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Awards: The Latest Architecture and News

15 Finalists Selected for the 2016 Art of Building Photographer of the Year Award

Fifteen stunning images from top photographers around the world have been selected as finalists of Chartered Institute of Building’s (CIOB) 2016 Art of Building Photographer of the Year competition.

With subjects ranging from the windswept wonderland of an empty New York City to a rapidly changing Tibetan hillside village to a dreamy shot of Foster + Partners’ Swiss Re Headquarters ( a.k.a. “The Gherkin”) this year’s entries constitute a “cornucopia of styles and stories,” says CIOB spokesman Saul Townsend.

I.M. Pei's Le Grande Louvre Wins AIA 25 Year Award

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) has selected The Grand Louvre – Phase I as the recipient of the 2017 AIA Twenty-five Year Award. Designed by I.M. Pei with his firm Pei Cobb Freed & Partners, the project is notable for its 71-foot-tall glass and stainless steel pyramid, which according to the AIA, “now rivals the Eiffel Tower as one of France’s most recognizable architectural icons.”

The award is presented annually to a project that has "stood the test of time by embodying architectural excellence for 25 to 35 years."

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Robert A.M. Stern Awarded the AIA's 2017 Topaz Medallion

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Tour Carpe Diem / Robert A.M. Stern Architects. Image © Peter Aaron / OTTO

Following the announcements of the 2017 AIA Gold Medal and Architecture Firm of the Year winners, The American Institute of Architects (AIA) has announced the winners of three other national awards: the Edward C. Kemper Award,the Topaz Medallion, and the Whitney M. Young Jr. Award.

Leddy Maytum Stacy Architects Wins 2017 AIA Architecture Firm Award

San Franisco-based Leddy Maytum Stacy Architects (LMSA) has been chosen as the recipient of the 2017 American Institute of Architects (AIA) Architecture Firm Award.

“Their passion for addressing some of the profession’s thorniest issues including regenerative design, universal access, social equity and housing for the most disadvantaged has been consistent and impressive,” wrote Bob Berkebile, FAIA Emeritus, in a recommendation letter.

2017 SEGD Global Design Awards

The 2017 SEGD Global Design Awards, the only international awards program focused on user experiences in the built environment, is now open for entries. 
Since 1987, the SEGD Global Design Awards have set the standard of excellence for environmental graphic design and experiential graphic design, honoring design work that connects people to place by providing direction, content and compelling experiences in public spaces. 


Faith & Form's 2016 Religious Architecture Awards Recognize 28 Projects from Around the Globe

Each year, Faith & Form magazine and the Interfaith Forum on Religion, Art and Architecture (IFRAA) reward the best religious architecture, design and art for religious spaces. In their 2016 awards, the jury recognized 28 projects across 10 categories, with almost half of the winners designed for sites outside of North America. Aside from this diversity of location, another trend in the awards was a tendency toward material honesty and simplicity. "Several jurors were impressed with how designers used an economy of means with simple, elegant materials to meet the needs of congregations," said Michael J Crosbie, editor-in-chief of Faith & Form, adding that "a reverence for natural materials was seen in many submissions, and in winning projects." Read on to see all 28 winners.

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Norman Foster Selected To Remodel Museo del Prado Hall of Realms in Spain

According to Spanish media outlet El País, Foster + Partners and Rubio Arquitectura have won an international ideas competition to design the new addition of the Museo del Prado in Madrid. The team beat 47 other participants, including firms such as Cruz y Ortiz Arquitectos, OMA, and Souto Moura Arquitectos, and will be in charge of the renovation and transformation of the Salón de Reinos.

El País reports that the project will cost €30 million and will "provide a large atrium to access the building’s south façade." This "will lead to an exhibition space on the first story," while also making the park and surrounding site more pedestrian friendly.

Matt Emmett Wins Arcaid Award for World's Best Building Image 2016

Matt Emmett’s photograph of the East London Water Works Company covered reservoir in Finsbury Park, built 1868, has been named the winner of the 2016 Arcaid Images Architectural Photography Award. Announced on the final day of the World Architecture Festival (WAF) in Berlin, the image was notable for being the first winner to feature a historic location as its subject, and drew comparisons to a Piranesi print.

2016 INTBAU World Congress Excellence Award Winners Announced

The winners of the 2016 INTBAU World Congress Excellence Awards have recently been announced. Categories for this year’s competition were Community Engagement, New Building, Urban Design, and Emerging Talent. The awards were given during the INTBAU World Congress 2016, a biennial forum that brings together international participants to debate the most pressing global issues facing building, architecture, and urbanism.

"I join my jurors in applauding the considerable depth and breadth of this year's award submissions," said Anne Fairfax, President a Fairfax & Sammons Architects and jury chair of the Excellence Awards. "We found the projects to be thoughtful in leading by example in the use of traditional design but we were also pleased to see the positive social activism and environmental responsibility that characterized many of the projects, reaching deep into the values of the INTBAU mission."

The winners of the 2016 INTBAU World Congress Excellence Awards are:

Snøhetta Named WSJ's 2016 Architectural Innovator of the Year

The Wall Street Journal has named Snøhetta their “Architecture Innovator of the Year” for 2016. Founded by 55-year-old American Craig Dykers and 58-year-old Norwegian Kjetil Trædal, Snøhetta rose to prominence with their competition-winning designs for the 20th-century successor to the lost wonder of the ancient world, the Library of Alexandria, and the National Norwegian Opera House in Oslo.

