Murphy & Dittenhafer Architects were recognized with design excellence awards from the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Central Pennsylvania Chapter for the twentieth consecutive year.
AIA Central PA presented three of their eight annual Design Excellence Awards in October 2015 to projects led by Murphy & Dittenhafer Architects.
This brings Murphy & Dittenhafer’s total awards received for architectural design, historic preservation, and craftsmanship since 1993 to 177 - including 20 years of continuous project recognition at state and local levels by the AIA. The firm has received 46 total awards during that period from AIA Central Pennsylvania, with 30 of those projects located in York, including such well-known sites as the Susan P. Byrnes Health Education Center, Lofts on George Street, CODO 241 and CODO 28, Pullo Center performing arts center on Penn State’s York campus, and the East Market Street Garage parking structure.
The 2015 Awards
The Seminary Ridge Museum on the campus of the Lutheran Theological Seminary in Gettysburg, PA was recognized with the Merit Award, given annually to recognize projects achieving a higher level of design. The jury was impressed by Murphy & Dittenhafer’s “very skillful conversion/restoration that modernizes the building while retaining its historic character,” and praised their “painstaking accuracy.”
Seminary Ridge Museum also received the Good Design is Good Business Award. This is the second time the Central PA chapter has given this particular award to Murphy & Dittenhafer Architects; the first was in 2013 for their work on the Washington County Museum of Fine Arts in Hagerstown, MD.
The firm’s preservation, conservation, and restoration work on the historic Forum Auditorium in Harrisburg, PA received an Honor Award from the AIA chapter, given for projects that exemplify the highest design quality. The jury noted that “the commitment of the design team to be true to the original architecture is clear. They were incredibly meticulous in their research and the final restoration of the facility is a testimony to their efforts.”
The Chapter held the design awards event in October at Susquehanna Art Museum (Harrisburg, PA), where Murphy & Dittenhafer was one of ten architectural firms from across the United States included in an exhibition titled, “Towards A New/Old Architecture,” featuring exemplary projects across Pennsylvania that employ a contemporary addition as a counterpoint to a historic building. The exhibit ran through January 17.