Ursula Emery McClure

Architecture professor Ursula Emery McClure’s firm emerymcclure architecture was named the 2018 winner of the Boutique Residential Architecture Firm of the Year by the Corporate LiveWire Architecture Awards.

The Corporate LiveWire Architecture Awards 2018 is “a celebration of construction, design, planning and completed work, recognizing firms and individuals who have shown a commitment to their sustainable sector.” Categories including building and interior designers, landscaping companies, refurbishment, urban project managers, product design services and law firms were all eligible.

“The Corporate LiveWire judging panel has highlighted some of the most ambitious heritage and redevelopment projects around the world,” Corporate LiveWire announced.

Corporate LiveWire received 12,115 nominations from 22 countries around the world over the past year. Winners were chosen for industry recognition, innovation, design, local knowledge and service excellence.

The project “31” by Emery McClure, with the architecture collaborative firm emc&young, was selected as a finalist for The Sukkah Project Dwell in Design competition in Dallas, Texas in September 2018.

The Sukkah Project: Dwell in Design competition invited architects, artists and builders nationally to submit their most creative and exciting sukkah designs. Ten finalists were selected to receive a $1,800 construction stipend and were tasked with building a life size, modern, artistic sukkah to be displayed at the Dallas Museum of Biblical Art during the weeklong festival. (A Sukkah is a temporary structure constructed for annual use during the week-long Jewish festival of Sukkot.)

The nominated project “31” is a design evocative of palm huts, with profound inspirations.

“31 is inspired by two frail and transient occupancies,” the architects state. “The first is the woven basket that provided shelter for Moses as a baby, protecting him from the Pharaoh’s decree. The second is the Gulf Coast Choctaw Indians who dwelled along the beaches in palm frond huts.”

These palm huts were composed of local raw materials to meet basic needs of shelter, protection, and storage. “31” harnesses both the natural materials and structural systems these inspirations employed: the palm fronds for skin, the weaving to create a surface, and the light, linear frame to create space and place.

The design build competition was a great experience, according to Professor Emery McClure.

Ursula Emery McClure, FAAR, AIA, LEED AP BD+C is a founding partner of emerymcclure architecture and in addition to the firm, she also serves as the A. Hays Town Professor in the School of Architecture at Louisiana State University. Presently, she teaches studios in the Masters of Architecture program and seminar courses that focus on Louisiana culture and architecture. Before starting emerymcclure architecture with Michael A. McClure, Ursula worked in New York for both Wendy Evans Joseph and Mitchell Giurgola Architects. She was a project manager and construction administrator for Mitchell Giurgola Architects on two large-scale urban schools on Staten Island, NY and the Manhattan Family Courts Building. Most recently, Ursula was selected as ArchDaily‘s Most Innovative Practitioners (April 2018.)