The National Building Museum announced that Theaster Gates will be the 25th recipient of the Vincent Scully Prize. Initiated in 1999, the award serves as a recognition of excellence in the fields of design, architecture, historic preservation, urban design, encompassing practice, and criticism. Theaster Gates is an artist internationally renowned for his interdisciplinary blend of social performance, urban regeneration, and cultural activations.
For the 18th year, the International Architecture Awards has returned to celebrate outstanding architectural achievements globally. Based in Chicago, these awards feature exceptional new buildings, urban planning projects, and landscape architecture of 2023. Additionally, this month, the Chicago Architecture Biennial (CAB 5) is currently taking place in the city. Both the awards and the Biennial attempt to shed light on each country’s architectural, design, cultural, and social trends.
Since the inception of the International Architecture Awards in 2005, this annual program has served as a platform for celebrating contemporary architecture. Moreover, the awards institution believes in architecture’s potential to enhance the quality of life for individuals globally. This year, the selected winners span 48 countries, from Ethiopia to Tokyo and New York to Nova Scotia.
Under the motto "Me-dio Pla-zo," the XVI Spanish Biennial of Architecture and Urbanism (BEAU) inaugurated its exhibition at the Royal Artillery Factory in Seville, highlighting the future vision of architecture and urban planning. At the same time, all the awarded projects in the different categories of this edition involving Architectural Works, Research and Dissemination Works, and End of Career Projects were announced. Until November 20, 2023, the exhibition inspired by the concept of "boxes of time" will be available for visiting, aiming to explore the present as well as the medium-term ambitions of each work.
The Mexican architect Frida Escobedo has been announced as the winner of the 2023 Charlotte Perriand Award, organized by The Créateurs Design Awards. From the Serpentine Pavilion to the design of the new wing for modern and contemporary art at the MET in New York, Escobedo has consistently demonstrated her commitment to creating and implementing exceptional design. Frida Escobedo is the second architect to receive the Charlotte Perriand Award, following in the footsteps of architect Jeanne Gang.
Pritzker Prize winner Diébédo Francis Kéré has been named the 2023 Praemium Imperiale laureate for architecture. The annual award, presented by the Japan Art Association, recognizes and awards 6 artists from different creative fields: architecture, music, painting, sculpture, and theatre or film. Francis Kéré, who leads the Berlin-based office Kéré Architecture, has received the prestigious award for his influence on African and global architecture, engaging local communities and site-specific materials to create innovative design and engineering solutions.
Architecture studio ELASTICOFarm, led by Stefano Pujatti, has been awarded the Premio Italiano di Architettura (Italian Architecture Prize), promoted by the Triennale di Milano and MAXXI. The award, now in its fourth edition, is received in recognition of their S-LAB project, a new building in Turin, Italy, for the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN). The prize highlights works of architecture with high design quality and an attentive approach to innovation and the social role of architecture.
The “Green Obsession” campaign launched by Stefano Boeri Architetti has been declared the winner of the SDG Action Awards, the most important recognition of projects that support the United Nation’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals. As part of the SDG Action Campaign, the United Nations set out to reward initiatives that “mobilize, inspire and connect communities in order to promote positive change.” The winning initiative aims to help improve the relationship between nature and design by implementing the principles of urban forestation. Green Obsession represents a series of conferences, public programs and a book, “Green Obsession: Trees Towards Cities, Humans Towards Forests”, published in 2021 and supported by the Graham Foundation.
Last week, the President*s Design (P*DA) Award chose 8 winning recipients for its 2023 edition. The award that honors designers making a transformative and positive impact on the lives of Singapore’s society and the broader global community recognized Henning Larsen, BIG, and the Singapore Pavilion for Expo 2020 Dubai.
The P*DA presented two categories: Designer of the Year and Design of the Year. Organized jointly by the DesignSingapore Council and the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), the biennial award was given to two “Designer of the Year” and six “Design of the Year” recipients. Beyond the excellence of their design execution, the honorees demonstrated a genuine sense of purpose and mission that is consistent with P*DA's core values. The outstanding designs of this year tackle fundamental and systemic issues like consumerism and circularity, dementia and caregiving, climate change and sustainability, and show how Singapore is developing its best design practices that are applicable to enhancing lives worldwide.
Over the course of five days this week, Copenhagen hosted the largest gathering in the realm of sustainable architecture, bringing together over 6,000 participants from 135 nations. The UIA World Congress of Architects 2023 focused on the theme "Sustainable Futures – Leave No One Behind." This event served as a forum for distinguished researchers and professionals of various backgrounds and ages to delve into methods of creating buildings that address climate change, bolster biodiversity, and foster social inclusivity. As the congress drew to a close, "The Copenhagen Lessons" were unveiled, comprising ten principles intended to facilitate swift and transformative progress in the field of sustainable construction.
