AIANY has named the 24 projects which earned this year’s New York Design Awards. The projects are split into four different categories—architecture, interiors, projects, and urban design. The winning projects were selected from a pool of over 200 entries and “share a sense of optimism, rooted in action,” AIANY said in a statement.
The jury included Adam Ainslie, of BLDUS; Maarten Gielen, Halfwerk; Brie Hensold, Agency Landscape + Planning; Susan Jones, atelierjones; Jeff Kamuda, Birdseye; Christiana Moss, STUDIO MA; and Kia Weatherspoon, Determined by Design. “The selected projects represent the architecture of the future, and the architecture of now—we don’t have time to wait!” Jones shared in a statement.
Moss noted that, during the deliberation process, because “the age of AI has made unbuilt work even more challenging [to judge],” jurors focused on “research and advocacy.”
“Architecture can make a difference,” Gielen added. “It’s as simple as that, in a way, but what we’re trying to show is that good architecture, whether it is making an excellent structure that is future-proof and that is going to be adapted and cared for over multiple generations, or whether it is an attention for the people who maintain and care for our parks—at whatever scale it is, architecture can make a difference.”
Of the 24 awards conferred, 17 were in the architecture category, 3 were interiors, 2 were in the project category, and 2 went to urban design submissions. Projects are accompanied by statements made by jurors.
ARCHITECTURE
Honor
Doris Duke Theatre at Jacob’s Pillow | Marvel, Mecanoo
The new Doris Duke Theatre is encircled by a podium level that appends additional programs to the performance venue, including entrance lobbies, back-of-house functions, and a small exhibition space. A difference in ceiling heights between the theater and surrounding podium creates a form that Mecanoo embellished with a veranda and a landscaped rooftop above.
Amy Gutmann Hall | Lake Flato, KSS Architects
Mass timber construction is gradually taking hold on the East Coast. Lake Flato delivered the first such project within Philadelphia city limits at the University of Pennsylvania, as reported by AN.
Book Tower | ODA Architecture
An extensive, seven-year long renovation of the Book Tower and the adjacent 13-story Book Building was led by New York–based ODA Architecture and local developer Bedrock. In Detroit, the Book Tower includes the ROOST Detroit extended stay hotel, The Residences at Book Tower, Anthology Events, office and retail space, seven food and beverage concepts, and other amenities.
Davis Center at the Harlem Meer | Susan T Rodriguez Architecture • Design, Mitchell Giurgola Architects
A renovation to a historic piece of public infrastructure by Susan T. Rodriguez Architecture • Design, Mitchell Giurgola Architects, and Central Park Conservancy considered Central Park’s history with contemporary means and vision.
The Eliza and New York Public Library Inwood Branch | Andrew Berman Architect, Fogarty Finger
The new mixed-use building, constructed on city-owned land, replaced Inwood’s first NYPL building, which opened in 1952. Andrew Berman Architect designed the library and Fogarty Finger the residential component.
Merit
Brown University Brook Street Residence Halls | TenBerke, STIMSON
The all-electric Brook Street Residence Halls added 353 beds and an improved public pedestrian experience along an important north-south corridor in Providence’s East Side.
Disney New York City Headquarters, Robert A. Iger Building | SOM, SCAPE
The podium of Disney’s new home rises ten stories before sprouting two terra-cotta–clad towers that extend upwards an additional nine stories. The building hosts offices, production, newsrooms, executive spaces, a screening room, and a pair of outdoor terraces.
Frame 122 | Brent Buck Architects, MKM Landscape Architecture
Brent Buck Architects was recognized for designing “the first mass timber project approved and constructed in New York City under the 2022 New York City Building Code,” as AIANY noted.
Garden House at the Packer Collegiate Institute | WXY architecture + urban design, Starr Whitehouse
WXY recently completed the Packer Collegiate Garden House, an impressive addition to the historic school’s Brooklyn Heights locale. Starr Whitehouse oversaw the landscape design. The fully-electric addition is topped with two green roofs and, per WXY, denotes New York City’s first mass timber school building.
Honnen Arts House | Kennedy & Violich Architecture
The project transformed a 1960s ice arena into an arts center with studios, workshops, and classrooms for Colorado College.
Lopez Playground Modular Comfort Station | 1100 Architect
In describing the comfort station, juror Brie Hensold noted, “We saw this project as taking on a challenge that many people have not solved for decades: how do you provide comfort, rest, and peace in a cost-effective, replicable way across many parks within a system?”
“This project considers the needs of caregivers, children, maintenance workers, and the unhoused community and offers a way for people to stay and linger and visit public spaces much longer than they could otherwise,” Hensold added. “This is proof-of-concept for a system that is modular and can be implemented across a much broader system that could provide inspiration, not just here, but across the country.”
