Awards

Ross Barney Architects Receives Cooper Hewitt's National Design Award

September 01, 2021
Cooper Hewitt National Design Awards 02

The Coop­er Hewitt, Smith­son­ian Design Muse­um announced that Ross Bar­ney Archi­tects received the pres­ti­gious 2021 Nation­al Design Award for Archi­tec­ture and Inte­ri­or Design. The hon­or acknowl­edges the studio’s forty-year com­mit­ment to design excel­lence, com­mu­ni­ty, and the environment. 

Led by Design Prin­ci­pal and Founder Car­ol Ross Bar­ney, FAIA, HASLA and Prin­ci­pals Eric Mar­tin, AIA; Krista Simons Gli­va, AIA; Ryan Gib­lin, AIA; and Lau­ra Saviano, Ross Bar­ney Archi­tects has been dri­ven by a mis­sion to cre­ate well-designed spaces for every­one. The stu­dio is ded­i­cat­ed to the design of ​“noble” projects, the ones with impor­tant cul­tur­al or social agen­das but not nec­es­sar­i­ly the most mon­ey or high-pro­file projects. These com­mis­sions are often crit­i­cal­ly impor­tant to dai­ly life and require inno­v­a­tive inter­ven­tions. The studio’s best work is often for unex­pect­ed, com­pelling projects that go beyond archi­tec­ture, and exist on the edges or some­times in the mar­gins where design think­ing and con­sid­er­a­tion might not con­ven­tion­al­ly come into play.


“Our phi­los­o­phy is that design mat­ters all the time. Through the Nation­al Design Awards pro­gram, the Coop­er Hewitt strives to make peo­ple aware of the impor­tance and impact of design on dai­ly life. It is amaz­ing to have our work rec­og­nized with this award.”

 Carol Ross Barney, FAIA, HASAL (Founder and Design Principal)

Ross Bar­ney Archi­tects’ port­fo­lio is dis­tin­guished by an abil­i­ty to nav­i­gate com­plex his­to­ries, tight bud­gets, and bureau­cra­cy. Chal­lenges and con­straints recast as oppor­tu­ni­ties; ele­vat­ing the mun­dane into mem­o­rable and inspir­ing experiences.

The studio’s approach is a holis­tic process of co-cre­ation between client, user, and com­mu­ni­ty; allow­ing a project grow out of it’s place, his­to­ry, and function.

View the 2021 Nation­al Design Awardees on the Nation­al Design Awards Gallery.

Ross Bar­ney Archi­tects’ notable projects include con­verge at the inter­sec­tion of archi­tec­ture, urban design, and land­scape architecture:

Ross Barney 01 Oklahoma City Federal

Okla­homa City Fed­er­al Build­ing
Okla­homa City, Okla­homa
The Okla­homa City Fed­er­al Build­ing is a philo­soph­i­cal response to tragedy, and makes a state­ment on the role archi­tec­ture can play in pro­tect­ing and inspir­ing soci­ety.

Lin­coln Park Zoo Vis­i­tor Cen­ter
Chica­go, Illi­nois
Lin­coln Park Zoo Sear­le Vis­i­tor Cen­ter, is a new pavil­ion for one of the old­est zoos in the coun­try. Tucked behind a nat­ur­al land­scape, it is com­prised of an entry gate, vis­i­tor cen­ter, admin­is­tra­tive offices, mem­ber­ship lounge, and pub­lic washrooms.

Swen­son Civ­il Engi­neer­ing Build­ing
Duluth, Min­neso­ta
James I. Swen­son Civ­il Engi­neer­ing Build­ing in North­ern Min­neso­ta is built on iron and tim­ber, becom­ing the set­ting for a build­ing that sam­ples this rich diver­si­ty and makes a pri­or­i­ty of teach­ing its users about mate­ri­als, how they go togeth­er, how they age, and how they express the forces inher­ent in any structure.

Jew­ish Recon­struc­tion­ist Con­gre­ga­tion
Evanston, Illi­nois
Jew­ish Recon­struc­tion­ist Con­gre­ga­tion Syn­a­gogue is the world’s first LEED Plat­inum house of wor­ship that bal­ances an ambi­tious pro­gram, sus­tain­able rig­or, and a small site with a mod­est bud­get. The Jew­ish con­cept Tikkun Olam, guid­ed the design, and is defined by acts of kind­ness per­formed to repair the world.

