IwamotoScott’s Moravec Hall: Editor’s pick for AN Best of Design Awards
Department of Architecture Chair Lisa Iwamoto’s firm IwamotoScott Architecture got a nod from The Architect’s Newspaper for its design of Moravec Hall at Ivy Tech Community College. The building was selected as an Editor’s Pick in the AN 2024 Best of Design Awards in the Higher Education-Instructional Category.
Moravec Hall, the main academic building for Ivy Tech’s Columbus, Indiana, campus, is strategically sited to help shape the campus’s Airpark Quad. Working within a restrained budget, IwamotoScott opted for a simple building form with a white brick facade. Black metal framed openings alternate between apertures that are simple rectangles and those that are larger, “carved in” corbelled brick. Glass walls open up the north facade to connect the building to the newly defined quad.
The building’s circulation system is organized around the centrally located Social Spine. Its cascade stairs and terraced lounges offer both individual and group study spaces. The Community Room has operable glass walls that can open up to both the Social Spine to the east and the Student Commons to the north. The IwamotoScott-designed Corbel light sculpture suspended in the Student Commons echoes the corbeled brick detailing of the building exterior.
Moravec Hall has also been recognized with a 2024 Mies Crown Hall Americas Prize nomination, a 2023 AIA Indiana Design Honor Award, and a merit award from the AIA San Francisco.