The Good, the Bad, and the Overbuilt: 2025 Architecture & Design Awards

Back for the 16th (!) consecutive year with the totally prestigious, totally made-up Architecture & Design Awards, co-written with Mark Lamster and Carolina Miranda.

But in keeping with the times (and because we are lazy), we’ve decided to leave the writing of the introduction to ChatGPT:

Architecture in 2025 reflects a discipline reshaped by urgent environmental demands, rapid technological advances, and a renewed commitment to social purpose. The most distinguished work of the year demonstrates how design can respond creatively to these pressures — balancing innovation with responsibility, beauty with equity, and experimentation with a deep respect for place. This year’s awards highlight projects that rethink the limits of material efficiency, expand models for sustainable and affordable housing, and elevate community voices in the design process. They also celebrate adaptive reuse efforts that preserve cultural memory while charting new futures for existing structures. Together, these honors offer a snapshot of a field in motion, recognizing architects whose work helps define what meaningful, forward-looking design can be today.

How inspiring. And now on to the fake awards. Enjoy!