Ross Barney 09 Swenson Civil Engineering
Ross Barney 02 Mc Donalds Chicago Flagship

McDonald’s Glob­al Flag­ship Chica­go
Chica­go, Illi­nois
McDonald’s Chica­go Flag­ship is a build­ing that begins to ask new ques­tions about cus­tomer expe­ri­ence and impact; while one-of-a-kind, the flag­ship is gen­er­at­ing valu­able lessons that can be scaled to an expan­sive port­fo­lio — impact­ing com­mu­ni­ties around the world.

McDonald’s Glob­al Flag­ship at Walt Dis­ney World
Bue­na Vista, Flori­da
McDonald’s Glob­al Flag­ship at Walt Dis­ney World aims to become the world’s first Net Zero Ener­gy quick ser­vice restau­rant, and rep­re­sents McDonald’s com­mit­ment to build­ing a bet­ter future.

CTA Cer­mak McCormick Place Sta­tion
Chica­go, Illi­nois
CTA Cer­mak — McCormick Place Station’s nar­row right of way cre­at­ed chal­lenges for build­ing an acces­si­ble sta­tion to bet­ter serve diverse com­mu­ni­ties. It takes the form of a tube, cre­at­ing effi­cien­cy for plat­form func­tion and structure.

CTA Mor­gan Street Sta­tion
Chica­go, Illi­nois
CTA Mor­gan Street Sta­tion is set against the scenery of Chicago’s West Loop, a for­mer ware­house dis­trict full of meat-pack­ers. The sta­tion pays homage to an indus­tri­al past with an exposed struc­ture, per­fo­rat­ed met­al, and tough finishes.


Ross Barney 06 CTA Cermak Mc Cormick Place Station
Ross Barney 04 Chicago Riverwalk

Chica­go River­walk
Chica­go, Illi­nois
Chica­go River­walk is a one-and-a-quar­ter-mile-long civic space between Lake Michi­gan and the con­flu­ence of the main, north, and south branch­es of the Chica­go Riv­er that uti­lizes derelict infra­struc­ture.

Ohio State Uni­ver­si­ty South Cam­pus Cen­tral Chiller Plant
Colum­bus, Ohio
Ohio State Uni­ver­si­ty South Cam­pus Chiller Plant, a col­le­giate infra­struc­ture build­ing that has no active users, trans­formed a house for ener­gy into an icon.

“To this year’s remark­able award win­ners, con­grat­u­la­tions! You are some of our coun­tries most bril­liant design minds. Your work has pushed bound­aries, stretched our imag­i­na­tions, and brought us togeth­er… you are inspir­ing young tal­ent to fol­low in your foot­steps, help­ing to design a bet­ter, more equi­table future for everyone.”

 Dr. Jill Biden, Ed.D., First Lady of the United States (Honorary Patron, National Design Awards)

About Coop­er Hewitt, Smith­son­ian Design Muse­um
Coop­er Hewitt is America’s design muse­um. Inclu­sive, inno­v­a­tive, and exper­i­men­tal, the museum’s dynam­ic exhi­bi­tions, edu­ca­tion pro­grams, master’s pro­gram, pub­li­ca­tions, and online resources inspire, edu­cate, and empow­er peo­ple through design. An inte­gral part of the Smith­son­ian Insti­tu­tion – the world’s largest muse­um, edu­ca­tion, and research com­plex – Coop­er Hewitt is locat­ed on New York City’s Muse­um Mile in the his­toric, land­mark Carnegie Man­sion. Stew­ard of one of the world’s most diverse and com­pre­hen­sive design col­lec­tions – over 210,000 objects that range from an ancient Egypt­ian faïence cup dat­ing to about 1100 BCE to con­tem­po­rary 3D-print­ed objects and dig­i­tal code – Coop­er Hewitt wel­comes every­one to dis­cov­er the impor­tance of design and its pow­er to change the world. Coop­er Hewitt knits dig­i­tal into expe­ri­ences to enhance ideas, extend reach beyond muse­um walls, and enable greater access, per­son­al­iza­tion, exper­i­men­ta­tion, and connection. 

For addi­tion­al infor­ma­tion about Ross Bar­ney Archi­tects, please con­tact:
Lau­ra Saviano, Mar­ket­ing Prin­ci­pal
las@r‑barc.com / media@r‑barc.com

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