BIG’s VIA 57 West Wins the 2016 International Highrise Award

BIG’s VIA 57 West has been unanimously chosen as the winner of the 2016 International Highrise Award (IHA) for the world’s most innovative highrise.

One of the world’s most important architectural prizes for tall buildings, the award is presented by Deutsches Architekturmuseum (DAM) every two years to the project that best exemplifies the criteria of future-oriented design, functionality, innovative building technology, integration into urban development schemes, sustainability, and cost-effectiveness.

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20 of the World's Best Building Images Shortlisted for Arcaid Awards 2016

Arcaid has shortlisted 20 of the year’s best architectural photographs in the running for the 2016 Arcaid Images Architectural Photography Awards. The annual award presents prizes in four categories - Exteriors, Interiors, Sense of Place, and Building in Use - and judged by an esteemed panel on their atmospheric quality, composition, use of scale and more.

This year, judges for the award include Emily Booth, executive editor of The Architectural Review; artist and Sto Werkstatt curator Amy Croft; Katy Harris, director of communications at Foster + Partners; architect Kai-Uwe Bergmann of BIG and photographers Fernando Guerra and Ulrich Müller.

The photographs will be showcased at World Architecture Festival from November 16-18 in Berlin, Germany, where the overall winner will be announced. The shortlist of 20 images is as follows:

6 Buildings Shortlisted for the Inaugural RIBA International Prize

The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has announced the shortlist of six finalist projects in the running for the inaugural RIBA International Prize. The first RIBA Award open to any qualified architect in the world, the International Prize seeks to name the world’s “most significant and inspirational” building. Criteria for consideration include the demonstration of “visionary, innovative thinking and excellence of execution, whilst making a distinct contribution to its users and to its physical context.”

The six finalists were named from a longlist of 30 buildings, from which a further selection of 21 projects have been recognized by the jury for the RIBA Award for International Excellence. The jury has also named the winner of the RIBA International Emerging Architect prize recognizing “the achievement of architects in the earlier stages of their career who are working on global projects.”

The Grand Jury is lead by Richard Rogers and includes Billie Tsien, Kunlé Adeyemi, Philip Gumuchdjian, and Marilyn Jordan Taylor.

"Our panel of jurors have been particularly impressed by the way in which each building reacts to, resolves and assimilates into the varying geographies and contexts - from dense urban cities to a small town in the Arctic Circle," said RIBA President Jane Duncan on the naming of the finalists. "Each project resolves the complex demands of its context with ingenuity, exceptional detail and finishing and a sensitivity to the needs of the users and communities which will inhabit these spaces."

Final call: Register for Troldtekt® Award 2016 Today

Hurry up! Time is soon running out for your chance to win honor, glory and 5,000 Euro. Students of design & architecture have until October 24 to register for the Troldtekt Award 2016.

SANAA's Grace Farms Wins the 2014/2015 Mies Crown Hall Americas Prize

SANAA’s Grace Farms has been announced as the winner of the 2014/2015 Mies Crown Hall Americas Prize (MCHAP), recognizing the most distinguished architectural works built on the North and South American continents.

The project was selected from a shortlist of seven finalists, joining Alvaro Siza’s Iberê Camargo Foundation and Herzog & de Meuron’s 1111 Lincoln Road as winners of the highly-regarded prize.

“Among a strong group of projects Grace Farms emerged as a clear winner for the clarity and consistency of its architectural solution,” said Stan Allen, MCHAP Jury President.

“The jury was struck by the radical way in which the line between architecture and landscape is blurred by the ‘River’ building. The firsthand experience of the building reveals a confident realization and the immediacy of its detailing. Finally, the Grace Farms project uniquely demonstrates architecture’s capacity to make a place for an innovative new institution.”

 Learn more about the project after the break.

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DAM Selects the Top 10 Architectural Books of 2016

The Frankfurt Book Fair and Deutsches Architekturmuseum (DAM) have announced the results of the 2016 International DAM Architectural Book Award, their annual list of the ten best architectural books published in the past year.

This year, books were selected from 214 entries and 88 international publishers, based on criteria such as design content, quality of material and finishing, innovation, and topicality. The winning books feature a wide range of topics and graphic styles, and feature projects from all over the world.

Find the top 10 and additional shortlisted books below.

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2016 BCO Awards Name the Best Office Buildings in the UK

The British Council for Offices (BCO) has announced the winners of the 2016 National Awards. The BCO Awards program was established to recognize “ top quality office design and functionality and sets the standard for excellence across the office sector in the UK,” providing a benchmark for excellence in design and functionality. This year’s ‘Best of the Best’ winner was The Enterprise Center at the University of East Anglia by Architype.

“This year we have once again seen a fantastic range of diverse and innovative workplaces, highlighting Britain’s position at the forefront of the global office sector. The Enterprise Centre stands tall as both a dynamic and collaborative work and event space, and as a benchmark in sustainable design," said Emma Crawford, Managing Director of Central London Leasing at CBRE and BCO National Awards Chair.

Continue reading to see this year’s winners.

Lacaton & Vassal and UMWELT Awarded the 2016 Lisbon Architecture Triennale's Lifetime Achievement and Début Awards

French studio Lacaton & Vassal and Chilean studio UMWELT have been revealed as the recipients of the 2016 Lisbon Architecture Triennale's Lifetime Achievement Award and Début Award, respectively. An award ceremony will take place on the 15th November 2016 at the Centro Cultural de Belém (CCB), followed by a conference convened by Anne Lacaton and Jean-Philippe Vassal.