The 100+ best buildings by American architects recognized at the 2021 American Architecture Awards

The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design has announced the overall winners of the American Architecture Awards 2021, with over 130 projects recognized. Described as the nation’s highest public award for new architecture and urban planning, the list recognizes the best new architecture designed and constructed by American architects and by international architects with offices in the United States.

The winners, which range from a new airport in Mexico City to a vernacular girls school in Jaisalmer, India, were selected from a shortlist of over 400 projects. The jury for the awards consisted of five architects and educators from Australia who, according to Chicago Athenaeum Museum president Christian Narkiewicz-Laine, “held up these diverse projects as an optimistic vision of the future and a powerful reminder of ‘the fundamental role of architects in creating humanist structures that last for generations.”

The winning projects, which we have listed below, follow on from the Chicago Athenaeum’s recent awarding of the 6th Chicago Athenaeum Award to an adaptive reuse library by Gould Evans as well as the unveiling of the International Architecture Awards winners for 2021.

Affordable Housing

• Studio Twenty Seven Architecture and Leo A. Daly - The Aya Housing, Washington D.C.
• LRS Architects and LEVER Architecture - The Louisa Flowers Affordable Housing, Portland, Oregon

Airports and Transportation Centers

• FGP Atelier - Felipe Ángeles International Airport, Santa Lucía, Mexico

Bridges

• Svigals + Partners - Beehive Bridge, New Britain, Connecticut
• Payette - Northeastern University Pedestrian Crossing (PedX), Boston, Massachusetts

Commercial

• Walker Warner Architects - House of Flowers, Healdsburg, California
• Neumann Monson Architects - 111 East Grand, Des Moines, Iowa
• SPF:a - Water’s Edge 3, Los Angeles, California
• Elkus Manfredi Architects - 401 Park Repositioning, Boston, Massachusetts
• Neumann Monson Architects - 111 East Grand, Des Moines, Iowa
• Graham Baba Architects - Alaska Airlines Flagship Lounge, Seattle, Washington

Corporate

• Pickard Chilton - 2+U, Seattle, Washington
• HASTINGS Architecture, LLC. - 225 Polk Office Space, Nashville, Tennessee
• Kevin Daly Architects and Productora - The Houston Endowment, Los Angeles, California
• Morphosis Architects - Casablanca Finance City Tower | Casablanca, Morocco
• Dub Architects - The Edge Office Building, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
• Elkus Manfredi Architects - Pier 4 Office Building, Boston, Massachusetts
• HASTINGS Architecture, LLC. - 225 Polk Office Space, Nashville, Tennessee
• Form4 Architecture - Verdant Sanctuary, Palo Alto, California

Culture and Museums

• LMN Architects - Octave 9: Raisbeck Music Center, Seattle, Washington
• Anderson Anderson Architecture - The Matchstick, San Francisco, California
• Rand Elliott Architects - Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
• Mitchell Giurgola Architects LLP. - BAM Strong, Brooklyn, New York
• DLR Group - Shenzhen Opera House Competition, Shenzhen, China
• Architecture Research Office - A New Campus for the Rothko Chapel, Houston, Texas
• REX - Brown University Performing Arts Center | Providence, Rhode Island
• REX - The Ronald O. Perelman Performing Arts Center at the World Trade Center, New York, New York

Government and Civic Buildings

• Roth Sheppard Architects - Firestone Police Department and Municipal Court, Firestone, Colorado
• HGA Architects and Engineers - Derby Line Land Port of Entry, Derby Line, Vermont HEALTH

Care and Hospitals

• Yazdani Studio of CannonDesign - Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine, Pasadena, California
• BLUR Workshop - Veterinarian and Animal Care Campus, Atlanta, Georgia
• HOK - BioMed Life Sciences Campus, Foster City, California
• LS3P Associates - Uganda Women’s and Childrens Clinic, Mityana, Uganda

