Announcing the winners of AN’s 2022 Best of Design Awards

“The oval is a good shape for softening the hard edges of the modernist glass box, and it’s hard to imagine a softer modernism than this—even the glass walls are curvy. I love all the daylight; the big, open collaboration space; and the yellow walls and curtains. Very nice.”—Aaron Seward

“This rooftop addition creates a landscape of floor finishes, desks, chairs, and lighting to support studying in groups of varying sizes. I like how the space lends agency to its users, and I wonder what it would be like in the busy days leading up to final exams.”—Jack Murphy

“A thoughtful, modest project that stimulated a lively discussion within the jury. An intentional work in progress, the project situates architeture as a living entity that can continually adapt and change over time as budget allows and as needs change. A contemporary approach to architecture’s contingencies that prioritizes process over singular image.”—Tei Carpenter

“That this effort was able to strip these three buildings down to their concrete frames and add a new energy efficient facade is a testament to the value of Mies’s ideas. This repurposing—which also improves the interiors for student use—feels in line with current thinking about the importance of reusing old buildings instead of building new ones.”—Jack Murphy

“A new take on 1960s-era buildings. This project is a wonderful example of breathing new life into non-descript structures with simple materials that shine with new purpose. The outdoor courtyard that knits the two existing buildings together refocuses the heart of the ensemble into a place of gathering and celebration.”—James Burnett

“This simple but thoughtful pavilion creates a space by following a methodology that adapts non-standard material stock. It is an efficient approach that advances digital fabrication technics and customization.”—Gabriela Etchegaray

“This project really stood out through its balance of craft and engagement with the site ecology. Natural and artificial lighting reinforces the dynamic, angular forms that cut a complimentary silhouette to the distant mountains. Horizon lines shift across the modest plan, making occupants acutely aware of the environment and forming a celebration of living with the land.”—Ron Stelmarski

“With just a few strong gestures, this outdoor space is defined by a sequence of movement and connection. The shipping container vocabulary is married with glass and color that brings the outdoor space to the foreground and encourages people to share experiences in small moments across the site.”—James Burnett

“This rink is elegant and simple. It seems appropriate for an ice-skating rink, as the interior and exterior are cohesive. The reveal of the wood on the exterior is a subtle gesture that’s beautiful. It reinforces the actual act of speed skating and speaks to the sport itself.”—Sekou Cooke

“I appreciate the Webster because it creates a series of individual little moments and experiences for the shopper, so they’re going to very different spaces. It feels like it was designed around the shopping experience.”—Sekou Cooke

“This project racked up points for its impressive daylighting strategy, which keeps workers connected to the diurnal cycle within a large-footprint building. Where electric lighting is used, it is warm and indirect, washing the architectural surfaces in ways that are bespoke and intriguing.”—Aaron Seward

“On the inside, the project neatly accommodates its essential program of social and medical services for the LGBTQ+ community. But it also shines on the outside, where the tall, long block is faced in a varied field of brick textures. The gesture allows for many expressions of difference that stack together to become an overall unified facade, much like how society is thought to operate.”—Jack Murphy

“This modest intervention creates a new entrance that relies on openness and accessibility. Attached to an existing church, it elegantly prioritizes the relationship to an adjacent garden, connecting the interior and exterior spaces as well as to the upper levels.”—Gabriela Etchegaray

“The designers of this project gave a lot of attention to humanizing and enriching this city block from bottom to top. The ground floor is inviting and generous with recessed storefront, protected walkways, and intermediate gardens. Articulation of the mass and material selection creates a shadow play that artfully animates and enlivens the streetscape. The linking of the four blocks, particularly at the rooftop, form an exhilarating vertical experience that is often lacking in this project type.”—Ron Stelmarski

“This condominium stacks 18 units around a central atrium enclosed with netting, eliminating any corridors. The scheme, combined with its inventive material resolutions, is a welcome take on how high-end housing can advance conceptual goals beyond mere luxury. It’s like a student project come to life, in a good way.”—Jack Murphy

