The Kenneth F. Brown
Asia Pacific Culture and Architecture Design Award

Announcement of the Winner of the 2000 Kenneth F. Brown Asia-Pacific Culture and Architecture Design Award in Honolulu 

       A unique education center in Australia has been selected as this year's winner of the Kenneth F. Brown Asia-Pacific Culture and Architecture Design Award.

    Dean Raymond Yeh of the University of Hawaii School of Architecture announced the winner at a program on April 15. This year's winner is The Arthur and Yvonne Boyd Education Center in Australia.  The center is located on the Shoalhaven River near the town of Nowra on the south coast of New South Wales.  Three Australian architects, Glenn Murcutt, Wendy Lewin and Reginald Lark designed the center.  It provides living accommodations for student artists and a range of educational and creative facilities.  The center promotes environmental awareness by being self-sufficient in water collection, storage and distribution, and has its own on-site sewage and waste-water treatment service.
The Award Jury included a distinguished international panel of jurors from Egypt, Sri Lanka and the US. They based their decision on how well architecture creates a quality environment for people and contributes in a holistic way to their well being.  They say the center represents  "a mature statement of architecture that responds to and enhances the quality of the landscape.  It is a simple and poetic conception that picks up the spirit of the land and adds to the existing built and natural environment of the site.  The architects have superbly balanced a fresh crafting of the building materials, a commitment for environmental enrichment by the creation of appropriate and well-grounded buildings.  They have successfully demonstrated that good architecture draws inspiration not from a model or an image but from the constraints and opportunities of its location."
The Jury also selected four Honorable Mention Projects in South Korea, India and Singapore. To review the projects, log on to the Award web site at: http://www2.hawaii.edu/~kbda.

     The Kenneth F. Brown Asia-Pacific Culture and Architecture Design Award program is named in honor of the eminent architect, humanitarian and descendent of Hawaiian ali'i Kenneth F. Brown. It is the only regional award of its kind for culture and architecture in the Asia-Pacific region. Brown and others at the School of Architecture are trying to inspire a more culturally, socially and environmentally appropriate approach to architecture by awarding a $25,000 cash prize every two years to select buildings in Asia and the Pacific region.  This is the third time the prize has been awarded.  Organizers plan to expand the program by creating a special Chairman’s Award for the international promotion of architecture in Hawaii.

     School of Architecture Dean, Raymond Yeh, established the unique Design Awards for Asia-Pacific Architecture in 1995.  Since then, it has played a pivotal role in changing the perception of architecture. According to Yeh, "In contrast to other awards programs, it is unique in that the focus is on balancing spiritual and material aspects of design. Creating the most impressive, most efficient building is not enough.  Beyond its utilitarian and formal appeal, architecture ought to transcend the very primal relationship with people who use the building."  Yeh is concerned about the appropriateness of the architecture to the community and its natural setting which is "often and so easily forgotten in design, efficiency and cost.  Thinking beyond that is the hard part."

   Kenneth Brown believes Yeh's vision is making a difference by raising the awareness of Asia-Pacific Architecture in a field that has long been dominated by European and Western architectural influences.  Brown points out that the University of Hawaii is now "proving to be a place where multicultural dialogue about architecture occurs," thus building a bridge between East and West.  

   Design Award Chair Samia Rab says being involved in the award program over the past few years has also changed her own perception of architecture.  "What intrigued me about Kenny's vision is that he sees architecture as more than just a beautiful form, a utilitarian building or ecologically sensitive design.  What he demands from good architecture is that it connect with or enhance the spirit of the people that it serves." Dean Raymond Yeh says this philosophy "helps steer the direction" of the School of Architecture.

     This year's winners will be keynote speakers at The Fourth International Symposium on Asia-Pacific Architecture next spring at the School of Architecture. They will also participate as Visiting Design Critics for the School’s architecture studios.

(Thank you for your interest.  For more information or to arrange interviews or obtain photos, please contact:  Heidi Chang at (808) 956-3469 or e-mail: alohaheidi@hawaii.rr.com)