Photo by Steven Keating Photography The Orion Building in West Seattle won the top award in the Medical category at the 2012 Masonry Institute of Washington Excellence in Masonry Design Awards. The building was designed by Stuart Silk Architects. Special Section Team Section editor: Benjamin Minnick Section design: Jeffrey Miller Web design: Lisa Lannigan Advertising: Matt Brown

The Masonry Institute of Washington celebrated 15 projects yesterday at its Excellence in Masonry Design Awards banquet at the Fairmont Olympic Hotel in Seattle.

June 1, 2012 A Special Section of DJC.COM

MIW awards honor outstanding architectural design where masonry products - brick, concrete block, stone, tile and marble - figure prominently into the overall building design.

The judges were Julie Blazek, HKP Architects, Mount Vernon; Steve Sears, Fuller Sears Architects, Seattle; Erin Moore, University of Oregon; and Steffany Tilton, BLRB Architects, Tacoma.

MIW holds its awards program every two years. This year, it co-hosted the banquet with AIA Washington's Civic Design Awards. Winners of the Civic Design Awards can be found in a separate special section.

MIW was established in 1972 to promote masonry construction throughout Western Washington. It also serves as an education provider and technical resource for building industry professionals.