Clark Nexsen Wins Three 2025 AIA Aspire Design Awards

Clark Nexsen received three American Institute of Architects (AIA) Aspire Design Awards at the 2025 AIA Aspire Conference on September 14 in Asheville, North Carolina, for Don R. Pippin & John C. Wyllie Hall at UVA Wise, the Fort Fisher Visitor’s Center, and the Madera Cyber Innovation Center at the United States Air Force Academy. Hosted by the AIA state chapters of Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina, Aspire is an innovative regional design conference for the Southeast’s built community to inspire, collaborate, and design the future. 

Honor Award — Madera Cyber Innovation Center 

Centered on bolstering the abilities of cadets at the U.S. Air Force Academy, the almost 50,000-square-foot, three-story Madera Cyber Innovation Center brings together military, academic, and industry expertise to educate and train future Air and Space Force officers. The facility serves as the new home for the Air Force’s CyberWorx program, the Institute for Future Conflict, the Department of Computer and Cyber Sciences, and all other cyber-focused curricula. Designed as a signature building and adhering to the architectural style of the Air Force Academy’s campus, the building features a variety of innovative areas, such as flexible classrooms and laboratories with cutting edge technology. 

Honor Award — Don R. Pippin & John C. Wyllie Hall 

Located on the campus of the University of Virginia’s College at Wise, the renovation of Don R. Pippin & John C. Wyllie Hall has transformed the facility into a state-of-the-art home for its Department of Nursing. The building, which was built to be the library in the 1960s, was updated with contemporary materials, LED lighting, new MEP systems, an elevator, and complete re-glazing. The facility now features nursing simulation labs, new classrooms, a lecture hall, office space for staff, and common areas with improved daylighting.  

Honor Award — Fort Fisher Visitor’s Center 

Located on the site of a massive Civil War Confederate fortress, the 22,00 square-foot visitor’s center provides guests with an interactive facility that tells the unique story and history of Fort Fisher and the surrounding area. Designed to elevate previously marginalized voices and present a more complete history of the area, the two-story building, which replaces the old center, features more space, modern amenities, and an immersive design that allows artifacts, architecture, and the local landscape to work in concert together. Once positioned to defend the mouth of the Cape Fear River, the site has reconstructed Civil War-era earthworks and replica cannons looking outward toward the shoreline.  

About AIA Aspire Design Awards  

The AIA Aspire Design Awards program highlights the diverse range of projects by architects in Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. The program is carefully structured so that the selection and recognition of honorees elevate the general quality of architectural practice, establishes a standard of excellence against the general quality of architectural practice, establishes a standard of excellence against which all architects can measure performance, and informs the public of the importance of design.