AIA Brooklyn’s annual Brooklyn Design Awards program (BKDA) encourages excellence in architectural design through recognition of outstanding projects in Brooklyn and beyond.
VIEW 2025 DESIGN AWARDS WINNERS HERE
This year, nine projects have been recognized with distinctions of “Excellence,” “Merit,” or “Commendation” for their exceptional contributions to design, innovation, environmental responsiveness, technical skill, and social impact.
- Excellence Award + Best In Competition: Frame 122 Apartments by Brent Buck Architects
- Excellence Award: L10 Arts & Cultural Center by Andrea Steele Architecture (ASA)
- Merit Award: Hudson Street Loft by AlexAllen Studio
- Merit Award: Language & Laughter Studio Preschool by O’Neil McVoy Architects
- Merit Award: Cobble Hill Greek Revival by The Brooklyn Studio
- Merit Award: House in the Lanes by Khanna Schultz
- Commendation For Amenities and Interior Finishes: Maeve Raleigh by ARCHITECTUREFIRM
- Commendation For Transformative Reuse: Shelter Island House by Studio Modh
- Commendation For Creative Reclamation: A Wall Made of Bricks by Dameron Architecture
VIEW 2025 DESIGN AWARDS WINNERS HERE
Eligibility for the program required projects to be built in Brooklyn or completed by Brooklyn-based architects or designers. The winners include a range of residential projects alongside academic and cultural facilities. Just over half of the winning projects are located in Brooklyn, while the remaining honors were awarded to Long Island, Manhattan and North Carolina projects.
The Brooklyn Design Awards celebrate the borough as a hub of progressive thought and forward-thinking design. The adjacency of the borough’s diverse neighborhoods and rich cultural institutions fertilize an ecosystem of creativity and exploration that draws an international collection of artists, architects, designers and makers of every description.
“Brooklyn Architecture and Brooklyn-made design continue to flourish, as the Borough itself continues to grow in prominence in Music, the Arts and Architecture. This year’s Design Awards Program reflects that growth in both the quantity and the quality of the entries submitted and reflected in the winning entries shown here,” said Tom Lewis, Chair of the 2025 Brooklyn Design Awards.
The festive awards ceremony was held at 501 Union in Gowanus, Brooklyn on December 8. The co-emcees were Tom Lewis and Chelsea Davis, both directors at AIA Brooklyn, and the event featured remarks by AIA Brooklyn chapter President, Marshall Shuster, as well as the incoming President of AIA National, Illya Azaroff.
This year’s Brooklyn Design Awards jury was composed of esteemed design professionals hailing from all over the country, including architects from small and large firms and one real estate developer. The group scrutinized each project in detail, bringing their own interests and expertise to bear before arriving at consensus. The BKDA 2025 Jury:
- David Kramer President of the Hudson Companies
- David Lee, R.A. Founding Partner of FAME in Los Angeles and co-host of the Second Studio podcast
- Kerry Nolan, AIA Principal at Beyer Blinder Belle Architects and Planners
- Bretaigne Walliser, AIA Co-founder and principal of TBo Architects
- Kim Yao, FAIA Principal of Architecture Research Office (ARO).
VIEW 2024 DESIGN AWARDS WINNERS HERE
VIEW 2023 DESIGN AWARDS WINNERS HERE
VIEW 2022 DESIGN AWARDS WINNERS HERE
Continuing our initiatives formed for our 2022 program, the BKDA program will continue to integrate the AIA’s Framework for Design Excellence, not only as performance criteria during the jury review, but also as an educational source for our members. This year we will require responses in the Performance Statement for all submissions.
Beyond this, the BKDA program seeks to highlight the borough of Brooklyn, with its design community serving as a creative hub for innovation, and its diverse neighborhoods as a dynamic network and unique urban fabric. Although projects will continue to be organized for review based on submission categories, multiple entries within a particular typology may be eligible for an award. Entries will be judged in light of the success with which the project has met its individual requirements, and each will be evaluated individually, not in competition with others. The goal is to highlight outstanding projects by Brooklyn firms and exceptional design work within the borough, whatever form it may take.
It is a priority for the AIA Brooklyn chapter to promote the work of its members, and winning entries will be publicized both within and beyond the local community. Additionally, the Awards committee is currently exploring opportunities to provide representation for all entries on the chapter’s website.
Eligibility Requirements
Projects must be submitted in the name of the firm that executed the commission. If that firm has been dissolved or its name has been changed, an individual or successor firm may enter projects under the name of the firm at the time the project was executed. Multiple entries of the same project by successor individuals or firms will not be accepted. For projects that involve multiple buildings, the architect submitting the project (or a portion thereof) must designate authorship of each portion of the project.
Submission Requirements
The entire entry process is ONLINE using a Design Award Platform called Award Force. The submission process requires entrants to submit information into fields within the online submission portal and upload files. Once a login has been created, entrants can modify submissions until the deadline.
For questions, contact BKDA@aiabrooklyn.org