Meet the 5 Architecture Trailblazers Headlining the 12th Annual A+Awards Jury

This year’s jury inductees were selected for their bold, future-oriented thinking about how architecture can act as powerful tools for change.

Architizer Editors Architizer Editors

With a quickly approaching Extended Entry Deadline of February 23rd 2024, the time to enter Architizer’s A+Awards is nigh. Winning not only secures a premiere spot for your project on Architizer.com, the largest online community of architects in the world, with a 7+ million strong audience; the platform extends far beyond the architectural community. Finalists and winners are recognized as the year’s most influential visionaries online and in print — and the buzz is huge.

Importantly, in addition to getting your work in front of the world in Architizer’s highly democratic and widely celebrated Public Vote, entries are also judged by distinguished luminaries from fields as diverse as design, technology, real estate, fashion and more. Put simply, by entering Architizer’s A+Awards, you get in front of the who’s who of the design world, and the winners are seen as barometers for the future of the built environment.

With a prestigious jury of thought leaders from every continent, the 12th Annual A+Awards promises to be a global celebration, uncovering contemporary architecture as practiced and expressed in every corner of the world. The values championed by our trailblazing jury members — carefully selected for their bold, future-oriented thinking about how architecture and design can act as powerful tools for change — will surely be reflected in this year’s winners. Discover the five thought leaders most recently inducted into Architizer’s prestigious A+Awards jury:


Kate Wagner

Architecture Critic at The Nation

Kate Wagner (b. 1993) is a critic and journalist based in Chicago and Ljubljana. She is currently the architecture critic at The Nation and a lecturer in Art History at the University of Chicago. First known for her satirical blog McMansion Hell, Wagner has served as a columnist in the fields of architecture and culture at a number of publications including The Baffler, Curbed and The New Republic. When she is not writing about the built environment, she writes about Slovenian cycling and learns Slovenian.


Tosin Oshinowo

Architect and Curator, Oshinowo Studio

Tosin Oshinowo is a Lagos-based Nigerian architect and designer. The founder and principal of Oshinowo Studio, which she formed in 2013, Oshinowo has worked on a number of civic, commercial and residential projects throughout Nigeria. She is renowned for her insights into socially responsive approaches to architecture, design and urbanism.

Oshinowo’s key designs include a project with the United Nations Development Programme to build an entirely new community in northern Nigeria for a village displaced by Boko Haram, and the Maryland Mall in Lagos. Her work spans into the conceptual sphere, demonstrating a strong interest in architectural history while embodying a contemporary perspective on the next generation of African design, innovation, and afro-minimalism. She partnered with Lexus on conceptual design explorations for Design Miami/ 2020 and co-curated the second Lagos Biennial in 2019.

Oshinowo is a registered Architect in the Federal Republic of Nigeria and a member of the Royal Institute of British Architects. Before founding Oshinowo Studio, she worked in the offices of Skidmore Owings & Merrill in London and the OMA Rotterdam, where she was part of the team that designed the 4th Mainland Bridge proposal in 2008. Upon returning to Lagos, she practiced at James Cubitt Architects and led on notable projects, including the corporate head office building for Nigeria LNG in Port Harcourt.


Carlo Ratti

Co-founder CRA – Carlo Ratti Associati, Director MIT Senseable City Lab

An architect and engineer by training, Professor Carlo Ratti teaches at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he directs the Senseable City Lab, and is a founding partner of the international design and innovation office Carlo Ratti Associati. He graduated from the Politecnico di Torino and the École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées in Paris, and later earned his MPhil and PhD at the University of Cambridge, UK. A leading voice in the debate on new technologies’ impact on urban life and design, Carlo has co-authored over 500 publications, including “The City of Tomorrow” (Yale University Press, with Matthew Claudel), and holds several technical patents. His articles and interviews have appeared on international media including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Financial Times, Scientific American, BBC, Project Syndicate, Corriere della Sera, Il Sole 24 Ore, Domus. His work has been exhibited worldwide at venues such as the Venice Biennale, the Design Museum Barcelona, the Science Museum in London, MAXXI in Rome, and MoMA in New York City.


Mariam Issoufou

Founder and Principal,Mariam Issoufou Architects (formerly atelier masōmī) and Professor of Architecture Heritage and Sustainability at ETH Zurich

Mariam Issoufou is an architect from Niger. She is a professor of Architecture Heritage and Sustainability at ETH Zurich. In 2014, she founded Mariam Issoufou Architects (formerly known as atelier masōmī), an architecture and research practice that tackles public, cultural, residential, commercial and urban design projects. She believes that architects have an important role to play in creating spaces that elevate, give dignity, and provide people with a better quality of life. The firm’s completed projects include the Hikma Community Complex, a library and mosque complex, which won two Global Lafarge Holcim Awards for sustainable architecture. Other works include the Niamey 2000 Housing project, a response to Niger’s housing crisis which was shortlisted for the 2022 Aga Khan Award for Architecture. Upcoming projects include the Yantala Office building in Niger, the Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Presidential Center for Women and Development in Liberia. She was named as one of 15 Creative Women of Our Time by the New York Times.


Ayo Abbas

Built Environment Marketing Consultant at Abbas Marketing

Ayo Abbas is an award-winning, digitally-led built environment marketing consultant. She founded her own consultancy Abbas Marketing in 2020 and has worked with firms including Arup, Mace, WSP, Make Architects, McLaren Construction and Ramboll delivering strategy, content and training services. She enjoys working with architecture and engineering firms that are passionate about delivering great projects and open to the possibilities that more digitally-led marketing and innovation can bring to their business. Ayo is a fellow of the RSA and also hosts her own podcast The Built Environment Marketing Show.

The judging process for Architizer's 12th Annual A+Awards is now away. Subscribe to our Awards Newsletter to receive updates about Public Voting, and stay tuned for winners announcements later this spring.   

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