre work-live-play development in Los Angeles, offers 910 housing units and 100,000 sf of retail space anchored by a Whole Foods outlet. VOX, one of the largest mixed-use communities to open in the Los Angeles area, features apartments and townhomes with more than one dozen floorplans.
Office Buildings | Jun 28, 2023
When office-to-residential conversion works
The cost and design challenges involved with office-to-residential conversions can be daunting; designers need to devise creative uses to fully utilize the space.
Architects | Jun 28, 2023
CSHQA hires first CEO in company's 134-year history
The Board of Directors of CSHQA announced the appointment of Ryan D. Martin, AIA NCARB as Chief Executive Officer.
Multifamily Housing | Jun 28, 2023
Sutton Tower, an 80-story multifamily development, completes construction in Manhattan’s Midtown East
In Manhattan’s Midtown East, the construction of Sutton Tower, an 80-story residential building, has been completed. Located in the Sutton Place neighborhood, the tower offers 120 for-sale residences, with the first move-ins scheduled for this summer. The project was designed by Thomas Juul-Hansen and developed by Gamma Real Estate and JVP Management. Lendlease, the general contractor, started construction in 2018.
Architects | Jun 27, 2023
Why architects need to think like developers, with JZA Architecture's Jeff Zbikowski
Jeff Zbikowski, Principal and Founder of Los Angeles-based JZA Architecture, discusses the benefits of having a developer’s mindset when working with clients, and why architecture firms lose out when they don’t have a thorough understanding of real estate regulations and challenges.
Apartments | Jun 27, 2023
Average U.S. apartment rent reached all-time high in May, at $1,716
Multifamily rents continued to increase through the first half of 2023, despite challenges for the sector and continuing economic uncertainty. But job growth has remained robust and new households keep forming, creating apartment demand and ongoing rent growth. The average U.S. apartment rent reached an all-time high of $1,716 in May.
Apartments | Jun 27, 2023
Dallas high-rise multifamily tower is first in state to receive WELL Gold certification
HALL Arts Residences, 28-story luxury residential high-rise in the Dallas Arts District, recently became the first high-rise multifamily tower in Texas to receive WELL Gold Certification, a designation issued by the International WELL Building Institute. The HKS-designed condominium tower was designed with numerous wellness details.
University Buildings | Jun 26, 2023
Addition by subtraction: The value of open space on higher education campuses
Creating a meaningful academic and student life experience on university and college campuses does not always mean adding a new building. A new or resurrected campus quad, recreational fields, gardens, and other greenspaces can tie a campus together, writes Sean Rosebrugh, AIA, LEED AP, HMC Architects' Higher Education Practice Leader.
Standards | Jun 26, 2023
New Wi-Fi standard boosts indoor navigation, tracking accuracy in buildings
The recently released Wi-Fi standard, IEEE 802.11az enables more refined and accurate indoor location capabilities. As technology manufacturers incorporate the new standard in various devices, it will enable buildings, including malls, arenas, and stadiums, to provide new wayfinding and tracking features.
Green | Jun 26, 2023
Federal government will spend $30 million on novel green building technologies
The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA), and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) will invest $30 million from the Inflation Reduction Act to increase the sustainability of federal buildings by testing novel technologies. The vehicle for that effort, the Green Proving Ground (GPG) program, will invest in American-made technologies to help increase federal electric vehicle supply equipment, protect air quality, reduce climate pollution, and enhance building performance.