City Of Charleston Award for Design Excellence

CHARLESTON, SC – September 28, 2011 – The City of Charleston announces the first annual presentation of “The City of Charleston Award for Design Excellence.”   These awards will be presented by the City’s Department of Planning, Preservation and Sustainability (PP&S) at an inaugural ceremony on October 19, 2011 during National Design Week.

Mayor Joseph P. Riley Jr. has authorized PP&S to:

1) encourage the highest quality of design and construction in Charleston, and

2) administer the City’s zoning, preservation and design regulations and processes.  

Mayor Riley said, “These awards are one way for us to recognize architecture and design that most exemplifies our aspirations for the future of the city.  They also recognize the most successful outcomes of City staff’s collaboration with private design and development teams.”

The awards are for new construction.  New construction may constitute completely new buildings and spaces or substantial additions to existing places.

Awards will be given in three categories:

• Public Realm projects will recognize parks, streets and other shared spaces.
• Buildings Within the Historic Districts will include buildings of any scale and style that are located within a locally designated historic district and are subject to approval by the Board of Architectural Review.
• Buildings Outside of the Historic Districts will include buildings of any scale and style that are located outside of historic districts.

Each year there are buildings and spaces designed and built in Charleston that are of great quality and contribute to the streets and neighborhoods in the city.   Although there are buildings and places that are very successful and worthy of recognition, these annual awards are reserved for places that specifically contribute to Charleston in a manner most thoroughly in keeping with the city’s high expectations for architecture and design.  The awards will honor buildings and places that the committee believes are of the highest caliber and would be recognized as such worldwide.  

Buildings that receive these awards must:

• Represent the creative placement and design of a building type relative to its frontage on a public street or other space and relative to its location in the neighborhood.
• Be of the highest quality of design and be responsive to its contextual setting.
• Be of great quality at all scales – but particularly at the more intimate, human scale of the street.
• Be designed to be durable and appropriate to the local climate.   

Public realm award winners must:
·         Result in spaces that are available to all citizens and are designed completely to complement their rural, suburban or urban location and context.

 A committee of professionals within the City staff will select the winners and host a reception to announce and honor the award recipients.  This year, the committee will look at projects that have been completed since 2000, with future awards recognizing projects completed during the previous year.

Dennis Dowd, AIA, City Architect said, “Our goal with these awards is to help clarify our expectations for new construction and design and to inspire everyone involved in creating new places to strive for design excellence.”