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Three Salem architecture firms last month were honored by the American Institute of Architects‘ Salem chapter.

CB | Two Architects received the Honor Award for a remodel of the Salem Alliance Church youth center and the People’s Choice Award for the Broadway Commons mixed-use building.

Also, Arbuckle Costic Architects received a Merit Award for the Chemeketa Community College Center for Business and Industry, and Studio 3 Architecture received one for the Helping Hands Resources headquarters.

Five Salem firms submitted 13 projects for consideration by a three-person awards jury featuring Portland-based THA Architecture principal Becca Cavell, Eugene-based PIVOT Architecture principal Bill Seider and Architecture Foundation of Oregon Executive Director Jane Jarrett. The general public chose the People’s Choice Award winner after viewing a display at the Salem Public Library.

The Salem Alliance Church youth center remodel was completed in September 2011 on an accelerated schedule and with a limited budget of $250,000, CB | Two Architects principal Aaron Terpening said. The CB | Two design team opted to tear out walls and open up a building that had previously been used for auto repair and beauty supply sales among other uses, he said.

“It was a remodel to a junky space, and the transformation was pretty dramatic,” he said. “It really just felt like a maze in there.”

The four-story Broadway Commons building was constructed in 2010, after the city of Salem changed the overlay zoning for retail and mixed use, Terpening said. The building features ground-floor retail, two floors of conference room space and a top floor of leasable offices.

“(Salem Alliance Church) really seized the opportunity and decided to go for it and do something that’s totally different,” he said. “The church purposely made it a really public-feeling place.”