Bustler's Top Prize-Winning Architects and Designers of 2021

2021 proved to be another gripping year filled with moments of triumph and challenge. However, as the architecture industry attempted to regain a sense of 'stability,' architects, academics, and designers persevered.

Reflecting on the year, our Bustler editorial team has curated a few highlights featuring award-winning architects and designers of 2021.

Listed chronologically, here is our roundup of notable winners of the year.

Kate Macintosh and Lesley Lokko announced as winners of 2021 Jane Drew Prize for Architecture and the Ada Louise Huxtable Prize

"The Architectural Review and Architect's Journal awards (British Architect) Kate Macintosh and (Ghanaian-Scottish Architect, writer, and academic advocate) Lesley Lokko whose exemplary work in architecture has deemed them winners of the 2021 Jane Drew Prize for Architecture and the Ada Louise Huxtable Prize for Contribution to Architecture."

Society of Architectural Historians announces 2021 fellows

"The Society of Architectural Historians (SAH) is a nonprofit organization that promotes the conservation, study, and interpretations of architecture, landscapes, and urbanism globally. Selected for their contributions towards the profession and its practice through scholarship, teaching, and stewardship, the organization announces its 2021 SAH Fellows."

Sebastian Treese named 2021 Driehaus Prize laureate

"German architect Sebastian Treese was announced today as the 2021 laureate of the Richard H. Driehaus Prize at the University of Notre Dame. The jury recognized Treese and the work of his Berlin-based firm Sebastian Treese Architekten for representing a 'new generation of European architects with the intellectual grounding and commitment to carefully re-examine the nature of building in the modern world.'"

8 architects and firms awarded winners of Emerging Voices 2021

"The Architectural League of New York's invite-only, two-stage review has been highlighting the work of emerging practices through its portfolio competition since 1982. The awards program has helped launch the careers of more than 200 North American-based architects."

Alice Brownfield is the recipient of the 2021 MJ Long Prize

"In honor of American architect, writer, and lecturer MJ Long, the MJ Long Prize is awarded to a UK-based female architect that has excelled in practice. This year, the W Awards announces Alice Brownfield as the 2021 winner. Brownfield is the associate director of Peter Barber Architects and was recognized for her work on the London infill housing project, Kiln Place. "

Female members of Lacol are winners of the Moira Gemmill Prize for Emerging Architecture

"The Moira Gemmill Prize for Emerging Architecture recognizes designers under the age of 45 for their achievement in professional practice. This year's prizes have been awarded to six female architects who are part of the architecture practice, Lacol. Members Ariadna Artigas, Anna Clemente, Eulàlia Daví, Cristina Gamboa, Laura Lluch, and Núria Vila were praised by this year's jury for their housing projects La Borda, Coòpolis, and co-operative complex La Comunal."

Anne Lacaton and Jean-Philippe Vassal win the 2021 Pritzker Architecture Prize

"The Pritzker Architecture Prize jury revealed that French architects Anne Lacaton and Jean-Philippe Vassal of Lacaton & Vassal will be the 2021 laureates of the coveted recognition [...] Lacaton and Vassal will join the Pritzker's honorary list of laureates, which in recent years included Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara of Grafton Architects (who collectively won the 2020 prize), Arata Isozaki (2019), Balkrishna Doshi (2018), RCR Arquitectes co-founders Rafael Aranda, Carme Pigem, and Ramon Vilalta (2017), Alejandro Aravena (2016), the late Frei Otto (2015), Shigeru Ban (2014), Toyo Ito (2013), and Wang Shu (2012)."

2021 RAIC Gold Medal awarded to Brigitte Shim and A. Howard Sutcliffe

"Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC) recognizes Brigitte Shim and A. Howard Sutcliffe as this year's 2021 Gold Medal Award recipients. Founders of the Toronto-based architecture and interior design firm Shim-Sutcliffe Architects, the annual award is the highest honor bestowed to individuals for their long-standing contributions to Canadian architecture. Shim and Sutcliffe have also won fifteen Governor Generals Awards and the AIA National Honor Award on top of other design accolades."

Spanish architect Rafael Moneo receives Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement

"The prestigious Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement award is presented to Spanish architect, educator, critic, and theoretician Rafael Moneo. Hashim Sarkis, 2021 curator of the 17th Biennale Architettura, shares, 'Rafael Moneo is one of the most transformative architects of his generation.' Moneo's career in both professional practice and academia has deemed him several awards and accolades."

