Suby Bowden and John D. Morrow, former architectural partners now heading their own Santa Fe-based firms, were awarded the inaugural Jeff Harnar Award for Contemporary Architecture at a ceremony at La Fonda on Wednesday night.

Bowden and Morrow were presented with the $5,000 prize for their architectural planning for the Galisteo residence of Emily Fisher-Landau and Sheldon Landau, which sits in the middle of a 4,000-acre ranch.

The landscape on which the home sits "is bold and almost barren," the architects wrote in their concept statement, calling "for design solutions with bold references to American plains architecture." Outdoor walls, patios and courtyards were "designed to differentiate between the domesticated and the wild landscape," the architects said, "with shaded pathways (providing) gentle transition between buildings."

The other two finalists in the inaugural competition were Marci Riskin, Riskin Associates Architecture Inc., architect for the city of Santa Fe's Fire Station No. 8, and D. Joseph Andrade, djosephandradearchitect llc, architect and owner of a private home on Second Street.

The competition, underwritten by the Thornburg Charitable Foundation, was established earlier this summer by Garrett Thornburg, chief executive officer of the Thornburg Cos., to honor Santa Fe architect Jeff Harnar, who died last year at age 52, and to continue Harnar's work integrating contemporary design into a historic city.

Harnar, who established his practice here in 1984, designed the Jean Cocteau Cinema (now the state film museum) and the Santa Fe Children's Museum as well as numerous private homes.

"If one spied a modern building around Santa Fe, for so many years it was probably one of Jeff's," wrote Santa Fe architect Conrad Skinner, who helped establish the judging criteria for the competition.

The first of what will become an annual competition open to all active or retired architects registered in the state of New Mexico drew 18 entries, ranging from rural high-end private homes to urban in-fill, from city fire stations to Railyard art galleries and government buildings.

According to published competition criteria, entries were to be evaluated "on architectural diversity by way of fresh and colorful interpretations of the region's history and culture," on the inspiration they drew "from the desert and its vegetation, geological forms, and the brilliant range of color and texture"; and on the "infusion of desert light into the built work."

In an informal talk before the presentation of the award, Thornburg — a self-described fan of modern architecture and friend of Harnar, who designed Thornburg's Santa Fe home more than 20 years ago and remodeled it several times to meet the financier's changing needs — defined contemporary architecture as "something that's being done now that's not trying to be something else."

When a building — contemporary or historic — is special, Thornburg said, "you can feel it in your bones." The same is not true for what he called "faketecture," a newly constructed building pretending to be old.

His hope for the annual Jeff Harnar Award, he said, is to promote the idea that historic design and contemporary architecture cannot only co-exist but, together, enrich the life of the city.

Contact Pat West-Barker at 986-3085 or pwest@sfnewmexican.com.

ON THE WEB

• To view all 18 projects submitted for the 2007 Jeff Harnar Award for Contemporary Architecture, log onto www.jeffharnaraward.com.