THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, September 22, 1994 TAG: 9409220037
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TERESA ANNAS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 87 lines
FOUR YEARS AGO, Robert Wojtowicz, an architectural historian who teaches at Old Dominion University, began his fight to preserve Norfolk's Center Theater.
In a 1990 letter The Virginian-Pilot's editor, he aired his concerns about Virginia Opera's planned renovation and expansion project:
``Designed by the locally prominent architect Clarence A. Neff in 1943, the Center Theater is one of Norfolk's finest examples of modern architecture in transition.''
He concluded: ``In its nearly 50 years of existence, the Center Theater has been a valuable part of Norfolk's architectural heritage and social fabric. We should exercise utmost caution before making any detrimental renovations to this important building.''
Ultimately, Wojtowicz lost his battle. Ribbon-cutting for Harrison Opera House took place last fall.
Ironically, he has curated an ODU exhibition that highlights the new Harrison Opera House and other regional buildings. The show, ``Hampton Roads AIA Awards Exhibition,'' features sketches, line drawings, watercolor renderings and models.
The opera house was among seven winners in the 1994 American Institute of Architects Hampton Roads Design Awards. Wojtowicz committed to mounting a show of the winners before they were announced earlier this year.
Would he have hesitated had he known the opera house would be honored?
Of course not, he said, adding: ``I wasn't surprised that the opera house won a citation. It was a major civic project. . . .
``Having resisted the renovation for so long, it was in some ways illuminating for me to explore the design thoroughly with Ted Feineis, who was the local project architect. Ultimately, I find it to be a very clever design. But I still wish they hadn't done it.''
He's not losing sleep over it. ``That's over. It's history,'' he said. ``I'm still not wild about the exterior treatment, but I think the auditorium interior is in sympathy with what Neff would have designed had he had a larger budget. I like the boxes very much.''
Award winners were selected from 29 entries by a jury of architects and architecture professors. Eligible structures were built in the past five years, said Mike Padden, local AIA president.
``I really appreciate what Robert (Wojtowicz) has done,'' Padden said. ``He's one of the few people locally who have shown a strong interest in architecture and can appreciate the art in architecture. Not many people will go to bat for it.''
Wojtowicz said he mounted the show ``because there's no venue for architects to exhibit in this area. The university is only too pleased to provide that kind of space for the community.''
After learning of the winners, Wojtowicz hooked up with the architectural firms. In his choice of materials, ``I was trying to give the viewer a sense of the approach of each firm to a design problem.''
Architects with Via Design of Norfolk produced traditional laborious sketches on tracing paper for the Crisler House, a Norfolk home that won a top award. Such a traditional choice reflects the designer's personal preference.
``It was a very personal project,'' the curator said. ``The care that went into the design is evident in the numerous sketches produced.''
Whereas Williams, Tazewell and Associates in Norfolk, local architects on the mammoth opera house project, would necessarily have utilized state-of-the-art, computer-aided design.
``Not to say that one was better than the other,'' Wojtowicz said.
The AIA winners included two top awards, called Design Honors, and five Citations of Design Excellence.
Design Honors went to Virginia Air and Space Center/Hampton Roads History Center in Hampton, by Rancorn Wildman Krause Brezinski Architects in association with Mitchell/Giurgola Architects and to Via Design for Crisler House.
Citations went to:
Harrison Opera House, Williams, Tazewell and Associates with Graham Gund Architects.
Chesapeake Central Library Expansion, by Design Collabor-ative.
Peninsula Fine Arts Center and the Antique Farm Machinery Complex at Chippokes Plantation State Park in Surry, both by Carlton Abbott and Partners.
USAA Mid-Atlantic Headquarters Building, by Hanbury Evans Newill Vlattas & Co. and HKS. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
ANDER PHOTOGRAPHY
The Crisler House by Via Design of Norfolk won a top honor in the
1994 American Institute of Architects Hampton Roads Design Awards.
by CNB