SCAD Museum of Art

The SCAD Museum of Art is the recipient of the 2014 American Institute of Architects National Honor Award for Architecture, a pinnacle award for new buildings given by the AIA annually. “The AIA National Honor Award is the ultimate recognition of the SCAD Museum of Art as a cornerstone of the university, a center for learning and collaboration, and a living monument to art and design education for Savannahians, and visitors from around the world,” said Paula Wallace, SCAD president and co-founder. The Institute Honor Awards program recognizes achievements for a broad range of architectural activity to elevate the general quality of architecture practice, establish a standard of excellence against which all architects can measure performance, and inform the public of the breadth and value of architecture practice. “This award reflects both the mission of the museum and of SCAD. The building illuminates a dialogue between art and architecture, interior and landscape, preservation and urbanism. At the convergence of such crucial questions, the viewer takes part in a conversation three centuries in the making” said Christian Sottile, AIA, design architect for the building and dean of the SCAD School of Building Arts. The SCAD Museum of Art project team designers, under the leadership of SCAD include President Wallace, Senior Vice President Glenn Wallace, Sottile and Sottile, Lord Aeck & Sargent, and Dawson Architects. SCAD School of Building Arts students coalesced a transformative architectural process as part of their stimulating environment, emphasizing the importance of interdisciplinary knowledge, collaboration and progressive thinking just steps beyond the classroom. Breaking ground in 2010, the SCAD Museum of Art, the largest rehabilitation project in SCAD history, advances the university's award-winning legacy of adaptive reuse and urban revitalization. Re-opened to the public an impressive 18 months later in 2011, SCAD Museum of Art is a contemporary art and design museum conceived and designed expressly to enrich the educational milieu of SCAD students and faculty, and to attract and delight visitors from around the world. The finished museum site includes the former headquarters of the Central of Georgia Railroad, as well as the masonry ruins of a freight warehouse, both constructed in the mid-19th century. This National Historic Landmark is the only surviving antebellum railroad complex in the country. SCAD is recognized as an international leader in conserving and adaptively reusing existing buildings and historic structures, many of which provide the university with facilities that serve as living laboratories for the study of art, architecture and design. SCAD has rehabilitated more than 100 buildings in Savannah and Atlanta, Georgia; Lacoste, France; and Hong Kong into state-of-the-art facilities. The university has been recognized by UNESCO, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the American Institute of Architects and the International Downtown Association, among others, for its excellence in design and historic conservation. Architect: Sottile & Sottile and Lord Aeck & Sargent Architects, in association with Dawson Architects Christian Sottile, AIA, Joe Greco, AIA, Neil Dawson, AIA, principals Interior Designer: Paula Wallace, Glenn Wallace, SCAD Design Group Mechanical Engineer: Newcomb & Boyd Structural Engineer: W. Hunter Saussy III Electrical Engineer: Newcomb & Boyd Civil Engineer: Wolverton and Associates Geotechnical Engineer: Terracon General Contractor: Carson Skanska, LLC Landscape Architect: Sottile & Sottile, SCAD Design Group, Wolverton and Associates, The Nelson Group Lighting Designer: SCAD Design Group, Lord Aeck & Sargent, Sottile & Sottile Other consultants: Quenroe and Associates, Museum Consultant James S. Brawley Associates, Audio Acoustics & Production Technology Consultant Pentagram, interactive media table design Size in Square Feet: 82,120 square feet