AIA Nebraska Announces 2025 People's Choice Award Winners
AIA Nebraska has recognized RDG Planning & Design with two People's Choice Awards.
The American Institute of Architects, Nebraska Chapter, recently announced the winners of its 2025 People’s Choice awards, highlighting the public’s interest in architecture designed by Nebraska architects. This year, more than 1,000 members of the public reviewed 98 projects. RDG Planning & Design won the People’s Choice in Interior Architecture (Hawkeye Community College Grundy Hall Health Science Center Renovation) and People’s Choice Unbuilt Architecture (St. Frances Cabrini Outdoor Chapel and Prayer Garden).
Recognizing the growing demand for trained health science professionals, Hawkeye Community College and RDG reimagined the college's health science programs, consolidating previously dispersed labs and simulation spaces into a single, centralized hub. This redesign produced the renovated Grundy Hall Health Science Center, an immersive, hands-on learning environment that supports interdisciplinary education to better prepare students for evolving healthcare roles in the community.
The design for the interior spaces creates a realistic, hospital-like environment, featuring six patient rooms and an apartment-like setting where occupational therapy and EMS students can practice working with and extracting patients. These high-tech, high-touch simulation spaces encourage students in different disciplines to collaborate and learn from one another as they engage in hands-on learning and training.
RDG’s proposed design for the St. Frances Cabrini Outdoor Chapel and Prayer Garden establishes a lasting spiritual and cultural asset for the Omaha Catholic community and the neighborhood it has served for generations. Rooted in the historic fabric of Omaha’s Little Italy neighborhood, and influenced by the Spanish Revival style of an existing church and school, design for the project rejuvenates the hallowed ground of a condemned rectory and reimagines the sacred space in a way that reflects both global Catholic tradition and local identity.
The chapel and garden offer a unique opportunity for communal worship outdoors, providing a ceremonial experience unlike any other in the Midwest. Imagined as a way to extend the church’s mission beyond its walls, the project serves as a public expression of faith and hospitality where beauty is not reserved for the interior of a sanctuary, but extends into the open air and is accessible to all.
Learn more about the 2025 AIA Nebraska People’s Choice award winners here.