High Rises and Skyscrapers

• Goettsch Partners and Hartshorne Plunkard Architecture - One Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
• Solomon Cordwell Buenz (SCB) - Telegraph Tower, Oakland, California
• Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates PC. - Hudson Commons, New York, New York
• Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates PC. - One Vanderbilt, New York, New York
• Rhode Partners - The Independent, Austin, Texas
• Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture and Adamson Associates Architects - Central Park Tower, New York, New York
• Goettsch Partners - 110 North Wacker, Chicago, Illinois

Hotels and Hospitality

• Siegel & Strain Architects - Redwood Visitor Center, Orick, California
• Montalba Architects - Whitepod Suites-Chalets, Monthey, Switzerland

Infrastructure

• de Leon & Primmer Architecture Workshop - Rowan Pump Station Building Façade, Louisville, Kentucky

Institutional

• Sanders Pace Architecture - Loghaven Artist Residency, Knoxville, Tennessee
• Aidlin Darling Design - Geneva Car Barn & Powerhouse, San Francisco, California
• LEVER Architecture - Oregon Conservation Center, Portland, Oregon
• Adjaye Associates - 1199 SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, New York, New York
• Siegel & Strain Architects - Redwood Visitor Center, Orick, California

Libraries

• Schwartz/Silver Architects and WHLC Architecture - River Center Branch Library, Baton Rouge, Louisiana
• NADAAA - Adams Street Branch Library, Boston, Massachusetts
• Gould Evans and Group 4 Architecture - Olathe Indian Creek Library, Olathe, Kansas

Mixed-Use

• Trahan Architects - New England Mixed Use Development, New England

Monuments and Memorials

• Chee Salette - January 8th Memorial, Tucson, Arizona
• Paul Murdoch Architects - Flight 93 National Memorial, Shanksville, Pennsylvania

Multi-Family Housing

• Dake Wells Architecture - Pendleton ArtsBlock, Kansas City, Missouri
• David Hovey & Associates Architect - Optima Kierland Center, Phoenix, Arizona
• David Hovey & Associates Architect - Optima Sonoran Village, Phoenix, Arizona
• Solomon Cordwell Buenz (SCB) - The Bristol, West Palm Beach, Florida Arquitectonica - Oasis Hallandale, Hallandale, Florida
• Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture - Una Residences | Miami, Florida
• Pininfarina of America Corp. - Torre Designo, México City, México
• Kobi Karp Architecture and Interior Design - Wynwood 25, Miami, Florida
• University of Arkansas Community Design - Markham Square Housing District, Conway, Arkansas 
• archimania - Frontline, Memphis, Tennessee
• Tighe Architecture - 2300 Beverly, Los Angeles, California
• Handel Architects LLP. - Sendero Verde 100% Affordable Passive House Residences | New York, New York

Private Houses

• Salmela Architect - (Re)generation House, St. Paul, Minnesota
• MUTUO - Wonderland, Los Angeles, California
• Johnsen Schmaling Architects - Kettle Moraine House, Campbellsport, Wisconsin
• Robert M. Gurney, FAIA, Architect - Franzen House, Washington D.C.
• substance - MC38 Residence, San Francisco, California
• Marc Thorpe Design – Edifice, New York, New York
• Desai Chia Architecture - The Ledge House, Cornwall, Connecticut
• William Kaven Architecture - Royal, Portland, Oregon
• EYRC Works - Mighty House, California
• Standard - Forest Knoll Residence, Los Angeles, California
• David Jameson Architect Inc. - 3131 CBR, Washington, D.C.
• David Jameson Architect Inc. - Liminal House, The Plains, Virginia
• Montalba Architects - Vertical Courtyard House, Santa Monica, California
• Minarc - Almar Residence, Los Angeles, California
• Aidlin Darling Design - Art House, San Francisco, California
• archimania - Civitas, Memphis, Tennessee
• David Jameson Architect Inc. - Casa Madera Cristal, Washington, D.C.
• Scott | Edwards Architecture - Slabtown 4, Portland, Oregon
• Alterstudio Architecture - Tarrytown Residence, Austin, Texas

Parks and Public Spaces

• OLIN - Pier 26 at Hudson River Park, New York, New York
• Trahan Architects - Luther George Park, Springdale, Arkansas
• Form4 Architecture - Human Convergence, San Jose Light Tower Corporation Design Competition, San Jose, California

