SPANISH ARCHITECTS SELECT THE 2006 INTERNATIONAL ARCHITECTURE AWARDS FOR THE BEST NEW DESIGN IN THE USA

SEPTEMBER 1, 2006, Chicago, Illinois. . .
The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and Metropolitan Arts Press Ltd. announce twenty (22) new distinguished buildings and urban planning projects selected this year in the Museum's prestigious "American Architecture Awards®" program for 2006. The program was launched by the Museum almost 10 years ago as a way in which to honor and celebrate the most outstanding accomplishments for new architecture designed and built in the United States by leading American and international architecture firms.

The Chicago Athenaeum, established in the historic city where modern architecture was first realized by Louis H. Sullivan, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Mies van der Rohe, is the only Museum of Architecture and Design in the United States and functions internationally as one of the foremost museums dedicated to both architecture and industrial design.

For "American Architecture Awards" 2006, the Museum received hundreds of submissions from the best and most renowned design firms in the United States and international firms working in US. The submissions ranged from new corporate headquarters, skyscrapers, institutions, sports and transportation facilities, airports, urban planning projects, sacred spaces, and private residences and multi-family housing designed by architects in their countries of origin or abroad for both built and unbuilt projects alike, as of January 1, 2004.

The Awards Program was open to all international architecture offices and U.S. firms with projects outside the United States, as well as international architecture firms building in the US.

This year’s jury for awards took place in Madrid, Spain (July 7, 2006) under the auspices of the Superior Council of Colleges of Architects of Spain and with the participation of noted Spanish architectural practitioners and architecture journalists serving as jury members including:

• Rafael de la-Hoz, Rafael de la-Hoz Arquitectos, Madrid, Spain (Chair of the Jury)
• David Cohen, Architect, Architecture Contributor, Architectural Record, Madrid, Spain
• Arturo Franco, Architect, Architecture Contributor, ABC, Madrid, Spain
• Sol Madridejos, Architect, Madrid, Spain o Juan Carlos Sancho, Architect, Madrid, Spain

The "American Architecture Awards" is curated and organized by Christian K. Narkiewicz-Laine, Director/President, The Chicago Athenaeum and assisted by Lary L. Sommers, Director of Administration/Marketing, The Chicago Athenaeum, and Kieran Conlon of Ireland.

Twenty-two (22) buildings in Arizona, California, Georgia, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nebraska, New York, Pennsylvania, Washington, DC., as well as in Saudi Arabia and Great Britain were selected by the Spanish jury for this 2006 Awards program. Projects selected include corporate headquarters, skyscrapers, office buildings, art museums, health centers, libraries, landscaping projects, and residential buildings.

"Now in it's 10th year as perhaps the most significant awards from for new distinguished buildings in the United States, The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and Metropolitan Arts Press Ltd. has organized this annual Museum program, "American Architecture Awards," as a way in which to draw significant world attention to new buildings and urban planning projects being built and designed globally by the best and most prestigious international architecture offices and design firms,"
states Christian K. Narkiewicz-Laine.

"The wide geographic distribution of these awards attests to the importance of the program," Mr. Narkiewicz-Laine adds. "There is no one, single program that brings together the latest cutting-edge international architecture today as one cohesive universal representation or platform for world design.
Our Museum is honored to provide a focus that allows an exploration and analysis for current stylistic directions and philosophical thinking that is apparent in contemporary design today."

"The program has a unique educational mission and public profile with the intent of promoting and celebrating the latest, most cutting-edge international design to a national and international audience," Mr. Narkiewicz-Laine continues.

The awarded projects for 2006 and other selected works will form an exhibition, "New World Architecture" to open at The Royal Institute of Irish Architects in Dublin in November 12 2006 and continuing through January 12, 2007. Also shown will be the winning projects selected from the Museum's annual "International Architecture Awards" for 2006, which recognizes the best new building design worldwide.

The 2007 deadline for submissions for "American Architecture Awards" is FEBRUARY 1, 2007.

Entry forms are available by calling the Museum at +815/777-4444
or by FAX at +815/777-2471
or on line at www.chi-athenaeum.org.

For more information or photographs for publication, contact Lary L. Sommers at Tel: +815/777-4444 or email: tcamuseum@sbcglobal.net .