AFCEC announces 2023 DAF Design Award winners
The Air Force Civil Engineer Center recently announced the winners of the 2023 Department of the Air Force Design Awards for excellence in design, sustainability and energy efficiency.
“The three 2023 award-winning projects demonstrate innovative and cost-effective design solutions that exceed the DAF standard for excellence. It’s a phenomenal collaborative team effort that includes our design and construction agents, industry partners and myriad mission owners across the enterprise,“ said Col. George Nichols, deputy director of AFCEC’s Facility Engineering Directorate. “Our installations are our power-projection platforms, and we continue to modernize them by delivering mission-ready, mission-focused facilities to maintain the most agile and lethal force that’s optimized for not only current but future fights as well.”
The annual DAF Design Awards program honors the top projects that exemplify the best architecture and building design while complying with Department of Defense and Air Force criteria. The program, in tandem with the DAF’s private-sector partners, recognizes projects that achieve design excellence related to the natural and built environment.
The 2023 recipients are:
Merit Award: Facilities Renovations and Additions Category: Red Flag 201, 5thGeneration Addition, Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada.
Merit Award: Facilities New Construction Category: Consolidated Operations Building, Whiteman AFB, Missouri.
Citation Award: Facilities New Construction Category: KC-46A, Two-Bay Depot Maintenance Hangar, Tinker AFB, Oklahoma.
Winning designs embodied quality through a fusion of functionality, sustainability and climate resilience, cost control, and energy efficiency, said Wallace Lindsey, Air Force Design Awards program manager. “The awards program recognizes demonstrations of facility excellence at DAF installations. Design excellence is established by meeting DAF corporate facilities standards and installation facility standards, DoD metrics for performance, and DAF budget requirements,” Lindsey said.
A three-member jury, made up of subject matter experts from AFCEC’s Standards & Evaluation Branch, appraised the entries on unique criteria such as reduced energy/water use, materials or life-cycle cost efficiencies.
“I’m tremendously thankful for team members across the enterprise who are committed to excellence in design, as well as our stellar jury members tasked with the incredible challenge of evaluating all submitted projects,” Lindsey said.
A formal presentation of the awards is scheduled Jan. 30–Feb. 1 during the annual AFCEC Design & Construction Partnering Symposium in San Antonio.
