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Award - Honor

Project - George Mason University Founders Hall

Category - Institutional Architecture

Project Location - 3351 Fairfax Drive, Arlington, Virginia 22201

Architects - SmithGroup

Associated Architects -

Owner/Developer - George Mason University

Contractor - Manhattan Construction Company

Photographer(s) - Maxwell MacKenzie Architectural Photographer

Jury Comments - This project takes a large, complicated program and develops a project that’s extremely strong urbanistically while also creating a clear public face for the campus. Very well done. It had great site innovation and we were also impressed by the way the building broke down the scale. It’s not one monolithic building but it breaks down into several parts. Overall, it’s a very handsome building. The composition of the front façade of the building was very successful where it breaks down the scale into smaller elements that are proportionally more acceptable for the overwhelming mass and then the transparency at the base of the building. The façade that presents the Fairfax Drive takes a campus that lacks identity and gives it a major building that gives this part of Arlington, Virginia a campus identity along an important street.