DECEMBER 8, 2022 – The Air Force Civil Engineer Center recently announced the winners of the 2022 Air Force Design Awards, recognizing four facilities that demonstrate excellence in design, sustainability and energy efficiency.
“This year’s winning projects promote creative and outstanding design solutions that further support the Department of the Air Force meeting critical national defense priorities,” said Col. George Nichols, AFCEC’s Facility Engineering Directorate deputy director.
“Our installations are our weapon system platforms that we operate from. Resilient facilities are essential to maintaining an agile, lethal and ready force, and we continue to support Air and Space Force missions by providing innovative built infrastructure through a delicate, balanced approach that both enhances mission capabilities and reduces operational costs,” Nichols said.
Since its inception in 1976, the annual Air Force Design Awards program has been honoring the top projects that exemplify the best architecture and building design while complying with Department of Defense and Air Force criteria. The program, in tandem with the DAF’s private-sector partners, recognizes projects that achieve design excellence related to the natural and built environment based on three levels of recognition: The Honor Award, which is the top recognition, followed by the Merit and Citation Awards.
Four projects received recognition this year:
2022 Honor Awards
- Facility Renovations and/or Additions Category: Laughlin West Gate ID Check Area, Laughlin Air Force Base
- Facility Renovations and/or Additions Category: Renovation Program Executive Office, Building 6, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio
2022 Merit Award
- Facility New Construction Category: New Satellite Fire Station, March Air Reserve Base, California
2022 Citation Award
- Facility Renovations and/or Additions: Research Facility, B45, Wright-Patterson AFB
This year, the awards program manager at AFCEC enhanced the submission and evaluation process by establishing more objective and transparent evaluation criteria and implementing a new online submission system so projects can be evaluated more quickly.
“The biggest change this year is that the awards program was fully aligned with the Air Force Corporate Facilities Standards program which encompasses a bases Installation Facilities Standard. The union of the AFCFS and USAF award programs create the synergy to promote design quality more effectively for our Air and Space Forces facilities,” said Adriana Rodriguez, Air Force Architect and Air Force Design Awards program manager. “We required all of the designs to be completed in accordance with the AFCFS and the associated IFS to be eligible for design awards.”
In addition to evaluating projects for compliance with those standards, a four-person board made up of subject matter experts from AFCEC’s Standards and Evaluations Branch assessed the entries based on aesthetics. They evaluated each design’s embodiment of permanence, a fusion of functionality, overall cost control, energy efficiency, sustainability and climate resilience.
“The winning projects demonstrated the Air Force’s dedication to innovation in pursuit of design excellence to create sustainable and long-lasting facilities and installations,” Rodriguez said.
The awards program is led by AFCEC’s Facility Engineering Directorate, the unit responsible for the design and construction of cost effective and sustainable built infrastructure for air and space missions.
“Since the program’s inception, recognizing and promoting design excellence has been the program’s fundamental ethos,” Rodriguez said. “It’s an honor for us to reward individuals and organizations that have continued to elevate the quality of facilities and inspire thoughtful engineering and construction.”
A formal presentation of the awards takes place during the annual AFCEC Design and Construction Partnering Symposium, in San Antonio, scheduled for Jan. 11-12, 2023.
By Mila Cisneros
Air Force Installation and Mission Support Center Public Affairs