retrofit’s third-annual Metamorphosis Awards program tapped four previous winners as judges: Brett Baba, co-founder, Graham Baba Architects, Seattle; Howard Hirsch, AIA, LEED AP, founder and president, Hirsch MPG LLC, Chicago; Josiah Stevenson, FAIA, LEED AP, principal, Leers Weinzapfel Associates, Boston; and Marcy Wong, partner, Marcy Wong Donn Logan Architects, Berkeley, Calif. Each judge was gracious with their time and knowledge.
The jury was asked to evaluate each project on the success with which it met its own requirements. They were told to weigh projects individually—not in comparison to others—and choose as many projects as they felt deserving of winning. [Editor’s Note: Stevenson recused himself from judging Anonymous Hall, the Leers Weinzapfel Associates project that won 1st Place in the Addition category.]
Through a judging platform, jurors were able to review entries and score them on their own time. John Riester, retrofit’s publisher, and Christina Koch, retrofit’s editorial director and associate publisher, conducted a Zoom meeting with the judges in mid-August to discuss highest-ranking projects, determine placements of winners and speculate about cover possibilities. Winners were notified in late August.
The 2022 Metamorphosis Awards program will open in January 2022.
Brett Baba
Brett Baba is an award-winning architect with more than 40 years’ experience. He is known affectionately within Graham Baba Architects’ offices as the “Zen Master” of design and detailing and is the go-to person for staff (new and experienced) when they have questions about how things are done. Graham Baba Architects was recognized with a Metamorphosis Award in the 2019 inaugural competition: Block 41, which won in the Adaptive Reuse category, celebrates the legacy of a 1927 ice warehouse transformed into a contemporary, multipurpose event space. Read the story in the November-December 2019 issue.
Howard Hirsch, AIA, LEED AP
Howard Hirsch established Hirsch MPG LLC in 1994 to offer architectural and planning services to a wide range of clients on a variety of project types. He has more than 30 years’ experience as an architect, designer, project manager and land planner. In 2020, Hirsch MPG earned two Metamorphosis Awards: 1st Place in the Multifamily category for Fields Lofts and 2nd Place in the Whole Building category for Hotel Julian. Read the stories in the November-December 2020 issue.
Josiah Stevenson, FAIA, LEED AP
Josiah Stevenson joined Leers Weinzapfel Associates in 1986 and became a principal in 1998. He leads the firm’s community and civic projects, giving special attention to how they relate to their historic contexts and our sustainable future. Leers Weinzapfel Associates achieved a 2020 Metamorphosis Award in the Adaptive Reuse category for its work repurposing a 140-year-old railroad depot into a state-of-the-art performing arts center for Middlesex Community College. Read the story in the November-December 2020 issue.
Marcy Wong
Following graduate degrees in architecture and structural engineering, Marcy Wong practiced in both fields and for a decade was on the faculty of UC Berkeley’s Department of Architecture. She and Donn Logan formed Marcy Wong Donn Logan Architects in 1999. The partnership has developed a portfolio of work that expresses their goals of outstanding and environmentally sound design. In 2019, the firm won two Metamorphosis Awards: one in the Interior category for its imaginative use of salvaged wood to transform a 100-year-old building into a photography studio, and the other in the Historic category for repurposing buildings 113 through 116 at San Francisco’s historic Pier 70 into the Uber Advanced Technology Group Research and Development Center. Read the stories in the November-December 2019 issue. In 2020, the firm was awarded 1st Place in the Historic category, again for Pier 70, but this time for transforming the pier’s historic powerhouse into an inventive office space. Read the story in the November-December 2020 issue.
