Duke Earns National Architecture Awards
Rubenstein Arts Center design and West Campus landscape architecture are recognized
Duke Facilities Management has received national recognition for two recent projects involving landscape architecture and building design.
Excellence in Landscape Architecture for General Design
The Society for College and University Planning honored Duke with the “Excellence in Landscape Architecture – General Design” award for the “West Campus Precinct,” an 11-acre area that includes Abele Quad. The recognition is given to institutions that show how using integrated planning can produce extraordinary buildings and grounds.
The Society for College and University Planning praised the pedestrian bridge adjacent to the Brodhead Center, Crown Commons and the restoration of Abele Quad. The organization recognized the West Campus Plaza, next to the Bryan Center, with the same award in 2010.
“…it has really been transformed into a very usable and popular space . . . restored legacy . . . the space in the back is structured with different levels of bridges, plazas, and squares—but they make you want to be on all of the heights . . . I want to sit in the bridge covered zone and drink my coffee,” said the judges, according to the Society for College and University Planning award description.
Mark Hough, Duke’s university landscape architect, said transforming the space around the Brodhead Center and the Bryan Center has been a highlight of his career.
“We turned this place that had been nothing into a center for student life,” he said. “It’s now filled with these very lush and comfortable spaces where you can hang out with a big group or sit alone and do work.”
The American Architecture Award for 2018
The Rubenstein Arts Center, which opened this year, won “The American Architecture Award for 2018” from The Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture and Design. The Ruby was among 100 projects selected for the award, which honors new and cutting-edge designs in the United States.
Among the special features of the building, The Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture and Design commended The Ruby’s 200-seat von der Heyden Studio Theater, glass “Dance Cube” and 100-seat film screening room.
“We are fortunate to have a gorgeous building that supports such wide-ranging programs,” said Scott Lindroth, vice provost for the arts and professor of music. “We always begin discussions about programming in the Ruby by asking, ‘what can we do now that we couldn’t do before?’ The Ruby offers superb spaces for making and presenting dance, film and video, visual art, theater and music.”