Interiors

The AIANY Interiors Committee is proud to announce its 8th Residential Review, an annual showcasing the best work in residential interior projects by New York City-based architects. Residential projects such as apartments, townhouses, freestanding houses, and interior spaces of residential developments may be submitted for consideration.

Projects selected from the entries will be displayed at Poltrona Frau’s showroom for several weeks in October, with a reception on the evening of Tuesday, September 30 from 6:00–8:00 PM.

Submit by September 12, 2025
Deadline extended: September 19, 2025.

Find out more information on how to submit a project for consideration >

Recipe for a Room is a model-making contest about building spatial, sculptural, miniature rooms while fostering fun, creativity, and professional mentorship. Two-person teams, each comprised of a student and architect mentor, will design small-scale Places of Food and Culture—rooms for food preparation and enjoyment.

The AIANY Interiors Committee launched Recipe for a Room in 2020 to benefit NYC design students who had lost their summer internship opportunities, and to raise awareness and financial support for the New York City Restaurant Employees Relief Fund. Each following competition cycle has focused on a different prompt, model-building media, and local beneficiary. For the program’s 5-year anniversary, the theme returns to food, acknowledging that we are once again experiencing global instability due to funding cuts for global help organizations and suppression of cultural differences.

Net proceeds from the 2025 program will benefit Rethink Food, a NYC non-profit that bridges the gap between excess food and the communities that need it.

Register to attend the live competition >

Join us for a Louis Armstrong “double-header” in Queens: The Louis Armstrong Center and the Louis Armstrong House Museum on February 1, 2025. Sara Caples, AIA, and Everardo Jefferson, AIA, of Caples Jefferson Architects will lead us on a tour of the Louis Armstrong Center, the new state-of-the-art building which preserves and expands the legacy and ideals of America’s first Black popular music icon. The visit will continue with a docent-led tour of the Louis Armstrong House Museum.

The Louis Armstrong Center celebrates Armstrong’s distinctive role in African-Diaspora history and vitality, offering year-round exhibitions, performances, readings, lectures, and screenings through an array of public programs for all ages.

As designed by Caples Jefferson, the Louis Armstrong Center is at the scale of the modest neighborhood that Armstrong loved, while creating an urban precinct for his music that welcomes in all visitors. This new building establishes the final piece of the campus that now comprises the museum as whole; it now includes the home itself that reflects the personal values of Louis Armstrong, the garden that serves as a place for gathering and a place for live performances, and the visitor center, designed as an interpretation of Armstrong’s music, where the public can learn even more about the icon that is Louis Armstrong.

Register to join the tour >

The AIANY Interiors Committee and the Retail Design Institute NY Chapter celebrated exceptional retail experiences ranging from full-line traditional department and specialty apparel stores to restaurants, kiosks, and pop-up shops, highlighting outstanding and innovative retail spaces that encourage new techniques in planning, design, graphics, fixturing, lighting, and visual merchandising.

Winning Projects:
Petco THE HEALTH + WELLNESS CO.:
Cindi Kato-Yokoyama, Arcadis
Rick Niera, Petco

Store of the Year: Tiffany & Co.:
Stacey Bertin, Tiffany
Silvia Schwarzer, Tiffany
Ramon Ocampo, Arcadis
Michael Rostkowski, Arcadis

Learn more about this past event >

The AIANY Interiors Residential Review was created by the Interiors Committee to showcase New York City-based architects who are designing outstanding residential spaces. Projects selected from the entries were displayed in showrooms in SoHo, from October 9–31, 2024. Support was generously provided by SoHo Design District.

The 7th Annual Residential Review featured work submitted by:

Andrew Magnes Architecture
AMMOR Architecture
Bangia Agostinho Architecture
Desai Chia Architecture
IN STUDIO
INC Architecture & Design
Kariouk Architects
Leroy Street Studio
Young Projects

Learn more about this past event >

Recipe for a Room is a model-making contest about building spatial, sculptural, miniature rooms while fostering fun, creativity, and professional mentorship. For the 2024 edition, two-person teams, each comprised of a student and architect mentor, designed small-scale places for the displaced. We challenged teams to create one-person shelters which can be folded up into suitcase-size, portable packs.

Over 180,000 asylum seekers have arrived in New York City since the spring of 2022. Many did not choose this city as their destination, but all are travelers who left a previous home behind. In September 2023, Mayor Eric Adams stated, “New York is one of the few states where you have the right to shelter… however, while our compassion is limitless, our resources are not.” Shelter is only guaranteed for 30 days for single individuals and 60 days for families.

