Friday5 - June 19, 2026 - MillerClapperton

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IN THIS WEEK’S FRIDAY5™

At last week’s The American Institute of Architects (AIA) 2026 Conference on Architecture & Design in San Diego, the organization announced the winners of a variety of awards. Announcements included winners of AIA’s Architecture Award, COTE Top Ten Awards, Small Project Award, Twenty-Five Year Award and more. Check out all the winners by clicking the link below.

Location: Blacksburg, VA

Products: Plate Aluminum Panels (PAP)

General Contractor: Branch Builds Inc.

Architect: Hanbury Architects

Virginia Tech’s new Student-Athlete Performance Center replaced the Bowman Room on the fourth floor of the Jamerson Athletics Center, and serves as the primary space for sports nutrition staff to meet the nutrition needs of all student-athletes. The 25,000-square-foot center triples the previous space and creates an event space for athletics activities, graduations and more. For this project, MillerClapperton is fabricated and installed 10,550 square feet of plate aluminum panels.

Intentional architecture enhances learning, well-being and organizational sustainability. In this article in Building Design + Construction, Mayva Donnon, AIA, NCARB, LEED AP, Partner at KSS Architects, explains the importance of designing long-term, adaptable spaces that prioritize the needs of the most vulnerable.

Client relationships in the construction industry are often treated as something that happens naturally with the assumption that good work speaks for itself. However, this approach doesn’t work as well in today’s environment where contractors are now under tighter margins, rising owner expectations and closer scrutiny of how teams communicate and collaborate. This article highlights the four pillars of a multichannel strategy for business relationships.

Recommendation: What architects can learn from a truck driver’s hand-carved model of New York

Over the course of 21 years, truck driver Joe Macken built a miniature model of New York City, entirely hand carved out of balsa wood. Made up of almost a million buildings, the 1,500-square-foot model stretches across an entire gallery room in a solo exhibit titled “He Built This: Joe Macken’s Model” at the Museum of the City of New York. The model blends the city’s past and present, inviting people to discover their own version of New York.

“I’ve talked to a lot of architects who have purposefully gone down there because they want to see this,” Macken says. “One guy told me, ‘I’ve been an architect for 25 years. I’ve seen everything. I’ve never seen anything like this.’”

Click the link below to learn more.

Friday5 – June 19, 2026

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