2011 Architectural League Prize for Young Architects + Designers

The Architectural League has recently announced the winners of Itʼs Different, the thirtieth annual Architectural League Prize for Young Architects and Designers (formerly known as the Young Architects Forum). The Prize is an annual competition and series of lectures and exhibitions organized by the Architectural League and its Young Architects and Designers Committee. The theme, Itʼs Different, asks: what is the new role of the designer? The committee sought projects and design approaches that provide new strategies to address existing or entrenched problems, proactive definitions of practice, and a rethinking of the design discipline in relation to new economic, political, social, and cultural paradigms.

This year's League Prize winners are Ajmal Aqtash, Richard Sarrach, and Tamaki Uchikawa of form-ula from New York City; Jason Kelly Johnson and Nataly Gattegno of Future Cities Lab from San Francisco; Kiel Moe, Boston; Unchung Na and Sorae Yoo, NAMELESS, New York City; Catie Newell / Alibi Studio, Detroit; and William OʼBrien Jr., Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Participants in the program are chosen through a portfolio competition juried by distinguished architects, artists and critics, and the Young Architects and Designers Committee. The committee, a group selected each year from past winners of the League Prize, is responsible for developing the program's theme and selecting competition jurors. Open to designers ten years or less out of school, the competition draws entrants from around North America. The lecture series and exhibition by winners of the competition provide a lively public forum for the discussion of their work and ideas.

This yearʼs jury included Michael Manfredi, Hilary Sample, Annabelle Selldorf, and Ken Smith along with committee members Lonn Combs, Phu Hoang, and Aleksandr Mergold.

Also, do not miss out on this Year's League Prize winners lectures and exhibition:

Wednesday, June 15

• Jason Kelly Johnson and Nataly Gattegno, Future Cities Lab, San Francisco
• Kiel Moe, Boston
• Catie Newell, Alibi Studio, Detroit

Wednesday, June 22

• Ajmal Aqtash, Richard Sarrach, and Tamaki Uchikawa, form-ula, New York City
• Unchung Na and Sorae Yoo, NAMELESS, New York City
• William OʼBrien Jr., Cambridge, Massachusetts

All lectures will be held at 7:00 p.m. in the Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Auditorium, Sheila C. Johnson Design Center, Parsons The New School for Design, 66 Fifth Avenue, New York City. Receptions will follow the lectures. Admission is free for League members and $10 for non-members.

The Architectural League Prize exhibition will open to the public on the first evening of the lectures on June 15 and close on July 29 at the Arnold and Sheila Aronson Galleries, Sheila C. Johnson Design Center, Parsons The New School for Design, 66 Fifth Avenue. The gallery is open daily from 12:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. and late Thursday evenings until 8:00 p.m. Admission is free. The exhibition will also be open on the evenings of the lectures.