Deadline extended! The 14th Architizer A+Awards celebrates architecture's new era of craft. Apply for publication online and in print by submitting your projects before the Extended Entry Deadline on February 27th!
In an era of globalized design, architecture is often treated as a transferable style, something that can be downloaded and applied to a site regardless of whether it is in Dubai or Boston. In the process, buildings pursue a familiar look of modernity, often at the expense of the local context and the people who use them. Yet the architecture that truly endures is rarely stylistic; more often, it is responsive, becoming deeply entangled with life in the place where it is built.
This approach is not new. Architects such as Francis Kéré and Glenn Murcutt have long worked by responding closely to the places where they build. Their projects are shaped by local context rather than a fixed visual language. They showed that meaningful design begins with paying attention — their work begins with understanding context, rather than imposing a fixed aesthetic.
The A+Awards’ Local Firm category recognizes practices that demonstrate this approach through repeated projects rooted in their local context. Their work is shaped by familiarity with the places they operate in and the realities that come with it. One does not encounter these works and wonder who designed them. More often, they simply feel like they belong.
ARISTIDES DALLAS ARCHITECTS
Jury Winner, Local Firm, 13th Architizer A+Awards
A HOUSE BETWEEN THE ROCKS by ARISTIDES DALLAS ARCHITECTS, Tinos Regional Unit, Greece
Aristides Dallas Architects was recognized as a top local firm for its ability to translate the singular landscapes of the Cyclades into architecture that feels inseparable from place. Through a deeply site-responsive approach — one that embraces irregularity and revels in the union of inside and out — the studio produces work that does not impose form on its context, but allows architecture to emerge as a natural extension of it.
That approach carries into A House Between the Rocks in Volax, where the residence is designed as a continuation of the volcanic terrain. The building integrates directly with its local context, allowing architecture and landscape to read as a single condition.
QINGMO Architects
Popular Choice Winner, Local Firm, 13th Architizer A+Awards
Lakeside Pavilion of VANKE ANLAN by QINGMO Architects, Hangzhou, China
Qingmo Architects was recognized as a top local firm for demonstrating how contemporary architecture can feel both fresh and deeply rooted, without resorting to nostalgia or pastiche. Treating “local” not as a stylistic label but as a working framework, the studio shows how modern materials and techniques can participate in the natural evolution of place rather than stand apart from it.
In the Lakeside Pavilion of Vanke Anlan in Hangzhou, the community center sits between mountain and water. They formed a contemporary public space rooted in its immediate environment rather than national trends by drawing from the cultural history of the Liangzhu site,
ZAV Architects
Finalist, Local Firm, 13th Architizer A+Awards
Habitat For Orphan Girls by ZAV Architects, Khansar, Iran
ZAV Architects was recognized as a top local firm for grounding architecture in the act of making itself. By working closely with local labor and materials, and embracing what they describe as “adopted aesthetics,” the studio demonstrates how contemporary architecture can grow naturally from regional traditions, allowing process and adaptability to shape form rather than imposing predetermined solutions.
In Habitat for Orphan Girls. The firm uses basic materials and simplified construction methods that support ease of maintenance. The project respects regional customs and created a building that can be sustained by the people who use and care for it.
Murray Legge Architecture
Finalist, Local Firm, 13th Architizer A+Awards
Block House by Murray Legge Architecture, Austin, Texas
Murray Legge’s practice produces inventive architecture — notably residential — that draws its strength from the cultural and climatic realities of Austin, revealing the extraordinary potential of the everyday. Through a careful study of light and space, the studio creates spaces that resonate with local character while remaining quietly precise and deeply humane.
This is evident in Block House, where the firm was tasked with creating a contemporary home on a compact plot. Rather than replacing or expanding the extant Arts and Crafts bungalow from the 1930s, the design introduces a luminous and complementary new companion house.
Ziger|Snead Architects
Finalist, Local Firm, 13th Architizer A+Awards
Baltimore Unity Hall by Ziger|Snead Architects, Baltimore, Maryland
Ziger|Snead Architects has earned national recognition by producing architecture that is deeply rooted in Baltimore’s civic, cultural and social fabric, translating local engagement into projects with lasting impact. Through a distilled design approach and sustained collaboration with communities, the studio demonstrates how architecture can be both contextually grounded and socially transformative.
In Baltimore Unity Hall. The firm adapts a vacant 1960s union building to support arts, education, and workforce training. The project supports local organizations and community use by working within the existing structure and shaping flexible interiors.
S^A | Schwartz and Architecture
Special Mention, Local Firm, 13th Architizer A+Awards
Lichen House by S^A | Schwartz and Architecture, Glen Ellen, California
S^A | Schwartz and Architecture has built its reputation by grounding contemporary design in the specific realities of client needs and the project’s context, rather than imposing a fixed formal agenda. Through a deeply collaborative process and sustained involvement from concept to construction, the studio delivers work that is unmistakably local in its responsiveness — shaped by constraints, character and care rather than spectacle.
This approach appears in Lichen House in Sonoma Valley. Here, the residence responds to the sensitive oak woodland setting with orientation and shading.
QUINZHEE Architecture
Special Mention, Local Firm, 13th Architizer A+Awards
Marco by QUINZHEE Architecture, La Cité-Limoilou, Québec, Canada
Quinzhee Architecture was recognized as a top local firm for translating Quebec’s climatic realities and culture of making into architecture that feels inventive without losing its grounding. Through an open, collaborative process rooted in curiosity and ecological awareness, the studio produces work that is playful in spirit yet precise in execution, proving that local identity can evolve through experimentation rather than convention.
For example, in Marco, frames gentle densification as an extension of neighborhood life rather than an interruption. By replacing a former parking garage with housing that engages the street through calibrated massing and outdoor thresholds, the building strengthens everyday urban life without calling attention to itself.
Omrania
Special Mention, Local Firm, 13th Architizer A+Awards
KSP Water Treatment Complex by Omrania, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Omrania was recognized as a top local firm for shaping contemporary architecture through decades of continuous practice in Saudi Arabia. From civic and institutional projects to large-scale urban developments, the studio’s work reflects an intimate understanding of how buildings must respond to climate, regulation and daily life in the region — knowledge earned through long-term presence rather than abstraction.
At the KSP Water Treatment Complex, they integrated water storage into King Salman Park as an accessible green space rather than isolated utilities.
Lucid Architecture
Special Mention, Local Firm, 13th Architizer A+Awards
Lower Shore Residence by Lucid Architecture, Harbor Springs, MI
Lucid Architecture was recognized as a top local firm for translating the character of site and client into contemporary residential architecture that feels modern yet personal. Through a rigorous design process rooted in close observation, the studio produces work that draws its strength from landscape and lived experience rather than from a fixed stylistic agenda.
This is evident in the Lower Shore Residence in Michigan, where the home is organized as distinct volumes that respond to the shoreline. The arrangement allows modern living to sit comfortably within the surrounding landscape.
Deadline extended! The 14th Architizer A+Awards celebrates architecture's new era of craft. Apply for publication online and in print by submitting your projects before the Extended Entry Deadline on February 27th!
