L.A.’s Griffin Enright Architects among AIA’s small-project winners

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It’s a good week for Griffin Enright Architects. The Los Angeles-based firm has won an award from the American Institute of Architects for its project [Wide]Band -- a so-called ‘nomadic,’ or portable, cafe that has been see at the A+D Museum in L.A.

The AIA said Friday that it has recognized a total of 10 recipients for its 2010 Small Project Awards. The winners are grouped into three categories -- architecture in the public interest, small project objects (with a construction budget of up to $50,000) and small project structures (up to $500,000 construction budget).

John Enright, one of the partners of Griffin Enright, said in an interview Friday that the title of the project, ‘[Wide]Band,’ is a double-entendre that plays on the structure’s twisted shape and its Wi-Fi capabilities. (Enright works with his wife, Margaret Griffin, who is also a partner in the firm.)

[Wide]Band had been on display at the 2006 NeoCon West in L.A., as well as the former site of the A+D Museum as a part of the ‘New Blood: Next Gen’ exhibition, also in 2006.

The structure is made of a material called ‘pep,’ a polycarbonate from the company 3Form. The lighting effects are intended to create the feeling of a floating nightclub, said Enright. He said that the structure is currently in storage.

The other recipients of the AIA award include New York’s Slade Architecture and Jordan Parnass Digital Architecture; North Studio at Wesleyan University; and Tonic Design in North Carolina.

-- David Ng