The home of Ohio State University's own architecture school has itself won another award for its design.

OSU's Knowlton Hall, home of the Austin E. Knowlton School of Architecture, was recently awarded an Architecture Honor Award from the American Institute of Architects.

The AIA honor awards program recognizes achievements in a broad range of architectural activity to "elevate the general quality of architecture practice, establish a standard of excellence against which all architects can measure performance, and inform the public of the breadth and value of architecture practice."

The honor awards program has three divisions, including architecture, interior architecture and regional and urban design. The Knowlton School of Architecture is a winner in the architecture division.

Some of the jury comments included "What architect would not have liked to have gone to school here? ... This project embodies everything I would want in an architecture building. It is full of unique spaces, an open flexible hall that beckons people to participate, and seems to have surprises around every corner ... 'Our buildings shape us,' as Churchill said, and to have future generations of architects learn and grow as designers within an inspiring building such as this ... is exhilarating."

The 165,000-square-foot building, located at 275 W. Woodruff Ave., is home to the three disciplines that make up the Knowlton School of Architecture: architecture, landscape architecture, and city and regional planning.

The building, dedicated in 2004, has been the recipient of awards from AIA Ohio, AIA Georgia and AIA Columbus.

The building features six classrooms, four seminar spaces, a 200-seat auditorium, studio spaces, the Banvard Gallery, a materials/fabrication lab, a roof-top garden, a 30,000-volume library, a cafe and a central review space for critiques of student work.

The building was designed by Mack Scogin Merrill Elam Architects of Atlanta, in collaboration with WSA studio of Columbus.

The AIA's Architecture Honor Award is the profession's highest recognition of works that "exemplify excellence in architecture, interior architecture and urban design."

All architects licensed in the United States were eligible to submit entries of buildings or building complexes that have been completed since Jan. 1, 2003.

Of more than 700 submissions from around the world, Knowlton Hall was chosen to be one of the 28 award winners.

The building design reflects the school's mission of excellence in education, innovation in design and planning, and the stewardship of a quality environment, according to school officials.

The AIA noted that "asserting the belief that a school of architecture has a commitment to teach by example to both students within and the community at large, the architectural form and urban positioning of the new school is strategically active and interactive."

AIA representatives also said that the building form is generated by "enclosing, defining and confronting the spaces and existing buildings of the larger site. Studios overlook the newly captured spaces. Students are in the midst of the urban activity which they will study and will eventually help form and influences."

Other honors award winners include Skirkanich Hall in Philadelphia, the Macallen Building in Boston, Alice Tully Hall in New York, the Serta International Center in Illinois and a university campus restaurant and event space in Germany.

The 28 winners will be honored in June at the AIA's national convention in Miami.

The AIA, formed in 1857, is the top national association for licensed architects, emerging professionals and partners and has a Columbus chapter.