PRESS RELEASE: November 24, 2014
RE: local firm wins multiple awards for architecture and sustainability at 2014 Re-thinking the Future

International Awards Program on Architecture and Sustainability.

KEYWORDS: sustainable design, innovation in architecture, 21st century architecture, innovative educational design, design in education, trends in urban housing, design in Colorado, modern architecture, trends in urban design, biotechnological design, component design.

The winners of the Rethinking the Future Awards 2014 were recently announced, with local architectural firm markharris ARCHITECTS awarded not one, but four honors. Of over 600 international entries in what is now the largest and most prestigious of architectural awards programs, no other firm was recognized with so many honors.

The awards program recognizes distinguished and innovative architecture with specific emphasis on sustainable design. Each of the projects awarded to the Colorado Springs firm were noted for their unique ability in blending the “technosphere of our creation with the biosphere of our inheritance.”

The four projects awarded consisted of one built project, and three that unfortunately remain unbuilt. The projects are as follows:

• Parasol Building, Tucson, AZ: (built) a medial office building inspired by the native mesquite tree that innovates several unique construction techniques. the building is uniquely constructed of two bridge structures that lightly ‘touch’ the site. With it’s ‘parasol structure’ that both shades and holds it’s photovoltaic system, it is one of the most sustainable buildings in the desert southwest.

• Remote United Nations (UN) Security Council Chambers, Tucson, AZ: (unbuilt) situated within a re-purposed Titan II Missile Silo, this unique project proposes using defunct missile silos around the globe as UN negotiation facilities, thus promoting the act of diplomacy as our greatest weapon of ‘deterrent’.

• Billboard House, Los Angeles, CA: (unbuilt - currently in land negotiations) uniquely and creatively re-purposes a standard billboard into 1,800 SF of living space. the high-tech project, described by the architect as “eternally hip - like living in the virtual world of an iPhone”, is uniquely fitted to a city such as LA. the project is noted for it’s ironic commentary on both consumerist society and the crisis of our current urban cities.

• Inscriptions Charter School (School in the Woods), Colorado Springs, CO: (unbuilt) this project addresses the fact that while much of our daily lives integrate the technologies of the 21st century, we still design and build our schools much the way we did in the 19th and 20th century. moving far beyond ‘best practices, this project directly solves issues currently facing our national education system, specifically the escalating tax-payer cost without significant educational results.

As an understated tenant of the RTF awards program, each of the projects represent the new role architects are to play in the 21st century in shaping an engaged, performative, and responsible vision of our built environment.

markharris ARCHITECTS is a Colorado Springs architectural practice founded in 1991. While preferring to keep a low profile, the local firm has been honored with a number of prestigious national and international design awards for progressive and innovative works of architecture that are to shape the new vision of the built environment in the 21st century. The works has been cited as ‘probing, visionary, and powerful’1, often creating projects that are ‘poetic’2. Mark Harris, the firm’s founder and principal, has been cited as an ‘emerging voice3’ in international architecture.

The firm has current projects in Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and Tucson. A 24-year veteran of educational design, Mr. Harris has spent the past 5 years developing a series of innovative educational prototypes that tackle head-on many of the problems currently facing education in the US; these innovative prototypes range from K-8 charter schools to new university campus designs, and reflect the emergent trends of biotechnological designs in architecture and urban planning. The prototypes are to be presented in early 2015.

Mr. Harris also lectures and teaches nationally and internationally. His upcoming book, Memories of the Ruined Landscape, looks at the emergent shifts in architecture and urban planning, and will be his second book on architectural theory and practice. The book is due to be published by mid-2015.

For more information, please refer to the web site mharrisarchitects.com, or contact Mr. Harris directly at 719-290-0214.