“This project has great simplicity and hierarchy of materials that made it feel very comfortable in its environment. The forms of each pavilion permit light and water into the spaces in very striking and poetic ways. The design appears to provide a rejuvenating mix of playful and transcendent experiences without compromising functionality.”—Ron Stelmarski

“I know this took a huge amount of work to get off the ground and that the building exists signals a long-term commitment to a community. This award also recognizes all the unseen work and persistence that happens to get a project like this going. The project is a good model for other communities that may have a similar situation across the U.S. Starting with the program or activities woven into this building and grounds it seems like this project, that is supported by the building but certainly goes beyond it in its activities, would have great impact in a food desert and in an underserved community provides a way to learn about foods as a career.”—Felecia Davis

“An important effort in readying Manhattan for a future of higher seas and stronger storms.”—Jack Murphy

“The materials are simple, but curving CLT can be challenging. The blending and meeting of the different materials with the organic CLT curves is done very well here.”—Felecia Davis

“Biomedical facilities aren’t frequently darlings of the design award circuit, but this one is a real stunner. Large windows and interior apertures admit daylight deep into the facility, and the color palette is exceedingly tasteful.”—Aaron Seward

“A well-accomplished interior design project where subtle details are thoughtful along with the embedded domestic atmosphere. It brings into the present the warm aspects of Victorian elements that are set along the walls and comprise the furniture.”—Gabriela Etchegaray

“The elegant and clever figural void strategy integrates circulation and light and is literally a breath of fresh air into the otherwise dark townhouse typology. Soft geometric transformations of the void across the vertical spaces creates moments of domestic wonder.”—Tei Carpenter

“A pleasure to see this simple selection of material, shape, color and lighting in this small space. The use of wood, in two colors, is primary, and the linear shape of this wood is repeated in the lighting. It was great to see how the designers achieved the mysterious appearance of light from what looks like—but are not—sticks of wood. Elegant and restrained.”—Felecia Davis

“I like how the interior intervention sympathizes with the existing concrete structure—those big, round, mushroom columns are rad! The workspaces look soft and cool, just what we all need for the return to the office after the pandemic years of going goblin mode.”—Aaron Seward

“At Shape Tomorrow, people bending over or squeezing down to look at the stuff that’s close to the ground are part of the exhibit. That’s part of an understanding of how we might shape tomorrow, to make it comfortable for more bodies.”—Felecia Davis

“It’s a protest and a clear roadmap for improvement. What more could you ask for?”—Aaron Seward

“I appreciated the fact that this pavilion was made with a couple of different units flipped to their concave or convex sides to make an engaging shape. It looks like it can expand to be a bigger shelter as well and is, in fact, a building system for a material that is shapable like plastic. Perhaps this works for many kinds of recycled plastics one might find in a material stream in a community.”—Felecia Davis

“This campus of three buildings establishes a community center clearly identified through red figures extended by wood framing. The scheme is imaged in serene, landscape- heavy views that showcase how the structures open up to the wider environment.”—Jack Murphy

“Strangeness abounds in this proposal to add on to an existing barn. The design, with its lofted shingle roof, is a hybrid cultivated from architectural references like New England barns, Gwathmey modernism, and contemporary formalisms. The resulting spaces, expertly rendered, are weird and compelling.”—Jack Murphy

“California is electrifying rapidly. This proposal could actually prove useful in achieving that goal.”—Aaron Seward

“In this proposal, the weaving of spaces and the linking of private-but-connected outdoor terraces are an effective strategy.”—Ron Stelmarski

“The nine-square-grid–like experiment of these CMU T-shapes (packed with bathrooms and storage) is inventive. With no hallways, the house is creatively imagined as a suite of related rooms nested under a big sloping circle roof. A weekend house with spatial provocation.”—Jack Murphy

“The idea of outdoor rooms that harken back to their ecological history and purpose is artfully imagined in this assemblage. The backdrop of dense forest is used to great effect here, especially as the rooms are imagined at great height with hanging gardens and a zipline.”—James Burnett