Every year there are many competitions in which firms and individual architects win prestigious awards. These award ceremonies, which have been going on for years, are very valuable in terms of honoring architecture all over the world. In this article, we have explained top 5 architectural awards for you.
Pritzker Architecture Prize
Founded in 1979 by the Pritzker family the Pritzker Architecture Prize aims to “honor a living architect or architects whose built work demonstrates a combination of those qualities of talent, vision, and commitment, which has produced consistent and significant contributions to humanity and the built environment through the art of architecture.” The annual award includes a grant of US$100 000 and in 2020 was awarded to the remarkable Irish architects, Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara, who, along with their firm, Grafton Architects, has achieved incredible recognition, from also winning the inaugural World Building of the Year award, at the World Architectural Festival, to the inaugural RIBA International Prize.
The Pritzker is perhaps the best-known architecture award, with an incredible roster of laureates, certainly attaining Jay and Cindy Pritzker’s original vision of encouraging and stimulating a much greater public awareness of buildings.
Aga Khan Architecture Prize (AKAA)
The Aga Khan Award for Architecture (AKAA) has been given every three years since 1977 to an international project that satisfies the needs and preferences of Islamic societies. There was a distinct western bias in architecture when it was first conceived, and the award has not only succeeded in bringing a much broader knowledge of Muslim architecture to the rest of the world, but it has also sought to highlight issues such as sustainability, climate adaptation, and quality of life — issues that are now at the forefront of global architectural discussion. The winners share a $1 million prize pool and are chosen from a diverse range of projects; examples from the 2019 edition include Bait Ur Rouf Mosque in Dhaka, Palestinian Museum in Birzeit, the Alioune Diop University Teaching and Research Unit in Bambey, and the Wasit Wetland Centre in Sharjah, all of which are quite different and diverse.
RIBA Awards
the Royal Institute of British Architects International Awards for Excellence are all part of the RIBA program. Children Village by Aleph Zero and Rosenbaum of Brazil, is the most recent winner of the RIBA International Prize. It exemplifies exactly what the RIBA jury is looking for: a project that fits its environment perfectly, achieves exactly what was needed in the brief but goes beyond that, into those rare strata of perfection.
All of these accolades have one thing in common that is a shared passion for architecture. The ability to spread one’s work, whether it’s their most recent project or their entire career, is a significant thing for architects and designers. It is critical to promote the discipline to the general public and the rest of the world, demonstrating how important it is.
AIA Gold Medal
The American Institute of Architects (AIA) has over thirty award programs, with the Gold Medal being the most well-known and distinguished. This prize is given out once a year to an individual or a couple whose work has left a lasting impression, both practically and theoretically. Frank Lloyd Wright, Le Corbusier, Sir Norman Foster, and Frank Gehry are just a few of the past winners whose names are well-known to the general public. Tadao Ando, Julia Morgan, Moshe Safdie, and, most recently, Edward Mazria are among the recent winners. Simply said, an incredible list of architects at the pinnacle of their profession.
Good Design Award
The Australian Good Design Awards have a long and illustrious history of exhibiting the best in design and innovation to an international audience. Since 1958, the Awards have been fostering excellence in design and innovation as one of the longest-running international design competitions.
The Awards encompass the varied spectrum of design with 12 specialized Design Disciplines covering more than 30 Categories and Sub-Categories, and are recognized by the World Design Organization (WDO) as Australia’s premier international design endorsement and promotion program.
The program invites new and innovative design projects from all around the world each year, honoring the best in design, architecture, engineering, research, and social innovation.
Entries feature projects from a variety of sectors and industries, ranging from the design of everyday products, services, and the locations and spaces we inhabit to the design of the processes and systems that support our enterprises.
