Seven exemplary projects in architecture, planning, landscape architecture, and urban design have been named winners of the 2009 Great Places Awards, EDRA, Places Journal, and Metropolis Magazine have announced.

Design Awards (for completed projects that demonstrate excellence as human environments) were given to:

• The Norwegian National Opera and Ballet, Oslo, Norway. Snøhetta (Project Architects: Craig Dykers, Tarald Lundevall, Kjetil Traedal Thorsen)
• Wing Luke Asian Museum, Seattle, WA.  Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen Architects (Rick Sundberg, Principal in Charge; Stephen Yamada-Heidner, Project Manager)

Planning Awards (for projects that make proposals for the future design, use, or management of a place) were given to:

• Vision 2030: West Dallas Gateway, Strategic Framework Initiative. Univ. of Texas, Dallas Urban Laboratory, Dean J. Almy, Director
• Guangming Sustainable Park, Shenzen, China.CJ Lim, Studio 8 Architects
• Resuscitating the Fez River: Procedures to Create New Public Space in the Medina of Fez.Takako Tajima, Aziza Chaouni, Bureau E.A.S.T.

A Research Award (for projects that investigate the relationship between design and human behavior, culture or experience) were given to:

• Design for Health:  University of Minnesota, Cornell University, University of Colorado.  Phase 1 core team:  Dr. Ann Forsyth, Dr. Kevin Krizek, Dr. Carissa Schively Slotterback, Amanda Johnson, Aly Pennucci, Michael Huber.

The Book Award (for a recently published book advancing the critical understanding of place and the design of exceptional environments) was given to:

• Daring to Look: Dorothea Langeâs Photographs and Reports from the Field, by Anne Whiston Spirn; published in 2008 by the University of Chicago Press.

Awards will be presented in May at EDRA's 40th annual meeting, in Kansas City, Missouri.  Winning projects and commentary will be published in the Fall 2009 issue of Places.

Judging for the twelfth annual cycle of the awards (formerly known as the EDRA/Places Awards) was held Feb. 27-28 at the University of Texas, Austin, School of Architecture.  The jurors were:

• David Lake, Principal, Lake/Flato Architects, San Antonio, Texas
• Elizabeth Macdonald, Professor of City and Regional Planning and Urban Design,  University of California, Berkeley
• Rahul Mehrotra, Professor of Architecture, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Principal, Rahul Mehrotra Associates, Mumbai, India
• Lawrence Speck, Professor of Architecture, University of Texas, Austin; Principal, PageSoutherlandPage, Austin, Texas
• William Sullivan, Professor of Landscape Architecture, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

The Great Places Awards reflect the related missions of EDRA, Places, and Metropolis.  EDRA, a national organization of design professionals, social scientists, scholars and practitioners, was founded in 1968.  Its conferences and publications explore the relationship between people and their physical surroundings, suggesting how environmental design can be more responsive to human needs.

The peer-reviewed journal Places covers architecture, landscape architecture, planning, urban design, and environmental art.  Its goal is to shift debate from the discussion of singular, visual objects to the way projects contribute to the larger environments that surround peoples lives, and the public realm in particular.  Places is published by the Design History Foundation and sponsored by Pratt Institute; the College of Environmental Design, University of California, Berkeley; and the School of Architecture and Planning, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.  Places Partners include the Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, University of Michigan; the College of Architecture, Georgia Institute of Technology; the School of Architecture, University of Miami; the School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, University of Maryland; the College of Built Environments, University of Washington; the College of Architecture, Design and Construction, Auburn University; and the College of Design, Arizona State University.

Metropolis Magazine explores the ways a broad spectrum of design disciplines shape the world.  Metropolis is concerned with all aspects of design, from architecture to interior-design products to landscape design and urban planning.  It sees good design as a collaborative process resulting in work that is sustainable yet efficient and cost effective.

The postmark deadline for submissions for the next (2010) cycle of Great Places Awards will be February 7, 2010.