St. Louis Symphony Orchestra | Snøhetta
With the Jack C. Taylor Music Center, Snøhetta gave the historic St. Louis Symphony Orchestra more space. The 64,000-square-foot addition is defined by its arches, curves, and interior spiral staircase.
Studio Museum in Harlem | Adjaye Associates
Adjaye Associates designed the new Studio Museum in Harlem with Cooper Robertson and Studio Zewde. The 7-story, 82,000-square-foot building, completed for $160 million, occupies the same site as the museum’s earlier 5-story premises, a former bank renovated by J. Max Bond Jr.
Terminal Warehouse | COOKFOX Architects, Terrain-NYC
Spanning a full city block in West Chelsea, Manhattan, the Terminal Warehouse by COOKFOX transformed a historic freight hub into a high-performance workplace and event space.
Citation for the Integration of Embodied and Operational Sustainability
475 High Performance Building Supply | Ryan Enschede Studio
Ryan Enschede Studio was recognized for transforming a ”masonry apartment over garage into an office, warehouse, and showroom,” AIANY said.
Citation for Reconnecting Family to Nature Through a Highly Evolved Sustainable Strategy
Riverhouse | WORKac, Anne Penniman Associates, Golden Root
WORKac cofounders Amale Andraos and Dan Wood designed and built a second home for themselves in Rhode Island, achieving a citation. Riverhouse also earned an AN 2025 Best of Design Award.
Citation for Sensitivity to Landscape and Art
Storm King Art Center | Heneghan Peng Architects, WXY architecture + urban design, Gustafson Porter + Bowman, Reed Hilderbrand
The open-air Storm King Art Center recently completed a substantial capital renovation, the first in its 65-year history. Its executive director Nora Lawrence steered the project, working alongside Dublin-based Heneghan Peng Architects, WXY architecture + urban design, Reed Hilderbrand, and Gustafson Porter + Bowman.
INTERIORS
Honor
David Geffen Hall, Lincoln Center | Diamond Schmitt, Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects
In regard to the Lincoln Center project, Jeff Kamuda said among jurors “there was a lot of discussion around reinvigorating community and public space and focusing on that as a way to really bring us back together. David Geffen Hall is a great example—and there’s many others—of prioritizing and focusing on human beings and allowing community to really be a driver of a sense of optimism and what architecture and design are capable of. We’re all in desperate need of that at the moment.”
Merit
Manifest | INC Architecture & Design
Kia Weatherspoon called Manifest “a mixed-use retail concept with a speakeasy, a restaurant, a barbershop, a coffee shop and café, and also a restaurant component. What we really loved was the necessity to really elevate the care of men. The idea of self-care and what it means to cater to a male demographic is still a necessity, especially in a city like Washington, DC.
“Manifest is very well done and beautiful and it brings great color, story, and sexiness around men’s wellness and men’s health,” Weatherspoon added.
Sculpting History at the Valentine Studio | Studio Joseph, Glavé & Holmes Architecture
Studio Joseph, Glavé & Holmes Architecture were recognized for an “exhibition how a sculptor’s studio was transformed to tell a fuller story of art and myth, tracing a line between racist power dynamics of the Jim Crow era.”
PROJECTS
Honor
Exodus and Dance Restoration at Kingsborough Houses | New York City Housing Authority, Ronnette Riley Architect
Richmond Barthé’s Exodus and Dance was built in 1939 for Harlem River Houses, as part of an amphitheater for the campus. But the amphitheater was never built, so the sculpture was relocated in 1942 to Kingsborough Houses in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. The frieze was restored this year by NYCHA and Ronnette Riley Architect.
Merit
Autonomous Urbanism: Towards a New Transitopia | Evan Shieh
With Autonomous Urbanism: Towards a New Transitopia, Evan Shief offers, “a research and design monograph that explores the latent and transformative impact autonomous vehicles will have on the urban and spatial future of cities.”
URBAN DESIGN
Honor
South Battery Park City Resilience | AECOM LAUD NYC
A major coastal defense initiative in Lower Manhattan by AECOM completed this year, along with an accompanying pavilion by Thomas Phifer. The South Battery Park City Resilience project by AECOM took home the Honor Award in the Urban Design category.
Citation for Celebrating the Reuse of Post-Industrial Infrastructure
Neuhoff | S9 Architecture and Engineering, HKS, Smith Gee Studio, Future Green Studio
Adam Ainslie described Neuhoff as “a multi-block renovation of what had been abandoned for 50 years as a slaughterhouse. This project really celebrated history and brought it to the forefront in a way that didn’t have to be capital-A architecture for it to become the protagonist.”
Ainslie continued: “We talked a lot about what histories do we engage with and how do we engage with them, and we thought this was a particularly innovative use of the history that was there becoming the identity of the place and uplifting that portion of Nashville.”
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