Restaurant Design Awards

2012 AIA|LA 8th Annual Restaurant Design Awards

The American Institute of Architects Los Angeles (AIA|LA) hosted an all-star jury for the 8th annual Restaurant Design Awards (RDA) Competition on Thursday, May 10, 2012 and narrowed an impressive field of entrants down to the top nominees.

The distinguished jury - comprised of KCRW radio personality, chef & restaurateur Evan Kleiman, architect extraordinaire Mark Rios, FAIA and Bravo's wunderkind Top Chef winner & restaurateur Michael Voltaggio - selected sixteen projects as finalists for this year's competition: 9 in the Restaurant category, 3 in the Café/Bar category and 4 in the Lounge/Nightclub category.

The jurors were enthused by the overall quality in the entire slate of submissions. "Fantastic work this year! Really excited to see the variety, stylistically. We see a lot of healthy restaurants happening. An indicator, perhaps, that the economy is improving," said Mark Rios, FAIA.

As to the nominees specifically, Evan Kleiman noted that they "made bold quirky choices that are engaging, creating personalities for the spaces. And newbie restaurateur Michael Voltaggio appreciated that quality design need not rely on big budgets, "We chose the nominees that got creative with the money they had, we also chose the nominees that got creative with the money they didn't have. This shows that creativity doesn't come from money, it comes from having good designs."

The Jury winners from this list will be announced at the Restaurant Design Awards Ceremony on Friday, June 22nd as part of Dwell on Design at the LA Convention Center. And in the meantime, it's your turn to vote for the People's Choice Award winners!

The Jury's nominees in each category are listed below and the general public is invited to vote for your favorite architecturally-designed restaurant, café/bar and lounge/nightclub. Voting is now open and will be available thru 12:00 noon on Monday, June 18th. The highest recipient of votes in each category will also be announced at the Awards Ceremony on June 22nd and declared the winner of the 2012 People's Choice Award!

And the 2012 Restaurant Design Awards Nominees are...

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2012 Restaurant Design Awards Nominees

About the RDAs

The AIA|LA’s Restaurant Design Awards (RDA) honor excellence in restaurant design. The competition is open to all individuals and practices with both restaurant owners and architects/designers invited to submit. Either the project itself must be located in the United States or the submitting individual/firm must be US-based. Submissions are accepted in three main categories: restaurants, cafés/bars and lounges/nightclubs. The annual RDA Ceremony recognizes both Jury Award Winners as well as People’s Choice Award Winners, as selected by votes collected from the general public on the AIA|LA website.