AIA Los Angeles honors city's best projects and architects in 2021 AIALA Design Awards

The annual AIALA Design Awards winners have been announced following a gala in front of a sold-out crowd at the chapter’s awards party at the new SoFi Stadium in Inglewood.

This year's winners include a diverse range of projects across varied typologies, from a new Canadian museum project from Michael Maltzan Architects to private residences in Marin County and Lehrer Architecture's tiny homes collaboration with the Los Angeles Bureau of Engineering in North Hollywood. 

Multiple projects from Steinberg Hart took home top prizes among the twenty-one completed projects and sixteen additional unbuilt NEXT LA winners that were awarded by the jury for their “urban generosity” and attendant "sense of dignity, timelessness."

A note on sustainability was made by the awards' requirement that each entry be a signatory of the AIA's 2030 Challenge. Additionally, each Honor-level winner was required to submit project data to the AIA's Data Exchange platform in order to be considered. 

“Los Angeles continues to be a forward-leaning capital of architecture,” AIALA President Wade Killefer remarked. “Designers based here, and the architecture realized in the city, demonstrate how design may be harnessed to address the pressing threat of our time, climate change; and the crisis of so many people without housing.”

Scroll down for a full list of recognized projects and images of this year's Honor Award winners.

2021 AIALA DESIGN AWARD WINNERS

Typology: Adaptive Re-use/Renovation/Historical Preservation

• Honor Award: Tower Theatre (Los Angeles, CA) by Foster + Partners and Gruen Associates
• CitationAward: Westbrook Residence Remodel (Los Angeles, CA) by Good Project Company

Typology: Affordable Housing

• Honor Award: Flor 401 Lofts (Los Angeles, CA) by Koning Eizenberg Architecture, Inc.

Typology: Cityscapes/Non-Building

• Citation Award: Rainbow Bridge at Seaside Way (Long Beach, CA) by Zoltan E. Pali, FAIA and SPF:architects

Typology: Commercial/Mix-Use

• Merit Award: WE3 at Water's Edge (Playa Vista, CA) by Zoltan E. Pali, FAIA and SPF:architects

Typology: Educational

• Honor Award: Harvey Mudd College, Scott A. McGregor Computer Science Center (Claremont, CA) by Steinberg Hart
• Merit Award: Health Sciences Innovation Building (Tucson, AZ) by CO Architects
• Merit Award: Camp Lakota (Frazier Park, CA) by Perkins&Will
• Citation Award: Katz Family Pavilion for Athletics and Culture (Los Angeles, CA) by Lehrer Architects LA
• Citation Award: Glorya Kaufman Performing Arts Center (Los Angeles, CA) by AUX Architecture

Typology: Healthcare/Institutional/Civic

• Merit Award: Qaumajuq, the Inuit Art Centre at the Winnipeg Art Gallery (Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada) by Michael Maltzan Architecture, Inc
• Merit Award: The City of Hope Medical and Administrative Leadership Pavilion Duarte | (Irwindale, CA) by Gensler
• Merit Award: SoFi Stadium and Entertainment District at Hollywood Park (Inglewood, CA) by HKS

Typology: Installations

• Citation Award: The Carapace Pavilion (Joshua Tree, CA) by CLIPPER Lab and Studio and USC School of Architecture

Typology: Interior Architecture

• Honor Award: CO00 (Vienna, VA) by Arshia Architects
• Merit Award: Intelligentsia Coffeeshop Hollywood (Hollywood, CA) by Standard Architecture | Design

Typology: Single-Family Residential 

• Honor Award: Mar Vista Residence (Los Angeles, CA) by Woods + Dangaran
• Merit Award: C-Glass House (Marin, CA) by deegan day design architecture
• Citation Award: Strandhouse (Hermosa Beach, CA) by XTEN Architecture

Typology: Temporary Shelter

• Citation Award: Chandler Tiny Homes Village for the Homeless (North Hollywood, CA) by Lehrer Architects LA
• Citation Award: The Lotus (Los Angeles, CA) by NAC

2021 AIALA NEXT LA WINNERS

Typology: Affordable Housing

• Citation Award: Sage Gardens( Sacramento, CA) by ANX

Typology: Cityscapes

• Merit Award: Destination Crenshaw (Los Angeles, CA) by Perkins&Will
• Citation Award: La Brea Tar Pits and Museum Master Plan (Los Angeles, CA) by Weiss/Manfredi
• Citation Award: Hollywood Walk of Fame (Los Angeles, CA) by Gensler

Typology: Commercial/Mix-Use

• Honor Award: Las Palmas Modular (Hollywood, CA) by Steinberg Hart

Typology: Educational

• Honor Award: The Resnick Sustainability Institute at Caltech (Pasadena, CA) by Yazdani Studio of CannonDesign
• Merit Award: Westmark School Lower School (Encino, CA) by NBBJ
• Merit Award: UCSD Theatre District Living and Learning Neighborhood (La Jolla, CA) by HKS & Ehrlich Yanai Rhee Chaney Architects
• Merit Award: San Jose City College, Career Education Complex (San Jose, CA) by Steinberg Hart
• Merit Award: Cajon High School (San Bernardino, CA) by NAC

Typology: Healthcare/Institutional/Civic

• Citation Award: Guadalajara Airport Terminal 2 (Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico) by CallisonRTKL

Typology: Multi-Unit Residential

• Merit Award: Mammoth Lakes Affordable Housing (Mammoth Lakes, CA) by kevin daly Architects
• Merit Award: Sub/Merge & Hidden Gardens (Los Angeles, CA) by Omgivning

Typology: Single-Family Residential

• Citation Award: Almost Famous (Los Angeles, CA) by Yu2e, Inc.
• Citation Award: Los Osos Grandma’s House (Los Osos, CA) by Nabi Boyd
• Citation Award: Badwood Ranch (Pioneertown, CA) by Michael Matthews Studio