Germane Barnes wins the 2021 Wheelwright Prize

"Harvard GSD's ninth annual Wheelwright Prize will be awarded to Germane Barnes, architect and Assistant Professor at the University of Miami School of Architecture. Today's announcement follows the reveal of four finalists for the $100,000 fellowship in April.  Funding will support Barnes' two-year research project Anatomical Transformations in Classical Architecture, an examination of Roman and Italian architecture through the lens of non-white constructors, studying 'how spaces have been transformed through the material contributions of the African Diaspora while creating new architectural possibilities that emerge within investigations of Blackness.'"

Harvard GSD announces Loeb Fellowship class of 2022

"The Harvard Graduate School of Design’s Loeb Fellowship has announced its Class of 2022. The ten individuals were selected from a group of 134 candidates, and work across fields including activism, urbanism, public art, film and media, technology, and real estate development. The 2021-2022 cycle, the 51st in the Loeb Fellowship’s history, will also see an inaugural collaborative fellowship between the Loeb Fellowship and the ArtLab at Harvard University."

AIA|LA Announces 2021 Presidential Honorees

"The AIA Los Angeles chapter has announced its annual list of Presidential Honorees. Fifteen firms, educators, projects, and individual designers were each given the exclusive honor for achievements that share a common thread of improving the city through shared values and commitment to community improvement."

RIBA announces winner of the 2021 Norman Foster Travelling Scholarship

"Weronika Zdziarska and her project titled ‘Don’t Stay Out Alone awarded her as this year’s RIBA Norman Foster Travelling Scholarship recipient. Zsziarska's project addresses 'women’s perception of safety and freedom in cities by design,’ a study of how groups in five different South American cities have intervened amidst the recent tragic uptick in violence that has plagued women in large urban areas across the globe. She is currently enrolled at the Politecnico di Milano."

Justin Garrett Moore named AIA New York's Champion of Architecture

"The Mellon Foundation’s Justin Garrett Moore has been honored with the AIA New York 2021 Champion of Architecture Award, joining names like Lewis Mumford and Jane Jacobs on a list of recipients of what had formerly been known as the Award of Merit." 

Walter Hood receives The Architectural League 2021 President's Medal

"The Architectural League presented Walter Hood with the award during a public ceremony on July 21. A public ceremony took place at Marcus Garvey Park in Harlem. Hood's illustrious career has positioned him as an impactful landscape architect whose eclectic design approach bridges the gap between landscape architecture, design, and urbanism as a cultural practice."

Architect Anupama Kundoo receives 2021 RIBA Charles Jencks Award

"This year's RIBA Charles Jencks Award is presented to Indian architect and researcher Anupama Kundoo. Her winning the award is a great reflection of influential architectural practices and academic work in South Asia."

Artist Shio Kusaka and architect Toshiko Mori named 2021 Isamu Noguchi Award

"This year's 2021 award will be presented to artist Shio Kusaka and architect Toshiko Mori [...] Each year, the Isamu Noguchi Award honors and recognizes the work of individuals who "embody global consciousness, design innovation, and emphasis on cultural exchanges between Eastern and Western cultures." Both women, born in Japan and practicing in the United States, have had illustrious careers where their work and contribution to art, design, and architecture positions them as leaders in their respective fields." 

Meet the 2021 Cooper Hewitt National Design Awardees

"This year's National Design Awards recipients showcase an array of firms and individuals who have dedicated their work towards enriching the definition of design impacts in daily life. Out of the nine design categories, five of the recipients hold important positions and involvement within architectural practice and academia. The 2021 award recipients in their respective categories are: Architecture and Interior: Ross Barney Architects, Landscape Architecture: Studio MLA, Climate Action: Doris Sung, Emerging Designer: Colloqate Design and Digital Design: Behnaz Farahi."

Meet the recipients of the Architectural Record's 2021 Women in Architecture Awards

"The Architectural Record announces the eighth edition of the Women in Architecture Awards. Broken into five categories: Design Leader, New Generation Leader, Innovator, Activist, and Educator this year's independent jury recognized 5 architects whose work, expertise, and commitment to the profession. This year's award recipients are: Design Leader: Annabelle Selldorf, New Generation Leader: Amanda Williams, Innovator: Julie Bargmann, Educator/Mentor: Deborah Berke, and Activist: Tamarah Begay."

Balkrishna Doshi wins RIBA 2022 Royal Gold Medal

"Renowned Indian architect Balkrishna Doshi has been announced as the recipient of the Royal Gold Medal 2022 by the RIBA, one of the highest architectural honors in the world. By receiving the award, Doshi joins past winners including David Adjaye (2021), Grafton Architects (2020), and Nicholas Grimshaw (2019). Doshi is also the 2018 recipient of the Pritzker Architecture Prize."