Ten projects named best in contemporary architecture at the 2025 AIA Architecture Awards

The American Institute of Architects just presented the winners of its 2025 Architecture Awards, recognizing the best in contemporary architecture. This year, a total of 10 projects were honored, with winners ranging from an astronomy museum in Shanghai to an affordable mixed-use housing development in California.

The awards program aims to showcase exceptional architecture, regardless of budget, size, style, or type, and to highlight the diverse range of work that architects create.

The complete list of winners can be viewed below:

11 NOHO Mixed-Use Housing, North Hollywood, CA
Brooks + Scarpa

Excerpt: "11 NOHO is a new model of mixed-use housing that includes both affordable low-income and market-rate housing together in a single project. Located on the edge of the very popular and trendy NOHO Arts District, the project affords access to important community amenities to an extremely popular and pedestrian friendly neighborhood. Because it is 'Inclusionary Housing,' the project affords equal access for very low-income who would otherwise not be able to afford to live in this community."

Damen Green Line Station, Chicago, IL
Perkins&Will

Excerpt: "The infill Green Line station at Damen and Lake marks a historic return of elevated train service to Chicago's near West Side after a 75-year absence. When several stations closed in 1948, it left economically disadvantaged residents without crucial transportation access. Following years of community advocacy, the new transit hub features transparent design for safety, a site-specific mural celebrating local identity, and integrated bike and bus connections. The station's opening represents more than just restored transit access—it serves as a catalyst for community reinvestment and neighborhood revitalization."

Kresge College Expansion at the University of California, Santa Cruz, CA
Studio Gang (Design Architect), TEF Design (Associate Architect)

Excerpt: "Located in a redwood forest along ridges and ravines in northern California, Kresge College has been a bold experiment in student-driven education since 1971. Fifty years later, the campus expansion reinvigorates the campus as a vital, experimental environment for education—still independent-minded and free-spirited, but no longer so isolated and inward-facing. Four new buildings—a trio of residential halls and an academic center—restore the integrity and community spirit of the original design while simultaneously opening it up to embrace students of all abilities, the incredible natural ecology of its site, and the larger university community beyond."

RIDC Mill 19, Pittsburgh, PA
MSR Design (Architect), R3A Architecture (Associate Architect) 

Excerpt: "Mill 19 interweaves 263,200 sf of new speculative commercial space for the city’s robotics industry within the ruins of a historic 1,360 foot-long decommissioned steel mill. Three multi-tenant tech buildings provide office space and areas for design, prototyping, and testing for tenants, including Carnegie Mellon University’s (CMU) Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing Institute. Architectural critic Charles Rosenblum writes in Pittsburgh Quarterly, '[Mill 19] is all Pittsburgh. Where else can you find so compelling an architectural embodiment of high-tech resurgence and ecological landscape within the mammoth rusty ruins? And what combination better unites the historical and forward-looking currents of our identity?'"

Seattle Ferry Terminal at Colman Dock, Seattle, WA
NBBJ

Excerpt: "Seattle recently demolished the Alaskan Way Viaduct, an elevated freeway that created a barrier between the city and waterfront. The new Seattle Ferry Terminal, that replaces the decades-old Colman Dock, is the first public building constructed west of Alaskan Way on the waterfront and heals the scar left behind by the viaduct demolition. Approximately nine million people annually commute through the terminal between downtown Seattle, Bainbridge Island and Bremerton. Designed as a place welcoming to all, the new flagship terminal for Washington State Ferries reconnects its people to the cherished waterfront and serves as a gateway to the Olympic peninsula."

Shanghai Astronomy Museum, Shanghai, China
Ennead Architects

Excerpt: "The singular design for the 420,000 square-foot Shanghai Astronomy Museum originates in the dynamic forces of the Universe—orbital motion, weightlessness, monumental scale —and creates a new landmark for the Lingang area, located about forty-five minutes from the central business district of Shanghai. Like ancient structures of civilizations past, the building seeks to viscerally connect humanity to the power and awe of the Universe, not only through its inspirational form and in-depth exhibits, but through an architecture that demonstrates for its visitors real astronomic phenomena."

The Rose Apartments, Venice, CA
Brooks + Scarpa

Excerpt: "When kids 'term out' as they say when they turn 18 years old and are forced to leave a youth facility, most wind up living on the street because there is no place for them to go. Rose Apartments provides a home to these young adults who would otherwise be living on the street. Rose Apartments builds on this southern California courtyard housing typology, but unlike those earlier traditional buildings, it is more idiosyncratic - creating increased security, privacy and openness, while connecting to the greater community outside the building walls."

Rwanda Institute for Conservation Agriculture, Gashora, Rwanda
MASS Design Group

Excerpt: "The Rwanda Institute for Conservation Agriculture (RICA) is a climate-positive campus built with local materials and craftsmanship, guided by a meticulous campus plan for native species restoration. RICA’s campus emerged from a multidisciplinary research and analysis effort, and includes landscape, housing, academic spaces, barn storage, processing space, stormwater systems, human and animal waste management systems, and off-grid energy infrastructure. The construction used biogenic materials, including rammed earth, compressed earth blocks, wood, stone, and terracotta. RICA and its curriculum were designed concurrently and holistically to serve as an alternative model for sustainable agriculture, land use, and construction worldwide."

U.S. Consulate General Guadalajara, Mexico
The Miller Hull Partnership (Design Architect), Page Southerland Page (Architect of Record)

Excerpt: "The U.S. Consulate General Guadalajara is a regional destination for Mexican citizens seeking visas to travel to the United States. With a focus on functionality, security, and architectural excellence, the new facility provides a safe, performance-based environment for consulate operations and reflects the shared values and mutual respect of both nations. Located in a dynamic community, the consulate serves as a hub for both official functions and community engagement, creating a welcoming and accessible site for diplomatic activities in the region."

U.S. Consulate General in Hyderabad, India
Richärd Kennedy Architects (Design Architect), HGA (Associate Architect), Integrus(Architect of Record)

Excerpt: "The concept for the U.S. Consulate General in Hyderabad was influenced by the massive boulder formations and significant changes in elevation throughout the site. The design approach minimizes impact, limiting excavation to respect the culturally significant landscape. The sensitive site approach compliments an adjacent nature preserve featuring a lake integral to regional stormwater management, together forming an urban oasis. The building is ensconced with metal panels articulated as a Jali screen unifying the building on the east and west exposures. The Jali screen filters light and views along the primary elevations and moderates natural light to interior representational spaces."