Brochstein receives award for innovation

By Scott Norgaard     11/12/09 6:00pm

When it comes to design awards, the Raymond and Susan Brochstein Pavilion has received another jewel to add to its crown. The pavilion's most recent award, the Ideas2 Award from the American Institute of Steel Construction, was presented Oct. 28 to the steel designers of the structure, alumni Larry Whaley and Wally Ford (Hanszen '75).

This award is given once every three years for buildings in three cost brackets, Facilities, Engineering and Planning Project Manager Larry Vossler said. The pavilion was one of three merit award winners in the category of buildings that cost less than $15 million to construct.

Buildings competing for the award must meet a certain set of guidelines as outlined by the AISC. The award is decided by a group of professionals in the steel building and design industry. Submissions are judged based on the innovative quality of the design, exposed structural steel, construction methods, the building's usefulness, aesthetic and visual impact and the sustainability of the design.

---

---

At the award ceremony last month, Whaley and Ford were presented with the award, as were the university, Raymond and Susan Brochstein, the contractor and the architect, Thomas Phifer and Partners, Manager of Communications Susann Glenn said.

Vossler credited the building's unique design, which prominently features the steel supports, as a major factor behind its selection.

He said most buildings do not feature their structures so blatantly, and yet the pavilion does so in a transparent way.

"This is not just a building where we selected the steel members and made a box," Vossler said.

Glenn said the building's transparency was part of the goal behind its design.

"Its almost like you're not inside," she said.

Vossler said the building's social nature, in serving as a central gathering point for the Rice community, also attracted the judges.

He also said the reward recognized the multiple players who contributed to the building's construction. The construction was completed early despite excessive amounts of rain during the two months of construction in spring 2008, he said.

Still, the award may not change the mixed opinions students have about the building.

"It's cold," Brown College sophomore Sarah James said. "I feel like the only people that go there are my professors."

He said though the building has a boxlike structure, it exemplifies complexity in engineering.

"This [design] was deceptively simple and simply deceptive," Vossler said.

---