Northeastern’s West Village residence halls, whose soaring archways rise dramatically above once-tired Huntington Avenue, recently earned top honors from the American Institute of Architects (AIA).

West Village buildings A, B, and C, designed by William Rawn Associates, won the 2004 AIA Honor Award, the profession’s highest recognition. Sixteen winners were chosen from among 600 submissions.

In a press release announcing the award, the AIA wrote, “With the planning of three new residence halls and the west campus, the university defined a new model for an urban campus. The new building combines a strong institutional presence on Boston’s Avenue of the Arts with a strong sense of engagement and openness to the city.”

The 1,050-bed residence complex was one of two academic designs honored by the AIA for outstanding architecture. The other academic honoree was State Street Village at Illinois Institute of Technology.

Other structures honored were the new Oslo headquarters of Norwegian telecommunications giant Telenor, the Salt Lake City Public Library, the Taghkanic House of upstate New York, and the skybridge at One North Halsted in Chicago.

Rawn called the West Village buildings special because they “speak to President Freeland’s vision of a strong commitment to the urban community.” Freeland, in turn, praised the “fine work” of Rawn and his colleagues.

Added Nancy May, Northeastern project manager in physical plant maintenance and construction, “This is a really big deal, a very prestigious award.”

Along with this recent honor, the residence halls have received other major regional and national awards for architecture and urban design, including the 2002 Boston Society of Architects Honor Award for Housing, the 2002 Congress for the New Urbanism Charter Award, and the 2001 Boston Society of Architects Award for Design.

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