Architizer, the largest online platform for architecture, announces the official opening of the 12h Annual Architizer A+Awards, honoring the year’s best buildings and spaces.  

The Architizer A+Awards is the world’s largest and most democratic architectural awards program and celebrates the extraordinary work of designers in over 92 countries worldwide. Now in its 12th season, the program is calling for entries that speak to a critical need to rethink, reinvent, and reimagine the A&E industry — from adaptive reuse and renovation projects that are helping to mitigate architecture’s climate impact, to pioneering developments in design tools, technology, and materials that are transforming the industry as a whole.

“We want to create a dialogue about where architecture is heading. We constantly ask ourselves ‘Is what we're doing in this lifetime part of the solution or part of the problem?’” -Michel Rojkind, Founder, Rojkind Arquitectos 

As cities densify, the climate crisis deepens, and our social and environmental landscape reaches a breaking point, architects must reimagine the nature of buildings. The 12th Annual A+Awards will honor those projects contributing to a more resilient world, not just for today or tomorrow, but long into the future. Returning this season are the Sustainability Awards, in which entrants must meet stringent design criteria outlined in partnership with leading green building experts. These categories highlight projects that will act as positive precedents for environmentally conscious design in specific regions and the wider world.

“These awards are an opportunity to share meaningful, change-making innovations, so we can continue to make even better projects for our planet and our community.” -Michael Green, Founder and Principal, MGA | Michael Green Architecture

The 12th A+Awards maintains its commitment to the democratic judging process, highlighting design’s impact on people’s everyday lives with an online vote by the public in each category. In collaboration with its official partners, v2com newswire, AIA New York, and Aesthetica, the 12th Annual A+Awards received over 400,000 public votes on 5,000+ entries from over 92 countries worldwide.

New this year is a suite of categories dedicated to Adaptive Reuse and Renovation, which emphasize the industry’s critical need to repurpose existing buildings and implement regenerative designs. This season also sees the addition of categories honoring forward-looking and aspirational designs, including those incorporating new materials and experimental technologies, as well as those created using Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools. A category celebrating sole practitioners—which make up 25% of AIA member-owned firms—has also been introduced this year. See the full list of 125 categories here.  

“The A+Awards have a profound impact on clients’ awareness of the value of high quality architecture and design. They also inspire and increase awareness in us, the architects, who actually bring these ideas and visions to life.” -Snorre Stinessen, Principal, Stinessen Arkitektur

The 12th A+Awards are judged by Architizer’s 250+ jury academy, featuring prestigious members of the architecture and design community, as well as luminaries from the art, technology, fashion, media, business, and real estate industries. Notable jurors include: 

• Wandile Mthiyane (Ubuntu Design Group)
• Suchi Reddy (Reddymade)
• Thomas Robinson (LEVER Architecture)
• Sara Kolata (Disrupt Symposium)
• Oana Stanescu (Oana Stanescu Studio)
• Lesley Lokko (African Futures Institute)
• Tao Liu + Chenyan Kai (Atelier Tao+c) 

The 12th Annual A+Awards also sees the return of Architizer: The World's Best Architecture, an annual compendium of the world’s best spaces. The book, which has featured industry luminaries like Heatherwick Studio, MAD Architects, MVRDV, Neri&Hu Design and Research Office, Kengo Kuma and Associates, and Studio Gang, is the year’s definitive architectural guide.