MASterworks Awards

The Municipal Art Society (MAS) announced winners of its annual MASterworks awards last week, honoring projects that in its words “make a significant contribution to New York’s built environment.” In the past five years, the awards (in the Best Building category) have gone to a slew of well-known firms: Morphosis, Gehry + Partners, Renzo Piano Workshop. This year was no different, with projects by Diller Scofidio + Renfro and Foster + Partners topping the list.

The jury—Rafael Pelli, Deborah Berke, Marc Kushner of HWKN, and Charles Bendit of Taconic Investment Partners—also gave a Best Green Design Initiative award to the Design Trust for Public Trust for its High Performance Landscape Guidelines, done in collaboration with the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. Below, images of the winning projects, with edited descriptions provided by MAS:

BEST NEW BUILDINGS

The Hypar Pavilion

Diller Scofidio + Renfro

A free standing structure on the edge of Hearst Plaza and a revived West 65th Street, the pavilion is home to a new public lawn, the Film Society of Lincoln Center, and an 11,000 square foot restaurant.

Sperone Westwater gallery

Foster + Partners

The glowing rectilinear box is built on a tight urban site. A room-size red elevator, visible through a translucent façade, enlivens the street.

Photo: Nigel Young/Foster + Partners

BEST RESTORATION

Queens Theater in the Park

Caples Jefferson Architects

A transparent curved-wall pavilion and a major addition to the iconic 1965 World’s Fair complex designed by Philip Johnson, the structure provides a 600-person reception room. It was constructed within the constraints of the city’s often-convoluted bid/build process.

Photo: Nic Lehoux

Myrtle Hall at Pratt

WASA/Studio A

The new 120,000 square foot building—with its masonry brick front, reflecting the existing mercantile architecture on Myrtle Street—also opens up to the main campus with a four-story glass entry atrium.

Photo: Alexander Severin/RAZUMMEDIA