Since its completion in September 2008, the Toni Stabile Student Center has served as a social, study, and event space for the Journalism School. Its design has been hailed by students and staff members alike, but now the construction industry is taking interest in Columbia's center, awarding it an American Institute of Architects (AIA) Design Honor Award and an Annual Design Review Award from ARCHITECT magazine, the top award in the category "Grow," for educational, science, and healthcare projects.
Occupying approximately 8,000 square feet of previously unused exterior space between Furnald Hall and Journalism Hall, the Toni Stabile Student Center includes an accompanying café and multipurpose social hub. With its addition, students and faculty are now capable of enjoying much needed natural lighting and views through the center's glass enclosure, which can be raised to permit fresh air from its large, double-hung window.
Each year, the Institute of Architects (AIA) New York Chapter recognizes select projects and the architecture firms behind them with a Design Award. This year, there were thirty-four winning designs out of 425 entries in four categories: interiors; unbuilt work; urban design; and architecture-the category in which the Stabile Center competed against close to 200 submissions. Each winning project, granted either an "honor" or "merit" award, was chosen for its exemplary originality. The criteria used by the juries included design quality, program resolution, innovation, thoughtfulness and technique.
ARCHITECT magazine's annual Design Review Awards recognize built projects that show social and environmental awareness, as well as innovative thinking, and that represent "the best American architecture of the year." Eligible projects had to have been completed after June 30, 2008, and before June 30, 2009. The goal of the awards is to create a snapshot of a moment in time and celebrate its achievements in design. There are six categories: live, work, play, grow, move, and bond-with the intention of awarding projects in each. Altogether, the categories encompass 17 building typologies. Twenty projects out of a field of more than 200 were recognized with awards, citations, and honorable mentions.
