Tepper Quad Recognized With Architectural Awards

Since opening in 2017, the Tepper Quad has earned recognition and accolades from across the globe for its visual appeal, sustainable features, innovative engineering, and transformative impact.

From its overall design to specific features like the glazing on the atrium glass, architectural and engineering organizations have taken notice of Moore Ruble Yudell Architects & Planners, BuroHappold Engineering, and other collaborators for their exceptional achievements with the Tepper Quad and the business school building.

Creative Sustainable Design

This fall, the Urban Land Institute's Pittsburgh chapter recognized the quad with an Award for Excellence, Transformative Place as part of its Placemaking Awards. ULI is a global organization that promotes and recognizes responsible use of land. With the Placemaking Awards, the Pittsburgh chapter celebrates projects that honor and elevate the space they occupy.

"The awarded buildings have earned their well-deserved recognition, taking some of the most energy-intensive and technologically challenging building types to new and higher levels of design and integrated performance."

Chicago Athenaeum President Christian Narkiewicz-Laine on the 2019 American Architecture Awards, which included the Tepper Quad among the best new architecture designed by American architects.

The American Institute of Architects Pittsburgh chapter conferred an Honor Award on the Tepper Quad as a hub for creativity, collaboration, and innovation. The jury commented, "From the building sitting on the campus to the high-level integration of creative sustainable design strategies, the Tepper Quad Project was a unanimous jury favorite." In addition, the AIA Los Angeles chapter recognized the quad with a Citation Award from the Committee on the Environment for exhibiting a high level of sustainable and environmental performance.

The 2019 American Architecture Awards, organized by the Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture and Design and the European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies, included the Tepper Quad among the best new architecture designed by American architects. Chicago Athenaeum President Christian Narkiewicz-Laine said, "The awarded buildings have earned their well-deserved recognition, taking some of the most energy-intensive and technologically challenging building types to new and higher levels of design and integrated performance."

Innovative BubbleDeck Technology

Among the engineering accolades, World Architecture News named the quad as a finalist for Concrete in Architecture in its 2019 WAN Awards, recognizing the use of a BubbleDeck voided slab system to save floor-to-floor height and reduce the environmental impact of construction. At the time of construction, The Tepper Quad was the largest BubbleDeck project in North America.

Engineering News-Record for the Mid-Atlantic Region bestowed an Award of Merit on the Tepper Quad project, citing the BubbleDeck system that reduced concrete use and overall cost as well as strategies employed to maximize flexibility of the business school building’s use over time. In 2018, the Engineers' Society of Western Pennsylvania named the quad its commercial Project of the Year.

International Recognition

Additionally, the Illuminating Engineering Society granted a merit award to the quad as part of its 2019 Illumination Awards, crediting Horton Lees Brogden Lighting Design for its work on the lighting of the interior of the building and the outdoor quad.

Contractors PJ Dick also earned recognition for their work on the Tepper Quad. The Associated General Contractors of America honored the firm with a 2019 Build America Merit Award for a new building or renovation of more than $126 million.

Beyond awards, the Tepper Quad project has been lauded internationally in numerous publications in the architecture, construction, and engineering industries, such as World Architecture News, gb&d magazine, and The Glazine.