ACADIA Awards of Excellence
Inaugurated in 1998, the ACADIA Awards of Excellence represent recognition, by colleagues worldwide, of consistent contributions and impact on the field of architectural computing. Through 2005, awards were given in three categories: Teaching, Service, and Research. In 2006 an award was added in Emerging Digital Practice and the prior three were renamed as Teaching Excellence, Innovative Research, and Society. In 2007, an additional award for an innovative academic program was added to recognize individual or collective efforts in the establishment of an innovative academic program that contributes to the education of students in the field of digital design. At most one award is presented each year in each category, to an individual or academic program that, in the eyes of the review committee, exhibits "evidence of exceptional and innovative achievement."
ACADIA Award Categories
ACADIA Digital Practice Award of Excellence
This award recognizes creative design work that advances the discipline of architecture through development and use of digital media.
ACADIA Innovative Research Award of Excellence
This award recognizes innovative research that contributes to the field of digital design in architecture. The award distinguishes research with the potential to transform contemporary architecture.
ACADIA Innovative Academic Program Award of Excellence
This award recognizes an innovative academic program that contributes to the education of students in the field of digital design. The award distinguishes one or more individuals responsible for the establishment, success, growth, or management of the academic program.
ACADIA Teaching Award of Excellence
This award recognizes innovative teaching in the field of digital design in architecture. Teaching approaches that can be adopted by other educators are recognized in particular.
ACADIA Society Award for Leadership
This award recognizes extraordinary contributions and service to the ACADIA community.
ACADIA Award Winners
ACADIA Teaching Award of Excellence
Mónica Ponce de León
Dean
Princeton University School of Architecture (link)
Bio:
Mónica Ponce de León, AIA, is a Venezuelan American architect, educator, and dean of the Princeton University School of Architecture. A National Design Award winner, and recently inducted into the National Academy, Ponce de León is widely recognized as a pioneer in the application of robotic technology to architecture, both in her practice and in academia. She is the founding principal of Monica Ponce de Leon Studio (MPdL Studio) located in New York, Boston, and Ann Arbor. Her studio’s ongoing work ranges in scale from furniture to architecture, urban design and infrastructure, with a focus on design integration, craft, detailing, and precision.
A dedicated educator, Ponce de León was previously a professor and director of the Digital Lab at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design (1996–2008) where she was one of the first researchers who investigated the use of robotics in fabrication for buildings. She then served as dean of University of Michigan’s Taubman College (2008–2015) where she developed a state of the art student-run digital fabrication lab, integrating digital fabrication into the curriculum of the school. Largely due to Ponce de León’s pioneering work, the use of digital tools is now commonplace in architecture schools across the country.
ACADIA Digital Practice Award of Excellence
Jenny Wu and Dwayne Oyler
Partners
Oyler Wu Collaborative (link)
Bio:
Dwayne Oyler and Jenny Wu established the architecture and design firm of Oyler Wu Collaborative in Los Angeles in 2004. The firm is recognized for its experimentation in design, material research, and fabrication, and was the winner of 2013 Design Vanguard Award from Architectural Record and 2017 The J. Irwin and Xenia S. Miller Prize recipient.
Their recent completed projects include the competition winning project, The Exchange, for Exhibit Columbus, a 3D printing Culinary Lab in Los Angeles for 3D Systems, and The Monarch Tower, a 16 story residential high rise in Taipei, Taiwan. The office was recently selected by the City of Los Angeles to design the LA River Bikeway and Greenway project, a large scale public project for the City of LA. The office has won numerous awards, including the 2013 Emerging Talent Award from AIA California Council, 2012 Presidential Honor Award for Emerging Practice from AIA LA, Taiwan’s ADA Award for Emerging Architect, and 2011 Emerging Voices Award from the Architectural League in New York.
Their book, Pendulum Plane, was published in 2009 by the Los Angeles Forum for Architecture and Urban Design, and a recent book entitled, Trilogy: SCI-Arc Pavilions, was published by SCI-Arc Press. Both partners are members of the design faculty at the Southern California Institute of Architecture and Harvard GSD. They have previously taught at various other institutions such as Syracuse University and Columbia GSAPP.
ACADIA Innovative Academic Program Award of Excellence
Institute of Advanced Architecture Catalonia (link)
Areti Markopoulou
Academic Director
Info:
The Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia is the centre of research, education, production and outreach. Based in Barcelona, Spain, the IAAC has the mission of envisioning the future habitat of our society and building it within the present. The IAAC follows the digital revolution at all scales, from bits to geography, from micro-controllers to cities, from materials to the territory, in order to expand the boundaries of architecture and design and to also meet the challenges that are now faced by humanity. The Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia is an experimental and experiential centre where one learns by doing, through a test of methodology that promotes real solutions.
Professor Areti Markopoulou, Academic Director and leader of the Advanced Architecture Group will be accepting the award on behalf of IAAC at the ACADIA conference.
ACADIA Innovative Research Award of Excellence
Madeline Gannon
Researcher
NVIDIA Robotics (link)
Bio:
Madeline Gannon is a multidisciplinary designer inventing better ways to communicate with machines. In her research, Gannon seeks to blend knowledge from design, robotics, and human-computer interaction to innovate at the intersection of art and technology. Her work has been internationally exhibited at leading cultural institutions, published at ACM conferences, and widely covered by diverse media outlets across design, art, and technology communities. Her interactive installation, Mimus, was awarded an Ars Electronica STARTS Prize Honorable Mention in 2017, and she was also named a 2017 World Economic Forum Cultural Leader. Gannon holds a PhD in Computational Design from Carnegie Mellon University, where she explored human-centered interfaces for autonomous fabrication machines. She also holds a Masters in Architecture from Florida International University.
ACADIA Society Award for Leadership
Sigrid Brell-Cokcan & Johannes Braumann
Founders
Association for Robots in Architecture (link)
Bio:
Sigrid Brell-Cokcan and Johannes Braumann founded the Association for Robots in Architecture in 2010 with the goal of making industrial robots accessible to the creative industry. Towards that goal, the Association is developing innovative software tools such as KUKA|prc (parametric robot control) and initialized the Rob|Arch conference series on robotic fabrication in architecture, art, and design which –following Vienna in 2012, Ann Arbor in 2014, and Sydney in 2016 – will be held 2018 in Zurich. Robots in Architecture is a KUKA System Partner and has been validated as a research institution by national and international research agencies such as the European Union’s FP7 program. Just recently, Sigrid founded the new chair for Individualized Production in Architecture at RWTH Aachen University. After founding the new Topic Group on Construction Robotics and the Springer Journal on Construction Robotics in 2018 Sigrid has been elected to serve the board of directors of euRobotics AISBL, an international non-profit association for all stakeholders in European robotics. Johannes is heading the department for Creative Robotics at UfG Linz and leading the development of KUKA|prc. Their work has been widely published in peer reviewed scientific journals, international proceedings, and books, as well as being featured in formats such as Wired, Gizmodo, Süddeutsche Zeitung, and RBR.