San Diego architecture chair, Catherine Herbst, together with Todd Rinehart of their firm, Rinehart Herbst, received an AIA San Diego chapter Merit Design Award for their project Bee Squared Apiaries, a small beekeeping operation located in Berthoud, Colorado. Bee Squared offers beeswax candles and honey from hives located in Boulder, Larimer, and Weld Counties in Colorado.
describes their project as follows: In northern Colorado at the eastern slope of the Rockies, a read of context led to a kind of vernacular characterization where simple forms and unadorned finishes seem to more easily dematerialize in the agricultural landscape. This steel-fabricated building is a long barn-like form using two wedges of subtraction under its roof to organize programs: a secondary garage and workroom and a primary commercial honey business and 鈥榳et鈥� honey product workroom. Another subtraction through the middle of the form is for vehicle loading. A working loft for 鈥榙ry鈥� production is overhead, bridging the two programs.
The award ceremony and reception were held at The Auditorium at The Scripps Research Institute in San Diego.