Recipe for a Room asked student competitors to create a safe, temporary, portable Room for two displaced persons (one parent and one child), constructed of items one might take when leaving a previous life: a bag, a coat, favorite shirt, shoes, family photos, etc.

Learn more about this past event and see the winners >

Speed Presentations was created by the AIANY Interiors Committee to showcase New York-based architects who are designing outstanding interior spaces. The format of the event—10 architects presenting in quick-fire six-minute intervals—allows us to explore a wide range of projects in a short time frame.

The theme of this edition, “Building Community,” calls for projects that make significant contributions to buildings, development and neighborhoods through design, program, service, and/or other strategies. Projects may be of any type or scale, may be public or private, however should be predominantly about the design of interior spaces. Examples include, but are not limited to, social venues, gathering spaces, building amenity spaces (residential or commercial), retail stores, restaurants/cafes, and community rooms/centers.

See submission details here -> 

Speed Presentations was created by the AIANY Interiors Committee to showcase New York-based architects who are designing outstanding interior spaces. The format of the event—10 architects presenting in quick-fire six-minute intervals—allows us to explore a wide range of projects in a short time frame.

The theme of this edition, “Wellness,” calls for projects that make significant contributions to the human state, the health of our communities and encourage users to engage in more productive lifestyles. Projects may be of any type or scale, may be public or private, and should be predominantly about the design of interior spaces. Examples include, but are not limited to, retail spaces, places of work, living spaces, gyms, hospitals and community centers.

See Details and Enter→

All events will be held at the Center for Architecture, 536 LaGuardia Place, unless otherwise indicated.

Tuesday January 10 2017, 6-8pm: Annual Winter Party. Join the AIANY Interiors and AIANY Emerging New York Architects Committee (ENYA) for one more holiday celebration at the Shaw Contract showroom overlooking Union Square. 853 Broadway.

Tuesday March 7, 6-7.30pm: Pierre Chareau Exhibition Tour and Talk. Join Claudia Nahson (the Jewish Museum) and Alex Knezo (DS+R) and the Interiors Committee for a private tour of the Jewish Museum’s Pierre Chareau exhibition. Ticket details.

Wednesday March 22, 6-8pm: Annual AIANY Interiors Speed Presentations Edition 8. A showcase of 10 of the best interiors presented by New York Architects and designers. Hosted at Steelcase, 4 Columbus Circle. Call for entries are now CLOSED.

Wednesday May 17, 6-8pm: Private Tour of New York City Hall. Led by Richard Southwick, FAIA, Partner and Director of Preservation, Beyer Blinder Belle, attendees will see and learn how preservation design principles influences upgrading historical structures for today’s needs.

Thursday May 18, 6-8pm: Annual Oberfield Lecture. This year, the Oberfield lecture will be presented by Kimberly Sheppard, FAIA and Michael Gabellini, FAIA of Gabellini Sheppard. The annual Oberfield lecture was founded as a memorial to Gil Oberfiled, AIA former member and chair of the Interiors Committee. The lecture brings to the podium speakers whose work excels in the field of Interior Architecture.

Monday, May 22 6-8pm: Tour of Congregation Beit Simchat (CBST). Join Stephen Cassell, AIA of ARO and Aari Ludvigsen of CBST on a private tour of home to the world’s largest LGBTQ Jewish congregation. Learn how the design of the synagogue embodies CBST’s core values through an architecture of accessiblity, transparency and warmth. Held at CBST, 130 W 30th Street, New York, NY.

Tuesday June 13 through Monday July 3: 2017 Residential Review. A showcase of New York based architects who are desiging outstanding residential spaces. The showcase, consisting of large format posters, will be on display within a large street frontage in Chelsea, NY. Held at GD Cucine, 227 W 17th St, NYC. Call for entries are now OPEN. Submissions are due Friday, May 5, 2017.

Tuesday August 8, 2017: Private Tour: Lumen by Jenny Sabin Studio at MoMA PS1. This year’s Museum of Modern Art and MoMA PS1’s Young Architect’s Program (YAP) temporary outdoor installation at MoMA PS1 is by Jenny Sabin that is an immersive design that evolves over the courseofa day, providing a cooling respite fromthemidday sun and a responsive glowing light after dawn. The tour will be led by both Jenny Sabin of Jenny Sabin Studio and Sean Anderson of MoMA. Held at MoMA PS1, 22-25 Jackson Ave, Long Island City, NY.

August 2017: Annual Hamptons Tour. (Details to be confirmed.)

Call for Entries for the 2017 Residential Review are now open. Submissions are due Friday, May 5, 2017.

Call for Entries for Speed Presentations Edition 8 are closed.

Please check this page again soon for information relating to our annual Residential Review.