Columbia, MD (April 2, 2008) - Nemetschek North America congratulates BKSK Architects LLP and Leroy Street Studio for winning an American Institute of Architects (AIA) 2008 Housing Award. The AIA recognizes outstanding projects in four categories: one- and two-family custom housing, multifamily housing, one- or two-family production housing, and special housing.

New York firm BKSK Architects was one of seven winners in the multifamily housing category for its 25 Bond Street project. The bold architectural design of 25 Bond Street reflects the changing composition of a historic New York City neighborhood. While the industrial-strength language remains faithful to the character of the surrounding buildings, the asymmetrical layering of the façade signals a contemporary transformation. The project was unusual as a multifamily dwelling because it was designed and built for its owners. Seven individuals banded together with a developer, Goldman Properties, to purchase the property and erect the building. The result was a building that was thought of as a big house whose common spaces were considered an extension of each individual unit and whose public face was unusually important to those living inside.

"Our office has been using VectorWorks Architect on a Mac platform for more than 15 years for all of our 2D and much of our 3D work," says George Schieferdecker, AIA, BKSK partner. "For the 25 Bond Street project, we created a great number of façade studies exploring the complex dimensional relationship between solids and voids, and the relationship of the exterior to the neighborhood context and the building interior."

"VectorWorks Architect's solid fills facilitated the creation of these quick solid/void façade studies," adds BKSK partner Todd Poisson, AIA.

Leroy Street Studio, also based in New York, won in the one- and two-family custom housing category for its Modern Barn project. The firm captured the qualities of traditional barn structures-generous spaces, repetitive timber frames-while developing a modern building that responds to the demands of a residential program and takes advantage of the site's dramatic views. To unify the building's internal and external spaces, the firm created a translucent wrapper of louvers and rain screen siding.

"VectorWorks Architect allowed us to integrate our 2D project documents with the development of the 3D design on this project," says Morgan Hare, Leroy Street Studio partner. "Complex relationships between exterior and interior spaces enclosed by the rain screen wrapper were easy to study, thanks to VectorWorks. We have used VectorWorks for the last 11 years on the Windows platform and have found that its intuitive user interface has resulted in a short learning curve for new employees."

Nemetschek North America is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Nemetschek Group and maker of the VectorWorks line of design solutions. A global leader in design technologies, Nemetschek North America has been developing CAD software for the AEC, entertainment, landscape design, and manufacturing fields since 1985. One of the world's best-selling cross-platform CAD applications, VectorWorks Architect is an elegant architectural design program that offers cost-effective, cutting-edge BIM capabilities. For more information, visit www.nemetschek.net