WITH 90+ CATEGORIES AND 300+ JURORS, THE ARCHITIZER A+AWARDS IS THE WORLD’S DEFINITIVE ARCHITECTURAL AWARDS PROGRAM. IN THE WEEKS LEADING UP TO THE EXTENDED DEADLINE, JANUARY 30, 2015, WE ARE PUBLISHING Q&AS WITH 2014 A+AWARD WINNERS. TO SEE A FULL LIST OF CATEGORIES AND LEARN MORE ABOUT THE A+AWARDS, VISIT AWARDS.ARCHITIZER.COM.
Sky Factory won the 2014 Jury Award for the Architecture+Health Care category for Luminous SkyCeiling. This innovative design feature brings nature into interior design and promotes health and relaxation.
Your name: Franca Bator, Lead Artist
Firm: The Sky Factory
Location: Fairfield, Iowa
Education: MFA, University of California at Berkeley
When did you decide that you wanted to be an architect?
As a child, I loved drawing horses and over time that led me, unknowingly, to pursue design. After earning an MFA, I interned with a small design studio in San Francisco while taking graduate courses at UC Berkeley and California College of Arts and Crafts. When I found that I could apply the aesthetics of classical fine art to graphic design, I realized that there was an unspoken confluence between the patterns and proportions found in nature and the most memorable fine art and graphic design. Incorporating nature’s universal aesthetic into the built environment is a dream job.
What was your first architecture/design job?
My first job was as assistant designer at Oceans magazine in San Francisco, a publication of the Oceanic Society. Working there helped me realize the importance of raising nature/habitat conservation awareness. It also helped me deepen my appreciation of nature as master designer and crystallized my understanding of the universal connection between design and nature.
Who is your design hero and/or what is your favorite building?
E. Fay Jones, the world-renowned architect of Thorncrown Chapel in Eureka Springs, Ark. The chapel is one of the purest examples of simple design and majestic beauty. It brings the beauty of the forested Ozark hills inside in such an effortless and organic manner that it exemplifies what architecture can be: an intersection of human ingenuity on nature’s master canvas.
Tell us something that people might not know about your winning entry:
This custom design was labor-intensive, given the shifting curve of the perimeter. The installation team had to create templates for all of the SkyTiles along the undulating perimeter. Our production team had to replicate the curvature for every SkyTile from hand-traced templates and make sure the match extended to the corresponding architectural reveals (the tile elevators). This project involved a significant amount of high-level craftsmanship as all curved SkyTiles had to be hand-cut and sanded to perfection, all within a very tight deadline.
Which juror(s) do you find most compelling and why?
I found Nadav Malin quite compelling given his influential role in shaping the best sustainable building solutions, although I still hope that LEED strives to incorporate a wider definition of sustainability, as Stephen Kellert has suggested. Building design should strive to create restorative environments, not settle for resource conservation alone. Enclosed interiors, in particular, are in dire need of solutions given their deleterious effect on people’s health, productivity, and well-being.
Among your fellow A+Award winners, what is/are your favorite(s)?
I was impressed with the Shed (Retail), located in Healdsburg, Calif., for its communal approach to commerce and neighborhood. It also has great sustainable features that make it an inspiration to future retail developments.
Outside of architecture, where do you look for inspiration?
I look for inspiration to wild, undisturbed nature. If you think about it, you realize that nature has been in the design game for literally billions of years and that our physiology was shaped by the cyclical nature of its events. We are just beginning to discover how deeply nature’s cycles and rhythms affect us and shape our emotions, our thinking, and imagination. Nature’s deepest principles are etched in every one of its daily manifestations and I feel that those elements of design that have passed the test of time intuitively resonate with us.
Who would be your dream client, and why?
Our ideal client would be a Fortune 500 company like Amazon. When a colleague of mine visited their offices, she was amazed that, despite their high-tech reputation, their employees labored out of stodgy, deep-plan buildings with little or no natural daylight. If companies like Amazon, Apple, and every other company occupying deep-plan buildings knew how incorporating Luminous SkyCeilings and Windows increases productivity and enhances staff’s well-being, they would do so today. World-class companies labor out of outdated buildings that have a measurable impact on their performance.
What do you find exciting about architecture and design right now?
I’m encouraged that there’s a stronger recognition that buildings should not isolate us from our surroundings as much as connect us to the natural environment. The biophilic design movement in particular has shown compelling insight into the importance of daylight, green spaces, and views to nature in all buildings. I think architecture may finally move away from abstract trends and embrace nature as an organic element of our living spaces.