The eight Emerging Voices of 2017

The Architectural League of New York recently revealed the eight new Emerging Voices for 2017! Launched in 1982, the reputable Emerging Voices program helped propel the careers of more than 250 North America-based architects, many whose names are well known today, like Steven Holl, Morphosis, Toshiko Mori, Deborah Berke, Enrique Norten, Jeanne Gang, and Tatiana Bilbao.

In the invite-only portfolio competition, the jury evaluates significant bodies of realized work and takes into account how the work addresses larger issues in the built environment and landscape. Jurors also consider each candidate's accomplishments within the design and academic communities.

The Emerging Voices winners will each deliver a lecture at the SVA Theatre in New York City this March. Also be on the lookout for the ArchLeague's digital features about each winner this summer.

Scroll down to see this year's winning practices.

Brian Bell and David Yocum
BLDGS | Atlanta, Georgia

“Brian Bell and David Yocum are the founding principals of BLDGS, an Atlanta-based firm established in 2006. They undertake extensive research ‘to reveal what is hidden, and to discover a meaningful role for the unseen and unexpected.” A self-proclaimed responsibility to the civic realm inspires BLDGS to be inclusive of the ‘complexity of historical, cultural, and natural systems in which we live.’ Recent work includes the 2015 School of Building Construction for Georgia Tech, and the Congregation Or Hadash Synagogue, built in 2013, both in Atlanta.”

Eduardo Cadaval and Clara Solà-Morales
Cadaval & Solà-Morales | Mexico City and Barcelona 

“Eduardo Cadaval and Clara Solà-Morales founded their practice in 2003. Operating in Mexico City and Barcelona, they view their practice as ‘an overlap between the three main fields within the discipline: theory, academy, and praxis,’ and allows them to engage in research, expression, and application, respectively. Recent projects in Mexico City include the Córdoba Reurbano apartment residences that were added to a historic building; and CH 139, a mixed-use project within the preserved shell of a Spanish Colonial façade.”

Roy Decker and Anne Marie Duvall Decker
Duvall Decker Architects | Jackson, Mississippi 

“Roy Decker and Anne Marie Duvall Decker founded their Jackson firm in 1997. Working primarily in Mississippi, they assert that the state’s lack of public funds forces them to maneuver among the ‘competing local cultural desires’ to ‘make do’ and ‘to do more with less.’ Their work ranges from architectural design and community planning to real estate development and construction management. In 2012, they completed the Midtown Affordable Housing in Jackson, which includes 22 units of federally funded affordable housing alongside a renovated mixed-use services building.” 

Frida Escobedo
Frida Escobedo, Taller de Arquitectura | Mexico City

“In 2006, Frida Escobedo founded Frida Escobedo, Taller de Arquitectura in Mexico City. Her firm strives to ‘give room for growth and flexibility’ in large-scale public projects, as demonstrated in her 2014 renovation of the Octavio Paz Library in Mexico City, which sought to establish a more fluid relationship between the library, street, and a nearby park, as well as in more modest projects like the 2015 ‘pavilion’ for the Victoria and Albert Museum in London; the pavilion comprised of conjoined platforms hovering above, and inserted within, the museum’s Northern Italian Renaissance-style courtyard.” 

Chris Leong and Dominic Leong
Leong Leong | New York City

“Chris Leong and Dominic Leong founded their New York-based firm Leong Leong in 2009. Their practice is ‘driven by a curiosity for new organization typologies and aesthetic experiences, which offer new ways of living, working, and interacting with one another.‘ Their recent work includes the 2015 City View Garage in Miami and the 2014 U.S. Pavilion for the XIV Venice Architecture Biennale. Two of their current projects are the Center for Community and Entrepreneurship in Queens, New York; and the Anita May Rosenstein Campus at the Los Angeles LGBT Center — both scheduled for completion in 2019.”

Thomas F. Robinson
LEVER Architecture | Portland, Oregon

“Thomas F. Robinson is the founding principal of LEVER Architecture, a Portland, Oregon-based firm established in 2009. The firm seeks to ‘create buildings and spaces that elevate the human experience.’ LEVER Architecture emphasizes the importance of material experimentation, including pioneering research into cross-laminated-timber (CLT), and believes that ‘great work delivered with limited means requires precise architecture and a willingness to rethink how buildings are made.’ In 2018, the firm will complete a 12-story CLT high rise in Portland bringing together affordable housing, office space, and retail.”

Jonathan Tate
OJT | New Orleans, Louisiana 

“Jonathan Tate founded the New Orleans-based firm OJT in 2011. Tate believes context is ‘both formative and integral’ to the firm’s projects, which seek to complement and celebrate the surrounding built environment. The firm researches social, spatial, historical, economic, ecological, and environmental factors to develop ‘multi-scalar processes specific to a project’s location.’ In 2016, OJT completed two single-family houses that are part of an urban infill housing initiative in which the firm collaborated with a developer and builder to develop and design entry-level homes on lots deemed undesirable for developers.”

David Scott and Susan Scott
Scott & Scott Architects | Vancouver, Canada

“David Scott and Susan Scott are the directors of Scott & Scott Architects, a Vancouver, Canada-based firm that they founded in 2012. They believe that a design’s refinement ‘occurs with the continuous re-evaluation of use and experience.’ The firm’s work ranges from agricultural and community master planning to residential projects and adaptive reuse of buildings for commercial and retail clients. Recent projects include a 2012 cabin designed and constructed by the architects to withstand heavy snowfall, and Gulf Island Barn, a 2015 private barn and community space designed to serve future generations of the client’s family.”

2017 Emerging Voices jury: Sunil Bald, Mario Gooden, Lisa Gray, Paul Lewis, Jing Liu, Thomas Phifer, Bradley Samuels, Billie Tsien, and Ian Volner.

Images courtesy of the Architectural League of New York.