Blueprints For Success The Spokesman-Review’s Inland Northwest Home Awards Will Recognize Excellence In Design Among Residential Projects Completed Since Aug. 1, 1992

Have you ever noticed a distant house nestled into the surrounding landscape, and felt the scene couldn’t possibly be improved?

Or maybe you’ve walked into an unfamiliar room, and immediately sensed an unspoken message of welcome? That’s good design working its magic.

Frequently we encounter good residential design without recognizing it … we just feel better about a home because of the proportions of its windows, the size of its rooms, the texture of its walls or the depth of its eaves.

Recognizing excellence in design is what The Spokesman-Review’s Inland Northwest Home Awards are all about.

With your help, we hope to identify the region’s best new homes, remodels and historic restorations, and feature them in future articles. All residential projects completed since Aug. 1, 1992, are eligible. Entries will be judged by a five-member panel of design professionals, with winners announced Sept. 15 during the American Institute of Architects’ Northwest and Pacific Region Conference in Spokane. Particular attention will be paid to how homes respond to their owners’ specific needs, site demands and, in the case of restorations, historic integrity. This year’s jury includes retired Washington State University architecture professor and AIA fellow David Scott, Seattle home-design writer Fred Albert, Spokane historic preservation officer Teresa Brum, interior designer Lorinda Silverstein and art curator Beth Sellars.

“What appeals to me,” says Sellars, “is how well a home takes clues from its environment and doesn’t try to impose itself on the landscape.” Architect Scott says many contemporary designs take an opposite tack. “A lot of new homes today are selected out of magazines,” he says. “They may be good plans, but they don’t fit the site. So the owners or builders try to modify the site to fit the plan.”

Writer Albert shares Scott’s concern trend in new construction.

“Like so many things in American society now,” he says, “a lot of homes are designed based on marketing studies.”

The result is homes with complicated roofs, and two-story front entries overwhelmed by three-car garages - what West Siders call “Bellevue chateaus.”

What makes good design, Albert says, is “the realization of a vision - someone trying to create something special, and succeeding.”

The point of good design, says Silverstein, is that it “can enhance the experience of living on a day-to-day basis. It goes way beyond functional aspects, to considerations of what you see from one room to the next, or the effect of natural light as it changes during the day.”

Should designers get prizes for paying attention to the view from the kitchen sink?

“We appreciate good athletes and recognize excellence in sports,” notes preservation officer Brum. “I think that attitude can transfer over to architecture, too.”

And it frequently does, at least informally.

“People tell me about a favorite building of theirs that they enjoy driving by,” says Brum. “Even if they don’t know the name of the (building’s) style, they realize that its effect is something special.”

That’s what we hope to honor with the Inland Northwest Home Awards - those houses, large and small, old and new, that enhance the quality of life for those lucky enough to live in them … and those observant enough to notice them as they drive by.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Staff illustration by Charles Waltmire

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: HERE’S HOW TO SUBMIT HOME AWARDS ENTRY The Spokesman-Review invites nominations for the 1995 Inland Northwest Home Awards. The program’s purpose is to formally recognize and encourage outstanding local residential projects.

CATEGORIES 1. New homes 1,800 square feet (heated space) or smaller. 2. New homes larger than 1,800 square feet. 3. Remodel projects involving structural changes, modernizations or additions. 4. Restoration to preserve historic architecture.

ELIGIBILITY Any residential project within The Spokesman-Review circulation area completed after Aug. 1, 1992. Entries may be submitted by an owner, designer or builder, with the others’ consent.

FORMAT Each entry should be submitted in a standard-size folder or binder and include: A cover page listing the owner, builder and designer’s names, addresses and telephone numbers. Also indicate which category you are entering. Next, a one-page, typed statement of the project goal and site demands and how they were satisfied. Include completion date. At least three interior and three exterior photographs (no slides). For renovations and remodels, “before” views are helpful. A basic floor plan showing rooms, windows, doors and compass orientation. Information about energy features, if other than code.

ENTRY FEE Each entry must be accompanied by a check for $10 (payable to The Spokesman-Review) to help cover program costs.

DEADLINE All entries must be received by 5 p.m., Sept. 1. Mail them to Features Department Home Awards, The Spokesman-Review, P.O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210, or hand-deliver them to the Features Department in the newspaper’s downtown Spokane building at 999 W. Riverside.

JUDGING A panel of five distinguished design professionals will select award winners. Categories may have multiple winners. To ensure fairness, entrants’ names will be kept confidential until after judging is completed.

AWARDS Each winner will receive an engraved plaque. Also, winning projects will be featured in The Spokesman-Review beginning Sept. 15.

If you want your entry returned, include a self-addressed, stamped envelope or indicate that you will pick up your entry at The Spokesman-Review’s office after Sept. 15. For more information, contact Michael Guilfoil at 459-5491.