2015 + Awards

2015 was another notable year for PAYETTE – this past year, we were fortunate to be recognized with many honors for both our practice and our design. This is certainly a testament to our collaborative culture harbored in our single office, single floor studio, but also to our clients’ and their projects that continually challenge us and force us to think unconventionally.

Karen Robichaud, Communications Editor, produced the winning submission for the SMPS Digital Media Campaign award, which focuses on our digital media approach and includes the use of various forms of social media, as well as encourages everyone in the firm to have a voice. In addition to winning an award for our campaign, we won Best In-House Design for the use of materials submitted and Best in Show, as our entry was awarded best overall.

We also celebrated the win of two IIDA New England Awards, which recognize collaborative efforts required by project teams to produce excellent work. Both projects entered earned awards in their respective categories. George Washington University’s Milken Institute of Public Health received an IIDA New England Award for Best Education Design, while the Ipsen Research and Development Center received an IIDA Award for Best Research Lab. Jury comments for the School of Public Health mentioned the project had “an excellent building to start with” and jurors were intrigued by the ways the materials and finishes complemented the innovative floor plates. In regards to the Ipsen research lab, the jurors felt the project provided the best in-between places for researchers – like the kitchen and Bamboo Garden.

The recent 2015 IIDA New England Fashion Show was a huge success for PAYETTE, winning two out of five relevant design categories – People’s Choice and Best Use of Materials. Our entry for the fashion show was a fun way to challenge the methods we generally use toward more conventional architectural ends: The construction of ‘Pearl’ relied on rigorous 3D modeling, a thorough understanding of CNC Machining, a hands-on knowledge of fabrication, and an eye for accessorizing. 

PAYETTE was ranked 9th in Sustainability by The Architect 50 in 2015, which speaks to our continual commitment to sustainable design. This commitment to sustainable design is reflected in the Biosciences Research Building at the National University of Ireland at Galway, which won the I2SL Go Beyond Green Building Award this past year due to its innovative sustainable design. The building was designed for cutting-edge research in terms of functional efficiency, energy conservation and thermal comfort. This led to a “minimum energy” approach that has rarely been applied with the same rigor in US-based laboratories, and this approach provides a superior working environment with a radically lower energy profile. The building block that allows this to happen is a “layered lab” concept with a high/low energy strategy, which places the most mechanically intensive spaces such as tissue culture and imaging suites, into a zone adjacent to the open lab space. Low energy use spaces, such as writing carrels, offices and interaction spaces are grouped along the perimeter to optimize the opportunity for natural ventilation and daylighting: 45% of the floor is naturally ventilated and 80% of the floor is naturally daylit.

Duke University’s Environment Hall

Our project teams were also highly successful at the SCUP awards – winning design awards for three recent projects. Duke University’s Environment Hall, George Washington University’s Milken Institute of Public Health and the National University of Ireland at Galway’s Biosciences Research Building all earned Merit Awards in the SCUP/AIA-CAE Excellence in Architecture for a New Building award program. Two of our winning projects created a new home on campus for a school of public health and a school for the environment and the third is one of the largest research buildings in Ireland. These awards recognize excellence in planning, design and implementation efforts of firms and institutions, as well as the achievements of individuals whose lives and passions involve higher education.

Another significant win for our firm was the AIA/AAH 2015 Design Award in the unbuilt category for the Fifth XiangYa Hospital. Following an eight-week international design competition, we were selected for the planning and design of the new hospital in Changsha, China. The new 2,500-bed hospital will provide a new world class model for the delivery of healthcare in an integrated, efficient and uplifting environment.

In addition to the awards mentioned above, we were honored to receive numerous other design awards throughout the year for individual projects, including  an AIA New England Award for Best Education Design and a USGBC, National Capital Regional: Project of the Year: New Construction Award for George Washington University’s Milken Insitute of Public Health.

PAYETTE places great importance on collaboration, innovation and creativity. We continually strive for excellence while we seek to provide the best design solution possible for our clients’ and their individual needs.