CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
Menu
Research dossier · General Reference

VJAA

American architectural firm

Cross-disciplinary reference desk with index cards, atlas, dictionary and catalogue
General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 12, 2026
Entity authorityQ17040939
Source-derived summary

VJAA is an American architectural firm based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The firm is the recipient of the National American Institute of Architects Firm Award (2012). VJAA was founded in 1995 and is led by its two Design Partners Vincent James FAIA and Jennifer Yoos FAIA; with Nathan Knutson FAIA, Managing Principal. Select projects include the Lindsay Boathouse at Upper Canada College in Toronto, Fraser Hall Chemistry Undergraduate Teaching Laboratory Facility at the University of Minnesota, the Charles Hostler Student Center at the American University of Beirut, the Guesthouse at Saint John's Abbey, 825 Arts and the Minnesota Museum of American Art in St. Paul, the Walker Library in Minneapolis and the Welland International Flatwater Centre for the Toronto 2015 Pan Am games. The firm's work has been published in Architecture, Architectural Record, Architecture Review (UK), A+U (Japan), The New York Times, Perspecta, Praxis, and in a number of books in the United States and in France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, the United Kingdom, India, China, and South America.

Awards

VJAA has received 27 national design awards, including fourteen National American Institute of Architects Awards of which eight are National American Institute of Architects Honor Awards, six Progressive Architecture Awards, an AN 2025 Best of Design Award, and two American Institute of Architects/Committee on the Environment Top 10 Green Building Awards. In 2010, Architect magazine ranked VJAA first in the United States for design recognition. In 2001, the firm received the Award in Architecture from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Partners

Vincent James (born 1952, Minneapolis, Minnesota)first practiced in firms in New York and Minneapolis before founding VJAA in 1995.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “VJAA” as american architectural firm. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA dependable orientation record for establishing vocabulary, names and a first evidence trail. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—2012, 1995, 2015, 2025—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. The account is most persuasive where VJAA, American and architectural can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as american architectural firm. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 12, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q17040939. The first chronological checks are 2012, 1995, 2015 and 2025.

Critical limits

A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
Verify next

The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “VJAA”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow VJAA primary sources, VJAA archive and VJAA research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “VJAA”?
  2. Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
  3. What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from VJAA” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.