Religious Buildings

• PBDW Architects - Moise Safra Center, New York, New York
• Form4 Architecture - Intertwined Eternities, Apotos, California

Retail and Showrooms

• Ross Barney Architects and CPH - McDonald’s Global Flagship at Walt Disney World Resort, Lake Buena Vista, Florida
• FGP Atelier - Ted Gibson Salon, Chicago, Illinois

Restoration and Renovation

• Voith & Mactavish Architects - Carey Law School Silverman Hall Classrooms, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
• Pei Cobb Freed & Partners - 1271 Avenue of the Americas Recladding and Repositioning, New York, New York
• designLAB architects - 485 Broadway Renovation, Cambridge, Massachusetts
• Woods + Dangaran - Moore House Restoration, Los Feliz, California
• MTFA Design + Preservation, PLLC. - Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington D.C.
• Morris Adjmi Architects - 520 West 20th Street, New York, New York
• Elkus Manfredi Architects - Cathedral of the Holy Cross, Boston, Massachusetts
• DLR Group - Portland Building Renovation, Portland, Oregon
• Woods + Dangaran - Moore House Restoration, Los Feliz, California
• Stayner Architects - The Miles C. Bates House, Palm Desert, California
• Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates PC. - The Stephen M. Rosenberg College of Law, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky
• Fentress Architects and Arquitectonica - Miami Beach Convention Center Expansion and Renovation, Miami Beach, Florida

Schools and Universities

• Murray Legge Architecture - Little Tiger Chinese Immersion School, Austin, Texas
• Arquitectonica - Lakeside Village Student Housing, University of Miami, Miami, Florida
• CannonDesign - Second Student Centre, York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
• KieranTimberlake - Anabeth and John Weil Hall, Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri
• HOK - BioMed Life Sciences Campus, Foster City, California
• Ennead Architects - The Phil and Penny Knight Campus for Accelerating Scientific Impact, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon
• ikon.5 architects - L. Gale Lemerand Student Center, Daytona State College, Daytona Beach, Florida
• Payette - Lafayette College Rockwell Integrated Sciences Center, Easton, Pennsylvania
• EskewDumezRipple - Home Building at Thaden School, Bentonville, Arkansas
• Leers Weinzapfel Associates, Modus Studio and Mackey Mitchell Architects - Adohi Hall, Fayetteville, Arkansas
• Henning Larsen Architects and KZF Design, Inc.- Carl H. Lindner College of Business, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio
• The Miller Hull Partnership, LLP. - The Hans Rosling Center for Population Health, Seattle, Washington
• Christoff:Finio Architecture - Bennington College Commons Renovation, Bennington, Vermont
• JGMA and Cannon Design - Richard J. Daley College MTEC, Chicago, Illinois
• KieranTimberlake - Henley Hall: Institute for Energy Efficiency, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California
• William Rawn Associates, Architects, Inc. - Linde Center for Music and Learning, Lenox, Massachusetts
• Mitchell Giurgola Architects LLP. - Higgins Engineering & Science Center, The Bronx, New York
• NADAAA - RISD North Hall, Providence, Rhode Island
• University of Arkansas Community Design - Markham Square Housing District, Conway, Arkansas
• SHoP Architects - The National Veterans Resource Center at Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York
• Smith-Miller + Hawkinson Architects and Moody Nolan - Energy Advancement and Innovation Center, Columbus, Ohio
• Diana Kellogg Architects - The Rajkumari Ratnavati Girl’s School, Jaisalmer, India
• ARC / Architectural Resources Cambridge - PJM STEM+ Center, Hardwick, Massachusetts
• Solomon Cordwell Buenz (SCB) - The Academic and Residential Complex, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
• Leers Weinzapfel Associates - Center for Engineering, Innovation and Sciences, Boston, Massachusetts
• BNIM - Ozark Education Center, Bull Shoals Field Station, Cedarcreek, Missouri

Urban Planning and Landscape Architecture

• W Architecture and Landscape Architecture LLC. and Wannemacher Jensen Architects - The Pier Approach, St. Petersburg, Florida