Buildings of the Year 2014

Lafayette College Arts Plaza
Easton, Pennsylvannia
Spillman Farmer Architects

Described as a "non-building" by the team at Spillman Farmer, the Arts Plaza is a dramatic transformation of an old auto-repair facility into an open-air space for Lafayette College arts students. Not only is the project an unban infill piece between two buildings, it literally spans one of Easton's waterways, Bushkill Creek. The project, which received close to 20% of the votes, illustrates how a minimal intervention – basically brick piers, mesh boxes and wood beams – can have a transformative effect on a city.

Henderson-Hopkins School
Baltimore, Maryland
ROGERSPARTNERS Architects+Urban Designers

The World-Architects editorial team selected this new school that forms part of a major redevelopment in East Baltimore, an area known for its crime, poverty and drugs. The K-8 school occupies two city blocks, but it is broken down into about a dozen small buildings to create a city within a city and achieve a scale that is in concert with the surrounding row houses. This contextual-modern approach comes across as well in the materials, particularly the brick-colored concrete and translucent glazing.

Second place in the public vote is the Animo Leadership High School in Inglewood, California, designed by Brooks + Scarpa Architects. Designed to enhance passive sustainable strategies, the south facade is covered almost entirely in solar panels that shade the building and provide approximately 3/4 of the energy needs for the school.

Third place in the public vote is Tresarca, a single-family house outside Las Vegas, Nevada, designed by assemblageSTUDIO. A mesh-covered second story sits above the solid walls of the house's first floor and cantilevers beyond it to create a shaded patio appropriate to the desert climate.

Congratulations to the winners and the runners-up, and thanks to everybody who voted for the Building of the Year 2014. We'd like to also thank our partner Nemetschek Vectorworks for making the Building of the Week and Building of the Year possible.