Recognizing architectural design of enduring significance, the Twenty-five Year Award is conferred on a building project that has stood the test of time by embodying architectural excellence for 25 to 35 years. Projects must demonstrate excellence in function, in the distinguished execution of its original program, and in the creative aspects of its statement by today’s standards. The award will be presented this June at the AIA National Convention in Chicago, the home of Metro’s architect, Harry Weese, who died in 1998.
Architect: Harry Weese & Associates.
Owner: Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority.
Location: Washington D.C.
Jury Comments
The striking design of the prototypical Washington Metro station revolutionized public perceptions of mass transit in the mid-to-late 20th century. The station designs have held up remarkably well despite the phenomenal population growth of the Washington region and accelerating pressures on the system.
The stations are airy and spacious, avoiding the claustrophobic qualities of so many older subway facilities in other cities. They are quintessentially modern while maintaining a certain grandeur befitting the nation's capital. The original stations are now -- and have always been -- largely free of graffiti and litter, thanks in part to thoughtful planning on the part of the original architects -- the designs actively discourage the sort of degradations that plague many other mass transit systems.
The original Metro stations have become icons of Washington architecture, and the entire system -- despite recent controversies about safety and management that are unrelated to matters of architectural design -- remains a point of pride for Washingtonians.
La primera vez que conoci el Metro de Washington de Harry Weese & Associates (de Chicago), que no es ni Subway, ni Underground, sino Metro, fue cuando me invitaron a exponer en el National Building Museum en 1994. Estaba alojado en Alexandria y la mejor manera de llegar al National Building Museum era cogiendo el Metro (alli los neoyorquinos lo llamarian Skyway) hasta la estación de Judiciary Square. Incluso las entradas y salidad a la linea de metro te hablan de una excelente obra. Me parecio realmente sorprendente por su forma, acabado y estructura. Cuando pocos años después Foster termino su propuesta para Bilbao, siempre recordaba el Metro de Washinton. La obra de es uno de esos grandes desconocidos que ahora la AIA acaba de premiar.
