OFFICIAL, an Architecture, interiors and furniture design studio founded by Architecture Assistant Professor Amy Leveno and Adjunct Faculty Mark Leveno, was recently recognized at the 2023 AIA Honor Awards Celebration. The AIA Oklahoma Honor Awards Program recognizes exceptional members for their distinguished leadership and commitment to the quality of life in Oklahoma.
Since its creation in 2012, OFFICIAL has earned numerous design awards, has been featured on the AIA Dallas Tour of Homes and has been published nationally and internationally in books, magazines, and design websites. The firm’s furniture design and fabrication shop utilizes a combination of handcraft and digital construction techniques and primarily develops limited edition pieces.
The firm received two Honor Awards in the Interior Architecture category for their work on Civitas Capitol Group and Houndstooth Coffee MLK. The Honor Award is the AIA’s highest level of award and recognizes projects with distinctive character and outstanding merit.
Civitas Capitol Group is a financial institution in Dallas, Texas, designed by OFFICIAL. The AIA Awards jury was impressed with this confident design. According to the jury, “The entry portal, lined in red, framing both the client’s red logo and views of downtown Dallas beyond, sets the tone for the exciting interplay of spatial manipulations and bold accent colors of red, blue, yellow and green that define the design. While the colors themselves were bold choices, their application is also subtle and studied, reserved for shared resources and for lining transitions between spaces.”
The jury continued, “That clear strategy results in a design that is simultaneously perceived as a burst of color and a restrained white office interior. Meticulous minimalist detailing, glimpses of exposed concrete and broad expanses of white ceilings complete a sophisticated sequencing of space that takes full advantage of views in two directions. The simple column of red highlighting the Dallas office’s time zone was the crowning touch.”
Houndstooth Coffee MLK is a contemporary café in Austin, Texas, designed by OFFICIAL. Every aspect of this project delighted the jury, “From the presentation itself, to the material choices, details and spatial manipulations. A floating soffit provides both sculptural interest and definition to the interlocking spatial precincts, flaring up in several directions to welcome in daylight and accentuate volume. Beautifully detailed wooden objects, stools, tables and counters provide just the right counterpoint to broad expanses of white.”
They continued, “A consistent theme of vertical ribbed surfaces – the facia around the soffit, rear wall panels and sconces, and gray wall panels – add subtle texture to the delicately composed balance of surface and volume.” The jurors also commended the architects for an exceptionally well-curated presentation, “a deceptively simple visual essay that explains only what needs to be explained and nothing more.”
Congratulations to Amy and Mark Leveno for receiving these awards!