San Diego architecture chair, Catherine Herbst, together with Todd Rinehart of their firm, Rinehart Herbst, received an AIA San Diego chapter Merit Design Award for their project Bee Squared Apiaries, a small beekeeping operation located in Berthoud, Colorado. Bee Squared offers beeswax candles and honey from hives located in Boulder, Larimer, and Weld Counties in Colorado.
Rinehart Herbst describes their project as follows: In northern Colorado at the eastern slope of the Rockies, a read of context led to a kind of vernacular characterization where simple forms and unadorned finishes seem to more easily dematerialize in the agricultural landscape. This steel-fabricated building is a long barn-like form using two wedges of subtraction under its roof to organize programs: a secondary garage and workroom and a primary commercial honey business and ‘wet’ honey product workroom. Another subtraction through the middle of the form is for vehicle loading. A working loft for ‘dry’ production is overhead, bridging the two programs.
The award ceremony and reception were held at The Auditorium at The Scripps Research Institute in San Diego.