HOUSTON (November 19, 2009)--PageSoutherlandPage has won the Texas Society of Architects 2009 Architecture Firm Award, the highest honor bestowed upon a Texas architecture practice.  The award recognizes one firm that has consistently produced distinguished architecture in the state for at least 10 years.  PageSoutherlandPage received the honor last month in conjunction with the TSA's 70th Annual Convention and Expo in Houston. 

PageSoutherlandPage principal Lawrence W. Speck, FAIA, accepted the award on behalf of the firm accompanied by fellow principals Matthew F. Kreisle III, AIA; John N. Cryer III, AIA; Mattia J. Flabiano III, AIA and James M. Wright, AIA. (To read Speck’s speech, please click here.)

“This award is a tribute to our talented professionals," said John Cryer III, AIA, principal of the PageSoutherlandPage Houston office. “They help PageSoutherlandPage remain fresh and relevant." 

Selection was based on three areas of achievement:  exemplary design; practice and personal development; and professional and community involvement.  According to Jeannette Allison, governance manager for the Society, "Design was a factor, but the honor awards committee also asked, 'How do they support their employees? Do they allow volunteer service?'  Internships and mentoring are part of PSP's culture, and that's what the committee was looking for."

PageSoutherlandPage has renewed itself in the last 25 years to become a dynamic leader in design and city-building, through civic participation as well as professional projects.  The firm has contributed to the transformation of Austin's urban core with such projects as the Austin Convention Center and its expansion, the Computer Sciences Corporation complex, and the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport.  Since opening the Dallas office in 1975, PageSoutherlandPage has impacted healthcare delivery in North Texas, designing major facilities for the Baylor Healthcare System and University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.  In downtown Houston, PageSoutherlandPage has designed 10 adaptive reuse projects, including the Rice Hotel renovation and the architecture at Discovery Green park.  Business Week and Architectural Record recognized PSP and Discovery Green in its 2009 "Good Design is Good Business" Awards.

Having worked with City of Austin and State of Texas energy departments to develop sustainable design standards in the 1990s, PageSoutherlandPage now has more than 100 LEED-accredited professionals on staff and has designed more than 60 projects to meet LEED certification. 

PageSoutherlandPage supports young designers through mentoring, continuing education and technical training.  Each office is actively involved in college internship programs; last summer, the firm employed 23 interns, with the goal of providing real world work experiences.  "Our college interns are treated as full members of the project teams," said Lisa Rosenfeld, PageSoutherlandPage 's director of human resources.  "We learn from them as much as they learn from us."

PageSoutherlandPage principals and staff hold regular faculty positions at Texas architecture schools, also   serving on school advisory boards, writing books and articles, presenting lectures (more than 100 in the last decade), and sitting on design award juries.  Similarly, the firm provides pro bono work in its communities and has helped families recover from natural disasters including Tropical Storm Allison and Hurricane Ike. Financially and philosophically, the firm encourages employee participation in a wide range of charitable and economic development activities.  Both the Dallas Business Journal and Houston Business Journal this year named PSP one of the "Best Places to Work."

ABOUT PAGESOUTHERLANDPAGE
Founded in Austin, Texas, in 1898, PageSoutherlandPage is one of the nation's most enduring and prolific architecture and engineering  practices. The firm has more than 425 employees at offices in Austin, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Washington, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Doha, Qatar, Kuwait, and London, providing architecture, interiors, consulting and engineering services.  PageSoutherlandPage is focused on designing healthcare, science and technology, and public facilities as well as academic, corporate, and urban housing projects.

In addition to Discovery Green, recent projects include the GSA regional field office in Houston, Children’s Medical Center at Legacy in Plano, Texas, Four Points Centre in Austin, the Army Materiel Command Headquarters in Huntsville, Ala., and the Renaissance Riverfront Lofts, an affordable housing complex in Denver.  PageSoutherlandPage 's international reach includes 15 U.S. embassy and consulate compounds as well as a master plan for the University of Monterrey, Mexico, the Kempinski Gold Coast Hotel in Accra, Ghana, and the master plan for Hamad Medical Center in Doha, Qatar.

Media Contact: Nancy Acker Fleshman - This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it