Design in the Details: This Year’s A+Awards Jury Redefines Architecture One Surface at a Time

This year’s jury champions design that collapses the space between artisan and architect, object and environment, concept and construction.

Architizer Editors

Architizer's diverse jury of global experts is currently reviewing submissions to the 14th A+Awards! Sign up to receive updates on Public Voting and spring winner announcements.

Great architecture doesn’t end at the threshold — and neither does great design. For the 14th A+Awards, Architizer welcomes a jury of creative leaders who work across scales, from spatial strategies to the grain of a tabletop. These designers bring architecture closer to making, forging new connections with the built environment and materials with furniture and fabrication itself.

This year’s jurors are redefining how things are made — and how they’re experienced. Bryan Young and Jerome Byron translate conceptual rigor into sculptural, detail-rich forms. Nicole Hollis and Smita Thomas channel mood and memory into atmospheres that prioritize material integrity. Robin Reigi connects designers to the products and surfaces that shape their work, while Mark Gardner advances material culture as both a practice and a pedagogy.

Together, they represent a generation of designers who are eliding distinctions between architecture and product — and who champion work that’s as tactile as it is thoughtful. Their approach embodies the theme of Architizer’s A+Awards this season, which is championing a new era of architectural craft, wherein designers are taking back their role as makers in the face of increased automation— where material intelligence, detailing and human-centered ingenuity matter more than ever.

The Extended Entry Deadline arrives at Midnight PT on February 27, 2026. To secure your place in the program and take advantage of deeply discounted pricing, hit the button below to get started:

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Bryan Young

Founding Principal, Young Projects | Cofounder, Verso

Originally from Los Angeles, California, Bryan Young graduated with distinction from Harvard’s GSD in 2003 and was awarded the AIA Henry Adams Medal and James Templeton Kelley Thesis Prize for his analysis of Donkey Kong and Pac-Man. He received his B.A. in Architecture with Highest Honors from UC Berkeley in 1997.

In 2010, Young founded the architecture and design studio Young Projects. Completing several projects ranging from buildings and interiors to furniture and prototypes, the studio was named Architectural Digest’s AD100 2025, Architectural Record’s Design Vanguard 2020, the Architectural League Emerging Voices 2020 and League Prize 2013, and AIANY’s New Practices New York 2014. The studio’s work has been featured in in numerous design publications, and their first monograph, Figure, Cast, Frame, was published in 2022 by Monacelli. Young has given numerous lectures internationally and taught studios at MIT, Cornell, The Cooper Union, Parsons, and Syracuse.

In 2022, Young cofounded the furniture and design gallery VERSO with Amauri Aguari. The gallery focuses on the narratives that bridge designers’ concepts, artisan techniques and final objects. Collections include bespoke, limited edition and open series furniture and art pieces from a curated group of international designers.

Nicole Hollis

Founder, Nicole Hollis

Founded by Nicole Hollis in 2002, NICOLEHOLLIS is a San Francisco-based interior design studio working across the United States and Europe. The studio designs environments that reflect how people live, feel, and gather. Each project is grounded in research into site, culture, and architectural precedent, and delivered with a deep respect for material integrity and place. A collective of interior designers, interior architects and furniture designers, the team draws from fine art, fashion and nature, and works collaboratively with architects, builders, artists and artisans.

Spanning residential, hospitality, and product design, the firm is guided by quiet rigor and a belief in design that elevates the human spirit. NICOLEHOLLIS has been consistently ranked in Architectural Digest’s AD100, Elle Décor’s A-List, 1stDibs 50, and Interior Design’s Top 100 Giants. Recent honors include the ASID and Hospitality Design Designer of the Year awards. Its work has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The World of Interiors, Wallpaper*, and more. In 2025, Nicole Hollis launched The NICOLEHOLLIS Collection, a line of limited-edition artist- and artisan-made pieces for the home that embody the studio’s design philosophy.

Instagram: @nicolehollis | @nicoleholliscollection

Jerome Byron

Co-Founder, Office of BC

Jerome Byron is a New York City–born, Berlin-based architect and furniture designer. He is a founding partner of Office of BC, a Los Angeles–based interior design studio recognized by Architectural Digest’s AD100 and Elle Decor’s A‑List. Alongside this, he maintains an independent practice under his own name, working across architecture and furniture.

