The ArchDaily 2021 Building of the Year Awards

Written by Diego Hernández
Published on January 26, 2021

2020 was a challenging year for ArchDaily and for all of us. The changes and uncertainty that emerged around the globe allowed us to double down on our mission to provide information, knowledge, and tools to architects, leveling the access to architectural knowledge and working towards a more diverse, equitable profession. This includes the importance of building a community, for which the Building of the Year Awards has always been one of our flagship community-led initiatives.

This is why for the 12th consecutive year, we are tasking our readers with the responsibility of recognizing and rewarding the projects that are making an impact in architecture and in our built environment, with ArchDaily’s 2021 Building of the Year Awards. By voting, you are part of an unbiased, distributed network of jurors and peers that has elevated the most relevant projects over the past decade. Over the next two weeks, your collective intelligence will filter over 4,500 projects down to just 15 stand-outs for the best in each category on ArchDaily.

The 2021 Building of the Year Awards is brought to you thanks to Dornbracht, renowned for leading designs for architecture, which can be found internationally in bathrooms and kitchens.

Vote Here

The Process

During the next weeks, you’ll be in charge of nominating buildings (in fifteen categories) for the shortlist, and then voting for the winners of each category. We will guide you through these stages accordingly.

During the nominating stage, each registered user of the My ArchDaily platform will have the chance to nominate one project (published for the first time between January 1st, 2020 and December 31st, 2020) per category. This stage starts on January 26th and ends on February 10th at 12:01 AM EST. After this, five projects per category will move into the finalists' stage, starting February 10th and ending on February 18th at 12:01 AM EST. The winner will be announced during the morning (EST) on February 18th, 2021.

Eligible Projects

All completed buildings published for the first time between January 1st 2020 and December 31st 2020 under the following categories are eligible for this award: Houses, Housing, Healthcare Architecture, Industrial Architecture, Educational Architecture, Sports Architecture, Cultural Architecture, Hospitality Architecture, Offices, Interiors Architecture, Commercial Architecture, Public & Landscape Architecture, Religious Architecture, Small Scale & Installations, and Best Applied Product. Each project is eligible in all of the first 14 categories that apply depending on the building's function, while all projects which used a product featured in our Product Catalog will be eligible for the Best Applied Product category.
By submitting their works to ArchDaily for publication, offices agree to enter this competition and to be present on the promotional material.
Authorship and copyright of each project belong to the offices and architects mentioned on each project’s page.

First Stage

Starting January 26th, 2021, registered users will be able to vote for their favorite project for each of the 15 categories included in the Awards. One vote per category.
The first stage ends on February 10th, 2021 at 12:01 AM EST.
The five projects with the most votes for each category will move on to the finalists round.

Second Stage: Finalists

On February 10th, 2021, we will update the platform with the shortlisted projects, and registered users will be able to vote for their favorite project among the finalists.
Users can vote for one project per category.
The voting round will end on February 18th, 2021 at 12:01 AM EST.

How to Vote

Only registered users of the My ArchDaily platform can vote.
Anyone can register on the My ArchDaily platform to vote. To do so, you must follow the registration link and complete the required steps to become a registered user (or use your existing My ArchDaily account).
All registered users can vote.
To register you must use a valid email address. Votes coming from users without a valid email address will be removed.
You can only vote for one building per category in each stage.
Offices and architects are encouraged to promote their works for voting, but no monetary or virtual gift compensation should be offered. You can use the following link: https://boty.archdaily.com/us/2021

Winners

Winners of each category will be announced on ArchDaily’s home page on February 18th, 2021.
Winners of each category will receive a physical award from ArchDaily, delivered to their offices.
The 5 finalists and the winners of each category can use the respective title for their own purposes. ArchDaily will provide promotional material.

Timeline

The nomination process starts on January 26th and ends February 10th, 2021 at 12:01 AM EST.
The voting round starts on February 10th and ends February 18th, 2021 at 12:01 AM EST.
The winners will be announced on the morning (EST) of February 18th, 2021.

Important Notes

All data of registered users will be kept private and will not be shared with 3rd parties.
After each stage, all nominations/votes will be checked. Votes submitted by fake/invalid registrations will be removed. All attempts to abuse the system, such as creating dummy accounts, suspicious behavior from individual IP addresses or any other techniques to generate votes in automated ways will be logged and reviewed for removal.
ArchDaily reserves the right to analyze the data during every stage of the Awards in order to ensure a fair process.
All questions should be sent to David Basulto, director of the awards, through our contact form.