Awards: The Latest Architecture and News

Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa, founders of the renowned architecture firm SANAA, have been announced as the recipients of the 2025 Le Prix Charlotte Perriand by the Créateurs Design Awards. Announced today in Paris, France, the award honors exceptional contributions to modern architecture and design. Sejima and Nishizawa, known for their minimalist designs that integrate form, function, and the environment, continue to be recognized as innovators in the field, having been previously recognized with the prestigious Pritzker Architecture Prize in 2010. Sejima and Nishizawa will accept Le Prix Charlotte Perriand at the Créateurs Design Awards ceremony in Paris on January 18, 2025.

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The VELUX Group is proud to announce that the projects ‘Solar Sinter’ by Anders Eugen Lund (Denmark), and ‘The Light Filter’ by Wan Zilin, Poon Gin Yong & Zang Jiayou (China), have been selected as the global winners of the International VELUX Award for Students of Architecture 2024.

The Design Educates Awards 2024 has just announced the winners of this year’s winners, celebrating projects that excel in addressing complex social and environmental challenges while carrying significant educational value. Held annually, the awards recognize projects that respond to social and environmental issues and promote sustainability, even if the educational impact is gradual. In fact, it aims to highlight projects that offer long-term value and address the complexities of modern life.

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The British Museum has shortlisted five architect-led teams for the final stage of its International Architectural Competition, a significant milestone in the museum's ambitious plan to renovate its Western Range Galleries. The teams—6a Architects, David Chipperfield Architects, Eric Parry Architects and Jamie Fobert Architects, Lina Ghotmeh — Architecture, and OMA—were selected from over 60 global entries and will now compete to reimagine a substantial portion of the museum's gallery space.

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The King Salman Charter for Architecture and Urbanism Award is an initiative designed to recognize and celebrate architectural excellence aligned with the values of the King Salman Charter in Saudi Arabia. Established to honor King Salman’s vision, the Award promotes high-quality design by encouraging architects and designers to integrate the Charter’s principles into their work.

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The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has revealed the six shortlisted projects for the 2024 RIBA Stirling Prize. Awarded annually since 1996, this represents one the most important architecture prizes in the United Kingdom, striving to reward and highlight projects that envision a more inclusive future and engage actively with current challenges of the built environment. The selected works range in scale and program, from a national art gallery to an inclusive rural retreat, major urban regeneration projects, and even a London underground line. While some of the selected architects have received previous awards, including Mikhail Riches for the Goldsmith Street in 2019 and Jamie Fobert for New Tate St Ives in 2018, other architects such as Clementine Blakemore Architects and Al-Jawad Pike are at their first nomination.

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The Holcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction announced the winners of the 2023 edition, celebrating projects that showcase innovative approaches to sustainable construction practices. For the Europe region, the Gold Prize was awarded to Husos, Elli, and Ultrazul for their project “Composition of Knowledge House.” In a video interview with the winners, they explain the details of this rehabilitation project. Developed for the Carasso Foundation headquarters, the project uses an innovative “360° co-design process” to promote inclusivity and community involvement.

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Harvard University Graduate School of Design (GSD) has just announced Thandi Loewenson as the winner of the 2024 Wheelwright Prize. The prestigious $100,000 grant is dedicated to supporting innovative research in contemporary architecture with a global perspective. Loewenson’s project, “Black Papers: Beyond the Politics of Land, Towards African Policies of Earth & Air,” explores the social and spatial dynamics in modern Africa.

Rafael Viñoly Architects’ Tokyo International Forum has been honored with the prestigious AIA Twenty-five Year Award. Celebrating its “distinctive transparent character and capacity to engage with the public in the largest metropolitan area in the world.” Rafael Viñoly Architects was first selected to design the structure through Japan’s first international design competition facilitated by Kenzo Tange, the architect of Tokyo’s City Hall and the first Japanese laureate of the Pritzker Prize.

The Enscape 4 All - Architectural Real-Time Visualization Award, a collaboration between ArchDaily and Enscape, has spotlighted the most outstanding and innovative real-time renders produced using the Enscape 4 Real-Time Engine. This award recognizes excellence in four distinct categories: Interior, Exterior, Landscape, and Conceptual. The jury, composed of ArchDaily Editors and Enscape specialists, assessed submissions based on creativity, technique, and the innovative use of real-time rendering. Submissions poured in from all over the world, highlighting the global reach and appeal of this competition.

The Obel Award is an international prize for architectural achievement presented annually by the Henrik Frode Obel Foundation. Each year, the jury selects a specific theme and grants an award to a promising solution. For the 2024 edition, the prize that honors architectural contributions that positively impact both people and the planet will be focused on “Architecture With”.

Previous emphasis included Adaptations, Emissions, Cities, Mending, and Well-being. In 2023, the fifth cycle recognized ‘Living Breakwaters’ in New York, a green infrastructure project off the shore of Staten Island, by SCAPE Landscape Architecture and its founder Kate Orff. In 2022, the Obel was awarded to Seratech, a carbon-neutral concrete solution, in 2021, the concept of the 15-minute city received the prize for its value in creating sustainable and people-centric urban environments, and in 2020, Studio Anna Heringer was acknowledged for Anandaloy, in Bangladesh, an unconventional, multifunctional building that hosts a therapy center for people with disabilities on the ground floor and a textile studio on the top floor producing fair fashion and art. Finally, in its first edition, fixated on well-being, the Obel Award was granted to the Art Biotop Water Garden project in Tochigi, Japan, by Junya Ishigami & Associates.

Architectural awards serve as a fundamental platform within the profession and the wider community. They recognize and celebrate outstanding achievements in architectural projects, promoting excellence and innovation, while also providing visibility and exposure for architects and companies, highlighting projects that might otherwise go unnoticed. This impact is particularly evident in collective housing projects, which face a range of challenges, from issues of cost and compliance with urban planning legislation to the need to create welcoming and functional environments for residents. By highlighting diverse initiatives and approaches, awards inspire and educate, stimulate dialogue and the exchange of ideas, and contribute significantly to the advancement of architecture by recognizing projects that address specific themes such as sustainability or social impact.

New York-based architecture office WEISS/MANFREDI Architecture/Landscape/Urbanism has been named the 37^th recipient of the Louis I. Kahn Award, offered by DesignPhiladelphia. The firm, founded by Marion Weiss and Michael Manfredi, is recognized for its wide range of projects, from cultural institutions to urban landscapes, all demonstrating and responding to contextual conditions, sustainability standards, and centered around the human experience.

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The European Commission and the Fundació Mies van der Rohe just revealed the 7 finalists for the 2024 European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture – Mies van der Rohe Awards. There are 5 finalists in the Architecture category and 2 in the Emerging category. In March, the jury will visit these architectural works and will decide on the winning projects that will be announced on April 25th at the CIVA in Brussels.

Selected by the jury comprising 7 members: Frédéric Druot, Martin Braathen, Pippo Ciorra, Tinatin Gurgenidze, Adriana Krnáčová, Sala Makumbundu, and Hrvoje Njiric, from a list of 362 nominees, the "7 finalist works promote local policy references and can become global European models since all of them create inclusive and high-quality living environments."

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The 1940s architectural marvel Casa Sobre el Arroyo has been awarded the 2024 Worlds Monuments Fund/Knoll Modernism Prize for its outstanding restoration. Initially designed in 1943 by architects Amancio Williams and Delfina Galvez Bunge de Williams, this “house on the bridge” symbolizes Argentina’s modernist movement. The project is the first winner of the prestigious Modernism prize in the Global South, now standing as a museum for the protection of Argentina’s modern heritage.

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