His work merges traditional craft with experimental material processes — most notably in his furniture practice, which includes custom concrete casting, steel welding, and wood-burning techniques. His pieces have been exhibited by Carpenters Workshop Gallery in New York, and he has collaborated on a commercial line with CB2. He has been profiled by Architectural Digest, PIN–UP, and Cultured Magazine, with work featured in Wallpaper, Dwell, and Metropolis.

Instagram: @jeromebyron | @officeofbc

Robin Reigi

President-Elect, IIDA NY | Founder, Robin Reigi Inc.

Robin Reigi is the founder and co-principal of Robin Reigi Inc., a New York–based materials company she leads with her partner, Jennifer Daly. For more than two decades, Robin has been a trusted voice in the architecture and design community, known for her expertise in materials that balance technical performance with aesthetic expression.

A graduate of the School of Visual Arts, Robin teaches a course she authored titled “Materials for a Sustainably Built Environment” at FIT and serves as President-Elect of IIDA NY. She has served as a juror for Pratt, Parsons, Columbia thesis reviews, and Architectural Record product competitions. Robin is a regular contributor to CBS News’ America ByDesign: Architecture and was a recent guest on The Anti-Architect podcast. Today,

Robin is recognized as a leading industry connector—bridging designers, architects, students, and manufacturers across disciplines and generations to strengthen collaboration, elevate material literacy, and advance a more sustainable and inclusive design culture.

Instagram: @robinreigimaterials

LinkedIn: Robin Reigi

Mark Gardner

Principal, Jaklitsch/Gardner Architects | Assoc. Professor of Architectural Practice & Society, School of Constructed Environments at Parsons the New School

Mark is a principal at Jaklitsch / Gardner Architects (J/GA) in New York City, J/GA is an award-winning design practice and studio that works across scales from product design to interiors to buildings. Mark works to best understand the role of design as a social practice. Mark is a 2026 President-Elect of the American Institute of Architects, New York Chapter (AIANY) and a member Exhibition Committee and a Past Co-Chair and current member of the AIANY Diversity & Inclusion Committee, which he helped to restart with Venesa Alicea in 2012. He is a Past President and Advocacy Chair for nycobaNOMA, the New York Chapter of the National Organization of Minority Architects.

Mark is the Associate Professor of Architectural Practice and Society at the School of the Constructed Environments, Parsons School of Design at the New School. He was Director of the M.Arch Program from 2017-2021. He served on the Van Alen Institute’s Board of Trustees, the Board of Advisors for the University of Pennsylvania Weitzman School of Design, and the Board of Youth Design Center (YDC) in Brownsville Brooklyn. Mark currently serves on the Board of the Let Freedom Ring Foundation in Williamsburg, Va and the Advisory Board of the Center for the Preservation of Civil Rights Sites (CPCRS).

Instagram: @gigajellyroll

Smita Thomas

Chief Hatter, Multitude of Sins

Smita Thomas is the Chief Hatter at Multitude of Sins (MOS), an Indian design studio known for its fearless and experimental approach to design. A former corporate lawyer turned designer, she shapes spaces into immersive, narrative-driven experiences grounded in rigorous research and client voices. Her practice approaches risk-taking as a design discipline: intensely artistic, painstakingly detailed, and focused on material reimagination. It translates concepts through precise, exacting execution and moves beyond convention through deliberate energy and fearless experimentation that tests boundaries and reveals new potential.

Since establishing her practice in 2019, Smita has emerged as a distinct, unconventional voice in the design industry. Her projects have been internationally recognized by leading publications, including Wallpaper*, Frame, Dezeen, Yellow Trace, The Plan, and InDesign Live, amongst others. If the firm’s style or approach were to be distilled down, one could say their work is characterized by virtuoso use of custom-designed furniture, light fixtures, art and more, with each detail reflecting their deep commitment to originality and coherence, celebrating the richness of Indian culture while feeling refreshingly modern.

Instagram: @multitudeofsins