The 2023 World Architecture Festival (WAF) shortlist has been announced, highlighting the most impressive architectural projects worldwide. This announcement precedes the live event, which will be held in Singapore at Marina Bay Sands from November 29th to December 1st. WAF is a live-judged architectural awards program where finalists present their projects to a panel of judges during the international festival. Some of the finalists on the shortlist include Foster + Partners, Biroe Architecture, COX Architecture, Dabbagh Architects, MAD Architects, and more.
The XIV Florence Biennale of Art and Design announced that Santiago Calatrava will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award, a "tribute to one of the most influential architects of our times and a recognition of your audacious experimentation, extraordinary talent, and ingenious ability to combine architecture and art in projects imagined and designed in harmony with nature and oriented towards the ideals of beauty.”
The award ceremony is scheduled for 19 October in the theater area of the Spandolini Pavilion of the Fortezza da Basso, where the architect, engineer, and artist will give a speech. From designing and constructing the Ponte della Constitution in Venice, the World Trade Center Transportation Hub in New York, the UAE Pavilion at the 2020 Expo, and the Zubizuri Bridge across the Nervion River in Bilbao, Spain, amongst many other infamous works, Calatrava is one of the most influential architects of the past 50 years, establishing himself as a pioneer in the industry, from architecture, and engineering, to drawing, and sculpting.
The Fundació Mies van der Rohe and Creative Europe have announced winners of the 2023 edition of the EU Prize for Contemporary Architecture / Mies van der Rohe Awards in the Young Talent category.
The projects were revealed during the Eumies Awards Day 2023, which took place in Palazzo Michiel in Venice as part of the Collateral Events of the 18th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia. This year, an additional prize has been added: the Young Talent Open. Created by the Fundació Mies van der Rohe, the award was created for schools from the African continent and Council of Europe nations that are not a part of Creative Europe.
In the face of increasingly intensive planet-wide challenges, it is now clear that the construction sector must shift rapidly and comprehensively toward sustainable construction. The aim of this mobilization must be to drastically and permanently reduce construction-related greenhouse gas emissions, to preserve non-renewable natural resources, to reduce energy consumption, and to provide decent, comfortable housing for all.
In the 2023 Sustainable Construction Barometer, architects are identified as best placed to drive forward sustainable construction (40%, just after public institutions, 44%). And in order to do this, they must be equipped with the knowledge and tools to carry this forward.
Irish architect Shane de Blacam has been awarded the 2023 Royal Academy Architecture Award in recognition of his commitment to creating communal spaces and the craftsmanship and detail of his projects. In 1976, De Blacam co-founded the architectural firm de Blacam and Meagher alongside John Meagher, establishing a collective practice focused on the careful integration of local materials and the creation of comfortable spaces for people. Each year, London’s Royal Academy awards individuals or collective practices whose body of work has made a meaningful and positive impact on society.
On June 1st, the ceremony for the VI European AHI Prize was held at the Sant Pau Hospital building in Barcelona. This recognition promoted by Architectural Heritage Intervention, in collaboration with the College of Architects of Catalonia and supported by the Department of Culture of the Generalitat de Cataluña, the City Council of Barcelona, and the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona, arises from the conviction that today, architectural heritage is not only an essential element of knowledge, but also a vital socio-economic resource for the sustainable development of territories.
Since 1989, the Brick Industry Association (BIA) has sponsored one of the most prestigious architectural award programs in the US: the Brick in Architecture Awards. As the only national association to represent both manufacturers and distributors, BIA is an authority in the clay brick industry. Throughout the years, the Brick in Architecture Awards has become a premiere architectural award featuring clay brick.
This year, the award introduced a new Thin Brick category, and 45 winning projects spanning the United States, Australia, Canada, China and Germany. As this video shows, winners include nine Best in Class, 10 Gold, eight Silver, 17 Bronze and an overall Craftsmanship Award.
Herzog & de Meuron has been honored as the 36th Louis I. Kahn Award winner by the Center for Architecture and Design in Philadelphia. The annual award, founded in 1983 in memory of Philadelphia architect Louis Kahn, celebrates individuals who have made significant contributions to the field of architecture. Jaques Herzog, one of the two founders of the Swiss-based architecture firm, will present a talk on behalf of this office during the official award ceremony, to be held at the University of Pennsylvania’s Museum of Anthropology and Archeology at 6:30 pm on May 31, 2023.
