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Arup to receive National Building Museum Honor Award

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Jackie Wei Green Jackie Wei Green Americas Head of Communications,Los Angeles
11 May 2022

The National Building Museum announced today it will present its 2022 Honor Award to global built environment consulting firm Arup. The Museum recognizes Arup as the 35th recipient of this award for its seven decades of collaboration and creativity dedicated to shaping a better world through the built environment.

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It is an honor to receive this award from the National Building Museum, a champion of innovation and sustainability in the built environment. As we reflect with pride on our work over the last 75 years, we also look forward to leveraging our skills, project work, and influence to meet the current challenges of climate change, social inequity and biodiversity, as we partner across the industry to create a more resilient world. ” Fiona Cousins Fiona Cousins Director

Arup will receive the Honor Award during the Museum's Gala on June 16 in Washington DC. In conjunction with the award, Arup’s mLab will be on display at the Museum from June 17 and through August 15, featuring content focused on global climate action. A mobile environment combining audio, light, and virtual reality using 3D ambisonic sound, the installation will demonstrate how decisions for a project’s different design iterations can be made using a virtual, first-hand experience. The mLab uses advanced VR and 3D audio technology to recreate any aspect of the built environment, from the interior of concert halls or train stations, to the exterior urban environment, and streamlines spatial coordination for collaborators throughout the design phases. It joins the Museum’s Notre-Dame de Paris: The Augmented Exhibition which also utilizes immersive technology storytelling.

Leading up to the Gala, on June 1 the Museum and Arup will co-host a virtual program to begin a year-long series that recognizes and highlights the firm’s work addressing sustainability and social justice in the built environment as part of the Museum’s Climate ABC series. The virtual program will feature Fiona Cousins, Arup's Americas Region Chair, and be moderated by Robert Kay, Arup’s Climate Services and Sustainability Leader. It will cover the power of digital technology, nature-based solutions, and community empowerment to move sustainable development from concept to action.

The Honor Award has been presented annually since 1986 to recognize individuals and organizations that have shaped America’s built heritage, defined our culture, and developed our communities. Arup joins a list of honorees that includes Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, Urban Land Institute, Brookfield Properties, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

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We are thrilled to present Arup with the 35th annual Honor Award and look forward to celebrating the organization’s contributions and future growth. Arup has long been at the forefront of the most ambitious and challenging design and engineering projects. With an intense focus on sustainability and innovation, the firm’s commitment to solving the most pressing problems impacting communities across the globe is exemplary and deserving of such an honor. ” Anthony Greenberg National Building Museum Board Chair and Executive Vice President, JBG SMITH

On June 16, the Museum will also unveil its new Institutional Pillars, which provide a vision for impact and focus for its work. These four Pillars: Equity, Environment, Innovation and Wonder, now guide the Museum.

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Arup’s work in Creating Sustainable Futures is at the heart of their purpose. This work directly aligns with all four of our Pillars, and this ethos, to make the world sustainable, drives both our institutions. Both Arup and the Museum are working to make a lasting and positive impact on the built world through our respective work. ” Aileen Fuchs National Building Museum President and Executive Director

Since established in 1980 through an act of Congress, the National Building Museum has transformed the public’s understanding of the impact of architecture, engineering, landscape architecture, construction, planning, and design. The Museum has been at the forefront of generating conversation and exhibitions around the role of architecture and the built environment on the fight to combat climate change.