RDG Honored with a 2021 AIA Nebraska Excellence in Design Award

The AIA Nebraska Chapter held its annual Excellence in Design Gala: A Celebration of Design on Friday, November 12, 2021. The Excellence in Design Awards encourage and recognize excellence in the following categories: Architecture, Interior Architecture, Unbuilt Design, Architectural Detail, Masonry, Emerging Professional: Built & Unbuilt, Regional & Urban Design, Architecture Firm Award, and the People’s Choice Award.

Honored with the Architectural Detail Honor Award, the Omaha Office Staircase encourages and recognizes architectural detail or reinforces an overall building concept in an exceptional manner through the use of a particular material, detail or building technology by an AIA Nebraska licensed architect.

Built on an existing framework, the design for the Omaha Office Staircase uses a variety of materials to create a rhythmic, minimal cadence. The wood slats were crafted from reclaimed red oak that was once part of the building’s existing structure. The concrete foundation was repurposed to offer a contemporary and minimalist approach while creating diversity in material language across the wood elements. The finished staircase is a literal and figurative expression of elevated design that grounds the space and offers a unique place for spontaneous collaboration.

The selection jury was impressed, citing the detailing and the execution as nearly flawless. Each step is measured and celebrated through the repetition of the pattern and the variation of the grain of each piece. One imagines you might take these stairs more slowly to spend more time in the well-crafted, warm, and rich enclosure, concluded the jury.

Read more about RDG Planning & Design’s 2021 AIA Nebraska Excellence in Design honor here.