AFCEC announces winners of 2021 Air Force Design Awards 

The Air Force Civil Engineer Center recently announced the winners of the 2021 Air Force Design Awards, recognizing 10 standout building projects in design and efficiency.

“Delivering lethality and readiness requires modern and sustainable facilities and we continue to ensure Air and Space Force installations have the infrastructure they need to achieve their missions,” said Col. David Norton, deputy director of AFCEC’s Facility Engineering Directorate. “This year’s winning projects demonstrate outstanding designs focused on the greatest value, innovation and construction excellence, setting the standard for design quality expected on our installations.”

The design awards program, in its 46th year, honors the Air Force’s top projects. Since 1976, the program and the Air Force’s private-sector partners have recognized those projects that achieve design excellence related to the natural and built environment.

The program gives three levels of awards: The Honor Award, which is the top prize, followed by the Merit and Citation Awards.

The 2021 program gave two Honor Awards, one Merit Award and seven Citation Awards out of 18 entries to the following recipients:

2021 Honor Awards

• Facility Design: Nellis Virtual Warfare Center Design, Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada

• Facility Design: Dental Clinic Replacement, Joint Base Andrews, Maryland

2021 Merit Awards

• Facility Design: Air Force Reserve Command – Consolidated Mission Complex Phase 1, Robins AFB, Georgia

2021 Citation Awards

• Facility Design: Tactical Response Force Alert Facility, Malmstrom AFB, Montana

• Facility Design: Distributed Common Ground Station Operations Center, Beale AFB, California

• Facility Design: McConnell Air Traffic Control Tower, McConnell AFB, Kansas

• Facility Renovations and Additions: F-35 Maintenance Hangar Renovation, Burlington Air National Guard Base, Vermont

• Facility Design: C-17 Hangar, Pittsburgh International Airport Air Reserve Station, Pennsylvania

• Facility Renovations and Additions: Cressman Dining Facility Room, Goodfellow AFB, Texas.

• Facility Design: New Squadron Operations Facility, Alabama Air National Guard, Montgomery, Alabama

The four-person jury, made up of architects and engineers from AFCEC’s Standards and Evaluations Branch, evaluated the entries based on aesthetic merits, a fusion of functionality, sustainability, and overall cost control, and energy efficiency.

“This year’s design awards saw a variety of project submissions from facility design to facility renovations and additions. The winning projects exemplify the Air Force’s continued commitment to providing quality facilities that are truly a benchmark of design excellence and built to last,” said Michael Jackson, Air Force architect and Air Force Design Awards program manager.

This awards program is led by AFCEC’s Facility Engineering Directorate, the unit responsible for the design and construction of cost effective and sustainable built infrastructure for air and space missions.

The directorate provides engineering solutions to include design, planning and execution for military construction and facility, sustainment, restoration and modernization across the Department of the Air Force enterprise.

“This is my first year leading this program and it has truly been an honor to manage a program that recognizes and promotes sustainable, functional, creative and resource-efficient design solutions for quality Air Force facilities and installations,” Jackson said.

The awards presentation will take place during the annual, virtual AFCEC Design and Construction Partnering Symposium, scheduled for Dec. 14-15.