For the eighth year, Marvin Windows and Doors sponsored its competition that celebrates outstanding project designs incorporating the manufacturer’s products — otherwise known as the Marvin Architects Challenge. Results of the 2016 edition once again delivered a feast for the eyes as they were announced at the AIA expo in Philadelphia.
And the winners are …
Best in Show: Wedge House, Quebec
The architect, Malcolm Wildeboer (Vandenberg & Wildeboer Architects), paid homage to the history of this project’s site: Some 400 years ago, this area on the Ottawa River housed the winter campsite of French explorer Samuel de Champlain. The newly built vacation home is thus a tent-like, metal-clad wedge formed by 10 ascending laminated timber bends. Select walls facing the river feature floor-to-soffit windows that evoke tent screens.
Wedge House
Best Contemporary: Micro House, Huntington, Vermont
Encompassing just 430 square feet, this small home relies on its windows and doors to deliver maximum impact in the form of spectacular views of rural Vermont. Elizabeth Herrmann (ELIZABETH HERMANN Architecture + Design) incorporated a simple program of sleeping area, bathroom, kitchen, storage, dining/work area and a living space that doubles as guest quarters with a sleeping loft. The windows each feature shadow lines that subtly evoke picture frames.
Micro House
Best Transitional/Eclectic: Edgewater II, Harrisville, New Hampshire
This house already featured a gable full of glass but lacked refinement and instead had the air of a 1970s spec building. Dan Scully (Daniel V. Scully/Architects) remedied the situation, remodeling the house with new windows, trim and siding. Sliders and glass gables were replaced, for instance, with large double-hung windows characterized by muntins more appropriate for the house’s era.
Edgewater II
Best Traditional New Construction: Crane Island Retreat, Minnetrista, Minnesota
A summer destination for some Minnesotans, Crane Island is a cooler lake community of about 20 cottages dating to the early 1900s. Architect Mark Nelson (David Heide Design Studio) therefore opted to create a new house that could easily pass for 100 years old to fit in with the historic vernacular of the island.
Crane Island Retreat
Best Remodel/Addition: Prospect Residence, Providence, Rhode Island
Albert Garcia (KITE Architects) renovated this house to forge new connections between it and the vibrant center of residential and student activity of surrounding College Hill. A combination of structural modifications and new windows bring light and views deeper into the interior, while layout and entrances were revamped to improve flow as well as connections to the outdoors.
Prospect Residence
Best Commercial: Frederic C. Hamilton Math and Science Center, Millbrook, New York
Although a new construction, the Math and Science Center needed to echo the traditional tone of the boarding school campus’s existing architecture yet still perform like a modern, energy-saving building. Daniela Holt Voith (Voith & Mactavish Architects) responded by implementing Marvin’s Ultimate series and interior glass doors to flood learning spaces and offices with natural light, and pairing them with daylight sensors, efficient light fixtures and dimming ballasts.
Frederic C. Hamilton Math and Science Center
The judges of this year’s competition, who rated entries on both architectural excellence and creative use of Marvin products, included Manny Gonzales of KTGY, Ted Flato of Lake | Flato and Robert Gurney of Robert Gurney Architect.
