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Home / News / Montgomery County Planning Department and Potomac Valley AIA Will Hold Design Excellence Award Ceremony on October 22

Montgomery County Planning Department and Potomac Valley AIA Will Hold Design Excellence Award Ceremony on October 22

Developers, architects, landscape architects, designers, property owners and community members  are invited to attend the “Celebrate Design” reception and awards event at the Silver Spring Civic Building

SILVER SPRING, MDThe Montgomery County Planning Department, part of The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, is inviting everyone with an interest in excellent architecture, landscape architecture and urban design to attend “Celebrate Design” on Thursday, October 22 from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. at the Silver Spring Civic Building (1 Veterans Plaza, Silver Spring, MD).  Tickets to the event are $35 and can be purchased online.

The winner of the Planning Department’s first annual Design Excellence Award competition will be announced during the celebration, which will also include the annual awards ceremony of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Potomac Valley Chapter. A highlight of the evening will be a presentation on the business case for design excellence by land use strategist Christopher Leinberger, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.

About the Montgomery County Design Excellence Award
The award competition is part of the Planning Department’s year-old Design Excellence initiative to improve the quality of the built environment throughout Montgomery County. In January 2015 as part of this program, the Department invited nationally recognized urban design and planning expert Noré Winter of Boulder, Colorado, to discuss community design guidelines with the staff, Planning Board and public. Learn more about the Montgomery County Planning Department’s Design Excellence initiative.

The Planning Department’s first Design Excellence Award seeks to recognize exceptional work in architecture, landscape architecture and urban design that has been completed in Montgomery County over the past decade. More than 35 entries to the competition were submitted in August 2015 by architects, developers and property owners. The winning entry and citations were chosen in September 2015 by an outside jury of accomplished professionals in the fields of architecture, landscape architecture and urban design:

Edward Feiner, FAIA | Design Leadership Council Director, Perkins+Will, Washington, D.C.
Dhiru Thadani, FCNU | Architect and urbanist, Washington, D.C.
Michael Vergason, FASLA | Principal, Michael Vergason Landscape Architects, Alexandria, Virginia
Amy Weinstein, FAIA | Principal, Esocoff & Associates/Weinstein Studio, Washington, D.C.

Review the bios of the jury.

Celebrate Design Awards Ceremony
Thursday, October 22, 2015
6:30 to 9:30 p.m.
Silver Spring Civic Building (1 Veterans Plaza, Silver Spring, MD)
Ticket price: $35
Purchase tickets

6:30 – 7:30 p.m. Opening  reception.

7:30 – 8 p.m. Presentation on the business case for design excellence by real estate strategist Christopher Leinberger of the Brookings Institution

8 p.m. – 8:45 p.m. Awards presentation by the AIA Potomac Valley and the Montgomery County Planning Department.

8:45 – 9:30 p.m. Dessert reception.