Bustler's Top Prize-Winning Architects, Academics, and Design Leaders of 2023

Influential British designer Ben Pentreath named 2023 Richard H. Driehaus Prize winner

"British architectural designer, theorist, and educator Ben Pentreath has been named the 2023 winner of the prestigious Richard H. Driehaus Prize by the University of Notre Dame in recognition of a broad-reaching body of worth of work that has succeeded in encapsulating its namesake’s values of beauty, durability and a commitment to place."

The 2023 United States Artists’ Architecture & Design Fellows are Alexis Hope, Bryan C. Lee Jr, Krystal C. Mack, and Deanna Van Buren

"United States Artists has awarded fellowships to 45 individuals across the arts. The fellows will each receive $50,000 cash awards intended to 'honor their creative accomplishments and support their ongoing artistic and professional development.' Fellowships were awarded across ten disciplines: Architecture & Design, Craft, Dance, Film, Media, Music, Theater & Performance, Traditional Arts, Visual Art, and Writing."

ACSA announces the 2023 Architectural Education Award winners

"The winners of the 2023 Architectural Education Awards were revealed by the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture this morning. Academics from U.S.-based institutions and abroad received recognition for their teachings and contributions to the 'profession’s knowledge base.' Parsons School of Design distinguished visiting professor Dr. Sharon Egretta Sutton led the field as the Topaz Medallion winner."

Kazuyo Sejima and Phyllis Lambert named recipients of 2023 Jane Drew Prize for Architecture and Ada Louise Huxtable Prize

"Pritzker Prize-winning Japanese architect Kazuyo Sejima and influential Canadian architect Phyllis Lambert are this year's respective winners of the Jane Drew Prize for Architecture and the Ada Louise Huxtable Prize, bestowed annually by the UK-based publications Architects’ Journal and The Architectural Review as part of the W Awards program."

Dream The Combine, TERREMOTO, and LANZA Atelier among winners of the 2023 Emerging Voices Award

"Today the Architectural League of New York (ALNY) has named eight winners in its annual Emerging Voices competition. The initiative began in 1982 as a means to showcase and celebrate the work of young North American architects and designers on an international stage. The awards program has brought to the forefront of the profession names such as Steven Holl and Tatiana Bilbao, who would later go on to shape the industry."

Stefano Boeri honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award at Madrid Design Festival

"Stefano Boeri has been awarded one of the highest honors available in Spain’s architectural community after being named the winner of this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award at the Madrid Design Festival, an event now in its sixth year."

Rural Studio director Andrew Freear named winner of the 2023 Thomas Jefferson Foundation Medal in Architecture

"The University of Virginia in coordination with the Thomas Jefferson Foundation at Monticello has named Auburn School of Architecture professor and Rural Studio director Andrew Freear as the recipient of the 2023 Thomas Jefferson Foundation Medal in Architecture."

The W Awards announces recipients of the 2023 Moira Gemmill and MJ Long Prize

"The W Awards announced  Equipo de Arquitectura co-founder Viviana Pozzoli as winner of the Moira Gemmill Prize for Emerging Architecture and Kirsten Gabriëls Webb of Sergison Bates as winner of the MJ Long Prize for Excellence in Practice. The awards program, led since 2012 by The Architectural Review and the Architect's Journal, aims to 'raise the profile of women and non-binary people in architecture worldwide, inspiring change as a united voice of this global call for respect, diversity, and equality.'"

David Chipperfield wins the 2023 Pritzker Architecture Prize

"The Pritzker Architecture Prize jury has selected British architect David Chipperfield as the 2023 laureate of the coveted recognition. Chipperfield's work spans over four decades with over one hundred projects ranging from civic, cultural, and academic buildings to residences and urban master-planning throughout Asia, Europe, and North America." 

Toshiko Mori to receive Architecture Sarasota's first-ever Philip Hanson Hiss Award

"Toshiko Mori has been announced as the inaugural winner of Architecture Sarasota’s new Philip Hanson Hiss Award. The award is named for a leading figure in the Sarasota School movement, which sought to connect ecological sensibilities with the local context of Florida’s Gulf Coast at mid-century." 

Toni L. Griffin awarded the 2023 Special Recognition for Architecture, Design, and Urbanism by the SOM Foundation

"The SOM Foundation has announced Toni L. Griffin as the recipient of their 2023 Special Recognition for Architecture, Design, and Urbanism. The award supports Griffin’s The Laboratory of the Future exhibition as part of the 2023 Venice Biennale."

Taller | Mauricio Rocha’s Anahuacalli Museum expansion is the 2023 Mies Crown Hall Americas Prize winner

"Taller | Mauricio Rocha’s expansion and remodeling of the Anahuacalli Museum in Mexico City was just named the winner of the 2023 Mies Crown Hall Americas Prize by the College of Architecture at the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) in Chicago. The $50,000 biennial prize celebrates the best recently-completed architectural projects across the Americas."

