The Hanley Foundation and Hanley Wood announced that architect Bob Berkebile, FAIA, the “B” in the Kansas City-based firm BNIM, has been selected as the 2014 recipient of The Hanley Award for Vision and Leadership in Sustainability. With its $50,000 purse, the Hanley Award is the largest annual award for sustainability in the built environment.
The program is in its fifth cycle and is sponsored by the Hanley Foundation, a nonprofit, and by Ecobuilding Review, Builder, and Architect magazines. (Note: Hanley Wood is the parent company for all three publications.) It honors individuals who have demonstrated extraordinary, lasting, and far-reaching contributions to sustainability, and who have greatly influenced policy and industry response to critical environmental challenges in the United States.
Previous Hanley Award recipients are architect and environmental advocate Edward Mazria, who founded Architecture 2030; Alex Wilson, who founded and leads BuildingGreen LLC; Sam Rashkin, creator of Energy Star for Homes, the first national residential energy rating system in the country; and Dennis Creech, co-founder and executive director of Southface.
“Bob Berkebile has been a guiding force in sustainability for decades and has earned the respect and admiration of virtually everyone working to advance sustainability in our industry today,” said Michael J. Hanley, President of the Hanley Foundation, co-founder of Hanley Wood, and creator of the award. “We are proud to name Bob as the 2014 recipient, and to recognize his incredible contributions and the crucial role he continues to play in leading us forward toward a sustainable future.”
Berkebile was selected from a slate of nominees that included land-use expert Christopher Leinberger; architect and researcher Vivian Loftness, FAIA; architect Jason McLennan of the International Living Future Institute, architect Steven Winter, FAIA, of Steven Winter Associates; and Gail Vittori and Pliny Fisk III of the Center for Maximum Potential Building Systems.
The Hanley Award judges this year were Michael J. Hanley; Frank Anton, Vice Chairman of Hanley Wood; Dennis Creech, 2013 Hanley Award recipient and co-founder of Southface; Judith Webb, Senior Vice President of Marketing & Strategy for the U.S. Green Building Council; and Michelle Desiderio, Vice President of Innovation Services at Home Innovations Research Labs.
The Hanley Award will be presented to Bob Berkebile on October 21, at the annual Hanley Award Dinner during Greenbuild in New Orleans.