Each January, the editor of Oculus has the opportunity to sit down with that year’s awards jury for the final hours of a two-day deliberation on more than 200 project submissions by AIA New York Chapter members and other architects practicing in New York City, or those based elsewhere but working here. Needless to say, this wide net of parameters results in a varied catch of projects—and an incredibly meticulous awards selection process by the jury, who are all invited from other chapters to the Center for Architecture to perform their duties.
Listening to the jurors speak about all the projects submitted, and not just the winners, always gives a glimpse into the way buildings that are sometimes worlds away from each other can tap into the same Zeitgeist. One theme that came up again and again this year was the idea of porosity, and institutions trying to dissolve the boundary between public and private interactions more than they have in the past. The jury cited success in this area as the reason behind several awards, including those for Vesterheim Commons in Iowa, and for expansions at Brown University and the University of Toronto. Whether a series of interventions on the intimate grounds of the Blanton Museum in Austin, or a massive reimagining of 30 acres of Memphis waterfront to create a new public amenity for an entire city, architects had met the same desire to draw visitors into new spaces and experiences. In New York, a small intervention, the Manhattan Pet Adoption Center, and a large commercial endeavor, Rockefeller Center’s new rink-level public concourse, both sought ways to pull people inside who might have otherwise passed by. The jury even awarded a Best in Competition prize this year, for the first time since 2021, to the Kaohsiung Port Terminal, which, though massive in scale, was lauded for the ways in which New York-based Reiser+Umemoto, RUR Architecture considered its surrounding community so fully. As juror Stacy Passmore, PLA, AICP, noted, “We were very impressed by projects that transform the city they’re located in, and this was the top-tier example of that. And, not just the city, but the harbor and how it interacts with the economy of the city was important in this project as well.”
At the conclusion of each annual awards presentation, as moderator, I have gotten into the habit of asking the jury if they have any advice for those preparing project submissions for next year’s program. This year, the jurors’ responses emphasized the importance of understanding the narrative arc behind any built work. “The story I wish everyone would communicate is how much they love their work,” Troy Schaum, AIA, told an audience at the Center, urging architects to tell stories of “debates with crazy clients and debates with difficult contractors, and late nights.” The jury would love to hear these stories, and how they improved the built work, he added, “because the only real fans of architecture are architects.”
Ultimately, noted Michael Guthrie, FAIA, the projects that prevail tell a story about how they impact the people who use them. “There was an air of inclusivity within each of these projects,” he said. “They asked, ‘How do we find a way to represent all walks of life, all aspects of typology, all characteristics?’” He urged the audience to “look for those moments everywhere.”
At a time when our alliances and day-to-day decisions feel heavy with the weight of local and global politics, and many contemporary conditions seem determined to underscore our differences, it is heartening to imagine the interconnected web of like-minded design thinking that is at the heart of so many of these projects. I, too, will work the rest of the year to look for those moments of connection over disparity.
In the spirit of coming together around this work, the Center will host an exhibition of the winning projects, opening Thursday, May 8, at 6pm, and on view through September 2, 2025. We hope to see you there!