Press Room
SHAPING COMMUNITY
The A. O. Bumgardner Award
Architecture, Education and An Involved Community
The Seattle Architecture Foundation (SAF) is about discovery and exploration: the discovery of our cities and neighborhoods through their active exploration. Through guided walking tours, youth programs, timely exhibits and public events, SAF provides an exciting and comprehensive understanding of how architecture and design affect and enrich every facet of our lives. It is our hope that with a better appreciation of the design of our built environment, each of us can better affect the direction of it. We believe how we choose to shape our communities reflects more than who we are and what we aspire to become, it provides the foundation for a higher quality of life and a more vibrant social interaction.
Gilbert Anderson, Vice President, The Seattle Public Library Board of Trustees, Seattle City Librarian Deborah L. Jacobs, and Bill Gaylord, Chair, SAF Emeritus Directors
Recognizing Design Advocates and Leaders
Shaping Community, the A. O. Bumgardner Award, is the premier recognition of the Seattle Architecture Foundation. The award celebrates individuals who make lasting, quality contributions to the creation, appreciation, and advocacy of excellent design. Albert O. Bumgardner, FAIA, was the founder of Bumgardner Architects, a prominent Pacific Northwest architect, and an AIA Seattle President. A bequest in his will was an early and significant gift setting up the SAF and continuing to significantly support our efforts today. The Shaping Community award celebrates and continues Bumgardner’s lasting contributions to the community and we’re grateful to Bumgardner Architects, today, for its continuing support. For more information about Albert O. Bumgardner, FAIA, click here.
Celebration 2005
There is no clearer example of the power of design to improve lives—or a more visible example of community participation in architecture—than the City of Seattle Central Library completed in May, 2004. The library has received international acclaim for its provocative and groundbreaking design by OMA/LMN Architects; locally it has become a hugely popular community center and an icon of Downtown and the City of Seattle.
Yet the Central Library is but part of the story; as one of numerous outstanding components of the larger “Libraries for All” program, a $256 million-dollar program to renovate or replace 28 libraries citywide. The downtown library may be the largest and most recognized accomplishment, but the entire program, especially the five new neighborhood libraries, is a significant addition to the city and region, and a terrific example of the power of community understanding and support of excellence in architecture, and the vision, leadership, and hard work required to make it real.
In presenting the 2005 award to Librarian Jacobs and the “Libraries for All” Campaign, SAF recognizes that accomplishments such as the Central and neighborhood libraries are the result of an enormous community effort of engaged citizens, dedicated specialists—architects, engineers, construction managers—and the commitment, vision, and tenacity of the leader, Deborah Jacobs. In recognition of this extraordinary accomplishment, the Seattle Architecture Foundation was honored to present the 2005 Shaping Community award to Deborah Jacobs and the “Libraries for All” Campaign.
For more information about the Shaping Community award, and to submit a nomination, please contact:
Seattle Architecture Foundation
1333 Fifth Avenue, Suite 300
Seattle, WA 98101
phone 206.667.9184 fax 206.667.9183
info@seattlearchitecture.org
