Marvin Announces the Year's Best Projects in the 2014 Architects Challenge

WARROAD, Minn., Aug. 7, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Marvin Windows and Doors has announced the winners of their sixth annual Architects Challenge. Featuring an array of homes across North America with numerous architectural styles, all projects are designed by architects and feature windows and doors from Marvin. Winners were chosen by a panel of architectural experts: Donald W. Powers, AIA, LEED AP, CNU of Union Studio Architecture & Community Design; Adele Chang, AIA of Lim Chang Rohling & Associates, Inc. and Stephen Muse, FAIA of Muse Architects.

Architects Challenge juried winners will participate in an AIA tour of Minneapolis and spend time at Marvin's headquarters in Warroad, Minn. for a tour of the factory.

This year's winning projects are:

• BEST IN SHOW: Shingle-Style Sanctuary (Martha's Vineyard, Mass.) by Patrick Ahearn of Patrick Ahearn Architect LLC: The project is a new construction of a family compound consisting of two new houses and associated site development along South Beach. Due to the topography of the nearby dunes, the living spaces of the main and guest houses were located on the second floor in order to gain the panoramic views of the ocean and extended coastline beyond. The challenge was to create a shingle-style island vernacular architecture that did not reflect the upside-down nature of the primary living space.
• Berkshire Farmhouse (Upstate New York) by Michael Waters, AIA of LDa Architecture & Interiors: This single-family residential estate in Upstate New York includes a farmhouse-inspired residence along with a timber-framed barn and attached greenhouse adjacent to an enclosed garden area and surrounded by an orchard.
• Golden View Residence (Anchorage, Alaska) by Steven Bull of Workshop AD: This project involved the redesign and completion of a partially constructed house on the Upper Hillside in Anchorage, Alaska.
• Harbert Residence (Harbert, Mich.) by Celeste Robbins of Robbins Architecture Inc.: This single-family vacation home on the Michigan shoreline accomplished the balance of large, glass window walls with the quaint beach aesthetic found on the neighboring dunes.
• Oceanfront Cottage (Coastal Maine) by Russ Tyson of Whitten Architects: This home adapts to its immediate surroundings and responds to views, while keeping solar orientation in mind.
• Nashville Residence (Nashville, Tenn.) by Blaine Bonadies of Bonadies Architect: Situated atop an old Civil War battle site, this new residence was conceived for a couple with southern values and a rock-and-roll attitude. 
• Boxwood House (Greenwich, Conn.) by Mahdad Saniee of Saniee Architects LLC: This house utilizes best available strategies to be environmentally responsible, including proper orientation for best natural lighting and super insulation for energy efficiency.
• Gatineau Hills (Cantley, QC) by Christopher Simmonds of Christopher Simmonds Architect Inc.: This project's natural house design embraces its earthy surroundings, while opening the door to a contemporary aesthetic.
• Arvida Lane Residence (Coral Gables, Fla.) by Portuondo Perotti Architects: This single-family residential successfully pays respect to the architecture of the Mediterranean and Renaissance Italian styles with the use of courtyards and a high level of detailing.
• Jennifer and Billy Frist Hall at Currey Ingram Academy (Nashville, Tenn.) by Michael Ward of Allart Ward Architects: Frist Hall draws from Arts and Crafts style as well as a more refined collegiate style, with natural, warm materials chosen to meet the dual needs of being a functional learning place with a residential feel.

Patrick Ahearn, the architect who designed this year's Best in Show winning project said, "Winning the Marvin Architects Challenge was a wonderful opportunity to showcase our firm's work and celebrate the meaning of architectural inspiration.  It is especially significant to be recognized for the function and beauty of our timeless design aesthetic and our unique story-driven approach.  With each and every project, we strive to make our clients' dream homes a reality and this recognition has elevated this notion."

This year's Architects Challenge also featured a Showdown winner. Chosen via public vote, Lian Eoyang's (VIF Studio) Summer Cottage in Massachusetts was the Showdown winner. Her project, along the Boston Harbor, features hand-cut fieldstone, creating a natural structural extension of the rocky shore. This two-story home features raised ceilings and full-length windows, creating beautiful 180-degree panoramas of the harbor and skyline. As the Showdown winner, Eoyang will receive a trip to the 2014 Reinvention Symposium in Washington, D.C.

"As a celebration of the best in architectural design, this year's Architects Challenge was a great success," said Christine Marvin, Director of Marketing at Marvin Windows and Doors. "We saw hundreds of beautifully designed projects that demonstrated a wide range of architectural styles, breathtaking incorporation of product and daylighting, and attention to detail.  This year's winners, and all of the 2014 entries, brought to life that Marvin's handcrafted products and solutions can truly help bring any design vision to life, and we are pleased to recognize these talented architects and the gorgeous homes and buildings they designed."

For more information and to view images of the winning projects, visit www.marvin.com/ArchitectsChallenge.

About Marvin Windows and Doors

Marvin Windows and Doors brings its Built Around You^® philosophy to life with every customer and every solution.  A premier manufacturer of made-to-order wood and clad wood windows and doors, Marvin offers the industry's most extensive selection of shapes, styles, sizes and options to fit the diverse needs of builders and match the personalities of homeowners.  Marvin's tradition of delivering the finest craftsmanship in windows and doors began in Warroad, Minn., a small town just six miles from the Canadian border, where the privately-held, family-owned and operated company is still headquartered today.

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