Nigerian architect, sculptor, and designer Demas Nwoko receives the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement

"The Venice Biennale awards Nigerian architect, sculptor, and designer Demas Nwoko the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement Award. Bustler editors report that Nwoko was born in the rural town of Idumuje-Ugboko and was educated at the Nigerian College of Arts, Science, and Technology, and was one of the founding members of the Zaria Art Society. Along with members Bruce Onobrakpeya, Uche Okeke and Simon Okeke, and Yusuf Grillo, the group was referred to as the 'Zaria Rebels.'"

Theaster Gates, Edmund de Waal, and Hanya Yanagihara named 2023 Isamu Noguchi Award winners

"The Noguchi Museum has just announced three winners for the tenth edition of its Isamu Noguchi Award first established in 2014 to honor the core tenets of the visionary sculptor and designer’s artistic legacy. Edmund de Waal, Hanya Yanagihara, and Theaster Gates are the trio being honored by the soon-to-expand Queens-based institution."

Yasmeen Lari is named the 2023 RIBA Royal Gold Medal winner

"The RIBA Royal Gold Medal winner for 2023 has just been announced as Pakistani architect and activist Yasmeen Lari. The 82-year-old star designer of projects as far ranging as the Angoori Bagh Social Housing and Pakistan State Oil House was commended for her contributions to sustainable design and the built environment of her native country."

Diébédo Francis Kéré awarded inaugural Cosanti Medal for social and sustainable design

"The Cosanti Foundation has awarded Diébédo Francis Kéré with their inaugural Cosanti Medal. The Arizona-based nonprofit, which since its founding in 1965 has sought to 'influence the way the built environment is created with little negative effect to the surrounding natural environment,' launched the prize in order to honor those who make communities more resilient, equitable, and sustainably integrated with the natural world."

Santiago Calatrava to receive the Leonardo da Vinci Lifetime Achievement Award for Design at the Florence Biennale

"Santiago Calatrava's storied four-decade career in architecture will be honored with the Leonardo da Vinci Lifetime Achievement Award for Design as part of the XIV Florence Biennale, which takes place from October 14–22 this year in the Italian cultural capital."

Irish architect Shane de Blacam wins the 2023 Royal Academy Architecture Prize

"Dublin-based architect Shane de Blacam has been named the fifth overall winner of the Royal Academy Architecture Prize in recognition of his 'inspiring' contributions to the profession, which began in earnest in the Irish capital in the early-1960s."

The 2023 Wheelwright Prize is awarded to Jingru (Cyan) Cheng

"Harvard University has announced UK-based transdisciplinary design researcher and academic Jingru (Cyan) Cheng as the winner of the 2023 Wheelwright Prize for a materials-based proposal titled Tracing Sand: Phantom Territories, Bodies Adrift that focuses on sand and its ecological impacts in multiple settings."

Trailblazing architect Cynthia Weese to receive 2023 AIA Chicago Lifetime Achievement Award

"AIA Chicago has announced that Cynthia Weese, FAIA, principal of Weese Langley Weese Architects, will receive the 2023 AIA Chicago Lifetime Achievement Award. The ceremony will take place at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance in Chicago’s Millennium Park on September 28, 2023."

Mónica Ponce De León, Christopher Hawthorne, Elizabeth Leber among 2023 BEVY Leadership Awards honorees

"The Beverly Willis Architecture Foundation (BWAF) has announced its annual slate of honorees ahead of this year’s BEVY Leadership Awards gala, which will be held in New York on November 13th. Six names were selected over their demonstrated commitment to promoting women’s contributions to the built environment and AEC industry."

Francis Kéré honored as 2023 Praemium Imperiale Award laureate 

"The Japan Art Association has named Diébédo Francis Kéré as the Praemium Imperiale laureate 2023 in its Architecture category. Kéré was honored as part of the award’s 34th year and follows 2022 winners Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa, founders of SANAA."

Frida Escobedo to receive the third Charlotte Perriand Award

"Mexican architect Frida Escobedo has been selected to receive the third annual Charlotte Perriand Award. Bestowed by the Créateurs Design Association and named after the groundbreaking French designer, the accolade is given to architects who have 'pushed the boundaries of the design and architecture landscape, inspiring innovation, and challenging conventional norms.'"

Cornell’s Jenny Sabin awarded the 2023 Rippmann Memorial Prize by DigitalFUTURES

"Cornell University’s Design Tech Chair and Architecture Professor Jenny Sabin has been awarded the 2023 Matthias Rippmann Memorial Prize by DigitalFutures. The annual award is given to 'a digital tool, body of research, written text or any other thing that revolutionizes architectural research of the Digital Future.'”

