Renowned Argentina-born architect explained the award-winning design of the Silver Spring Civic Building and similar projects undertaken by his firm Machado Silvetti
SILVER SPRING, MD – The Montgomery County Planning Department, part of The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, held its first annual Design Excellence Award competition in 2015, giving the top prize to the Silver Spring Civic Building at a design celebration last October.
The architect who designed the award-winning civic building, Rodolfo Machado, FAIA, talked about the logic of its spaces and the design process employed in other projects undertaken by his firm Machado Silvetti at a public presentation on Wednesday, May 25, 2016. The Planning Department-sponsored event was attended by about 60 people and held in the Silver Spring Civic Building.
View the video recap here.
During his lecture, Machado explained how architecture can relate to its surroundings to strengthen a neighborhood, a campus or a city. He presented past and recent designs, including a new mixed-use complex in Cairo, Egypt and the Center for Asian Art at the Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota, Florida.
Second Annual Design Excellence Award
The second annual Design Excellence Award competition has been launched and submissions are due by July 21, 2016 at 5 p.m. The selection of a winner will be made by an outside jury of accomplished professionals invited by the Planning Department.
Submit to the second annual Design Excellence Award.
Learn more about the Montgomery County Planning Department’s Design Excellence initiative.
The winner will be recognized on Thursday, October 20, 2016 at an awards celebration at the Silver Spring Civic Building. The event will also include the annual awards ceremony of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Potomac Valley Chapter.
About Rodolfo Machado
Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, architect Rodolfo Machado is a citizen of the United States, where he has resided since 1968. Machado received his Diploma in Architecture from the Universidad de Buenos Aires in 1967 before studying urban design at the Centre de Recherche d’Urbanisme in Paris. In 1971, he received a master of architecture degree from the University of California at Berkeley where he continued doctoral studies in architectural theory.
Machado practiced architecture in San Francisco and Pittsburgh before forming a practice with Jorge Silvetti in 1974. Since 1986, he has been a faculty member of the Harvard University Graduate School of Design where he chaired its Department of Urban Planning and Design from 2004 to 2009. Machado has been a visiting critic at many schools of architecture in this country and abroad, and has served as a juror for many national and international competitions and prizes. His drawings and projects have been extensively published and exhibited in museums and galleries around the world. For more information, go to .
About the Design Excellence Award
The Planning Department’s annual Design Excellence Award was launched in 2015 to recognize the best examples of architecture, landscape architecture and urban design in the County, and increase awareness of the importance of design excellence. 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 by an outside jury of accomplished professionals in the fields of architecture, landscape architecture and urban design, and presented at a design celebration in October 2015 co-sponsored with the Potomac Valley Chapter of the American Institute of Architects.