Awards

Hobbs State Park Trail Structures and KCAI’s DeBruce Hall recognized in Architect’s Newspaper Best of Design Awards

We’re honored to share that two Hufft projects – the campsite and trailhead structures for Hobbs State Park, and The Kansas City Art Institute’s Paul & Linda DeBruce Hall – received honorable mention in the 2020 Architect’s Newspaper Best of Design Awards.

The Best of Design program recognizes projects in North American specifically, and includes work from some of the most renowned design studios across the globe.

Hobbs is Arkansas’ largest state park and offers more than 50 miles of trail for adventurers of all types. The architectural components on the Monument Trails were designed as vehicles for immersion into the land, fortifying the sense of place and identity. The structures are strategically set as a series of sculptural elements in the landscape. Stacked steel tubes were carefully arranged to form a parabolic shape. From a distance, the elements are understood as formal volumes, but up close, the stacked bars create a finer, tactile experience to interact with. After a rigorous design process, our shop fabricated the campsite shells, and worked with a local metal shop to complete the large trailhead structures. This project received honorable mention in the Digital Fabrication category, and we’re honored to be included in this category with winner Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, the honorable mention team of Schiller Projects and Novak Hiles Architects, and Eventscape as the Editors’ Pick!

The Kansas City Art Institute’s ­11-acre campus is nestled in the Southmoreland Historic Neighborhood and flanked by prominent art museums – the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, and the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art. Because of its highly-visible location, the new Paul and Linda DeBruce Hall interfaces with the campus community, neighboring residents and nearby museums. The use of curved brick and stone is an influential design move in the form of the building. A prominent portal entry that speaks to the historic and unique front doors found throughout the neighborhood. Classrooms and administrative spaces are placed around an airy atrium, connecting students and staff with each other and the landscape. “We didn’t want it to be a chilly, institutional building,” Tony Jones, The Nerman Family President, said in an interview this fall. “It’s really a state-of-the-art facility and highly flexible. It looks gorgeous and we’re very happy with it.” DeBruce Hall was recognized in the Higher Education category. Congratulations to the category winner Steven Holl Architects, Angus-Young for their honorable mention, and the Editors’ Picks of Stantec and Waggonner Ball!

The full list of this year’s Best of Design winners can be viewed on the Architect’s Newspaper website.