SCAPE and Kate Orff win 2023 OBEL AWARD for ‘radical breakwaters design’

"New York-based SCAPE, and its founder Kate Orff, have been awarded the 2023 OBEL AWARD. The fifth edition of the architecture prize was awarded to SCAPE and Orff for their 'radical breakwaters design and community and ecosystems-driven approach to adaption.'"

Lorcan O’Herlihy honored with the 2023 Maybeck Award by AIA California 

"LOHA founder Lorcan O’Herlihy has been awarded the 2023 Maybeck Award by AIA California, the highest award given by the chapter to an individual architect. O’Herlihy was described by the AIA California as 'a practitioner others learn from' who 'continually realizes a new expression of architecture that addresses context.'”

Tiantian Xu named winner of the 2023 Marcus Prize by the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee School of Architecture and Urban Planning

"Beijing-based architect Tiantian Xu has been named the winner of this year's Marcus Prize by the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee School of Architecture and Urban Planning (SARUP). The $100,000 prize is one of the highest monetary awards in architecture and recognizes established architects who show future promise in the field. Xu is the Prize’s tenth overall winner. She will travel to Milwaukee in the spring of 2024 to teach a studio on a yet-to-be-named topic affecting daily life in the city."

Theaster Gates named 2023 Vincent Scully Prize winner

"Theaster Gates has been named as the recipient of the 2023 Vincent Scully Prize by the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C. Gates joins names such as Robert Campbell, Inga Safron, Mabel O. Wilson, and last year’s winner Dolores Hayden as the Prize’s 25th overall winner. The award was established in 1999 in honor of the late historian and celebrated Yale School of Architecture professor, who was also its inaugural recipient."

Field Operations founder James Corner to receive 2023 Richard Neutra Award 

"James Corner has been named the winner of the 2023 Richard Neutra Award for Professional Excellence by the Department of Architecture at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona [...] The award was established in 1980 in honor of the pioneering late modernist and Cal Poly Pomona professor and seeks to enshrine the work of architects and individuals who have 'dedicated their careers toward the research, design and development of innovative environments in which we live, work and play.'" 

Mexico City-based practice TO claims top prize at the 2023 AR Emerging Awards

"The Architectural Review has announced the AR Emerging Award winners for 2023. This annual awards program was founded in 1999 and recognizes the work of early-career designers through their completed work, works in progress, and ideas as the 'architectural stars of tomorrow.'"

Anne Lacaton and Jean-Philippe Vassal are the 2023 Soane Medal winners

"The winners of this year’s Soane Medal have been announced as French architects Anne Lacaton and Jean-Philippe Vassal. The 2021 Pritzker Prize laureates follow Marina Tabassum and last year’s winner Peter Barber as the three most recent recipients of the award. Their work was commended for exhibiting an 'honest design approach' that critically demonstrates the 'importance of architecture in people’s lives.'”

Belgian urban designers Dogma win the 2023 RIBA Charles Jencks Award

"Brussels-based urban design firm Dogma has been announced as the winners of the 2023 Charles Jencks Award by The Jencks Foundation at The Cosmic House and the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA). The award has been given out annually since 1993 in honor of practices or individuals whose work has made substantial contributions to both the theory and practice of architecture in honor of the late theorist and architectural designer who passed away in 2019."

Lake|Flato founders David Lake and Ted Flato receive the 2024 AIA Gold Medal

"David Lake and Ted Flato, the founding partners of influential San Antonio, Texas-based Lake|Flato Architects, have been awarded the 2024 AIA Gold Medal by the American Institute of Architects. The annual award is considered to be the highest honor in American architecture and is presented annually to individuals whose work exhibits a 'lasting influence on the theory and practice of architecture,' according to the organization."

Chad Oppenheim named winner of the 2023 American Prize for Architecture

"Oppenheim Architecture founding principal Chad Oppenheim has been announced as the 2023 American Prize for Architecture laureate by The Chicago Athenaeum and the European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies. Since 2000, the Miami-based Cornell University graduate has produced works on five continents that were lauded by Chicago Athenaeum president Christian Narkiewicz-Laine as being by turns equally 'subtle, powerful, elegant, and deeply romantic.'"

Three architecture leaders selected as AIA Whitney M. Young Jr. Award, Topaz Medallion, and Edward C. Kemper Award winners

"The group was led by this year's Topaz Medalist, Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk of the University of Miami [...] Outside of academia, Plater-Zyberk has made an impact as the co-founder of the Congress for the New Urbanism [...] The 2024 Edward C. Kemper Award was given posthumously to Sho-Ping Chin, a former principal in Payette’s Boston office for many years."

Quinn Evans is the 2024 AIA Architecture Firm Award winner

"The American Institute of Architects (AIA) has announced their selection of Quinn Evans Architects as the AIA Architecture Firm Award winner for 2024. The annual prize is the highest honor the organization bestows on an architecture practice and recognizes works that have consistently produced distinguished architecture for at least ten years."