Masonry Magazine June 1982 Page. 7
Excellence In Masonry Awards
Presented by Masonry Institute of Dayton
The Masonry Institute of Dayton, a coalition of labor and management in Ohio's greater Miami Valley, recently presented its ninth annual Excellence in Masonry Awards Program.
The awards accord professional recognition to outstanding designs incorporating masonry, and encourage architects and engineers to accomplish creative designs in masonry.
Excellence awards were given to three building design firms-I. M. Pei & Partners, for the Gem Savings Building, Dayton; Levin, Porter & Smith, Inc., for the Dayton Area Board of Realtors Building, Dayton, and Lecklider-Jay, Architects, for the George T. Stevens Learning Center, Springfield.
The respective mason contractors on these projects were Roubin & Janeiro, Peterson Construction, and Fry, Inc.
Awards of Merit were presented to Van Buren & Firestone, Architects, for Piqua High School, with Sutherly Construction the mason contractor, and Gary Dunker, Architect, for Brookville Local School, with masonry by Fryman-Kuck & Anderson-Hester. A special Renovation Award was given to Brown & Head, Inc. for the Reibold Building: F. E. Longstreth, Inc. was the mason contractor.
About Our Cover
Dayton Area Board of Realtors Building-This outstanding structure won top honors in the architectural design competition sponsored by both the Masonry Institute of Dayton and the statewide Ohio Masonry Council, the latter in conjunction with the Architects Society of Ohio. The architect for the project was Levin, Porter & Smith, with Peterson Construction the mason contractor.
This view shows the back of the building, with the entries dramatized by walls which leave the body of the building and rest on oversized columns. Two tones of brick are used independently and in alternating courses to create tension in the surface and at the corners. "Brick is one of the few things you can still do nicely," a spokesman for the architectural firm said. "We have good bricklayers, and the material is relatively inexpensive in this area. It has nice scale and color range, and people like it."
Gem Savings Building Conceived as a solid mass using airy spaces and geometric shapes, this structure of diagonal and curved surfaces surrounds an open plaza constructed of attractive paving brick. Separate identities are tied together by a spectacular seven-story atrium, the most dramatic feature of the building. The enclosed garden court has as a focal point a huge skylight, forming a vaulted glass pyramid surrounded by eight adjoining glass tetrahedrons. Top ledge limestone and granite are the major exterior building materials.
George T. Stevens Learning Center-In a campus type setting, the desire to maintain grouped buildings often leaves the architect with a difficult site to work with. This building fits into the side of a hill and ravine, making the landscape into three levels. The main entrance appears to be only a standard one-story building; in reality two additional stories are revealed on the back side. This is a wall-bearing structure using insulated cavity wall design. A warm toned facebrick utilizing soldier courses and special brick shapes have added scale and interesting lines.