10 Iconic Firms Developing New Architectural Paradigms

Enter the 8th Annual A+Awards for a shot at international publication and global recognition. Submit your projects by May 8th, 2020 for the world’s largest awards program for architecture and building products.

Landmark architecture begins with reinterpreting the everyday. From playful ideas to rigorous investigations, the most iconic projects lay the foundation for new spatial types, material assemblies and public interaction. This is what the prestigious A+Awards program is all about: Forging new ground in architecture to improve the lives of individuals, families and whole populations. Make sure your firm enters its latest project for the 8th Annual A+Awards before the Final Entry Deadline on May 8th, 2020, to be in the running for global recognition:

Enter the 8th Annual A+Awards

The following firms are all A+Award-winning offices that have challenged convention over the last three years. Representing a cross-section of studio sizes and project types, they are exploring how to elevate space and form beyond commodity to encompass ideas on culture, history and place. As a group that is changing the status quo, they’ve been recognized for ideas that ground new social, cultural and environmental design agendas for the future.

Carlo Ratti Associati

CRA is an architecture and design Firm with a special focus on the synergies between sustainability and digital technologies. Based in Torino, Italy, they are drawing on Carlo Ratti’s research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Senseable City Lab. The office is currently involved in many projects across the globe, embracing every scale of intervention – from furniture to urban planning. Carlo Ratti himself was recognized with the 2017 A+Awards Advocate Award for his extraordinary contributions to the fields of architecture and design.

Heatherwick Studio

Winner of both of the Jury and Popular Choice awards in the Architecture +Engineering category and the Special Honoree Project of the Year Award in the 2019 A+Awards, Heatherwick Studio has become synonymous with setting new design standards. Following in the footsteps of the Bombay Sapphire Distillery, which won multiple A+Awards back in 2015, the firm’s Coal Drops Yard project was recognized for its unique revitalization of a historic industrial site in central London.

Rojkind Arquitectos

Renowned Mexican firm Rojkind Arquitectos is set up to seek new directions in architectural practice, evoking common identities through the exploration of uncharted geometries that address diverse aspects: space, function, technology, materials, structure, and construction methods related directly to geography, climate, and local urban experiences. The Foro Boca concert hall is an iconic addition to the oceanfront in Boca del Río, Mexico, and a recipient of one of four Project of the Year awards for the 2018 A+Awards.

Adjaye Associates

Adjaye Associates describes itself as a practice stimulated and nurtured by the broadest possible perspective and curiosity. When founder Sir David Adjaye and his team saw their design for the National Museum of African American History and Culture completed on the Mall in Washington D.C., it marked a seminal moment for a firm that has experienced a meteoric rise over the past decade. Named of the 2017 A+Awards Firm of the Year, Adjaye Associates bridges cultural architecture with critical design.

MVRDV

The dynamic Dutch studio began with three founding partners — Nathalie de Vries, Jacob Van Rijs and Winy Maas. MVRDV represents architecture at its best, and they won Architizer’s Firm of the Year Award in 2018. The team is based in Rotterdam and works in the fields of architecture, urbanism and city planning. Some of their well-known projects include the Netherlands Pavilion for the Expo 2000 in Hanover and the Make-It Right Housing in New Orleans. The work of MVRDV is published and exhibited worldwide and received many international awards.

Tatiana Bilbao Estudio

Tatiana Bilbao Estudio is a Mexico City based architecture studio, founded in 2004. At the core of the studio´s practice is an analysis of the context surrounding projects, which scale from masterplans to affordable housing typologies. Tatiana Bilbao’s work in social housing and sustainable design has earned her international recognition. Because of her commitment to changing the landscape of social architecture and urban housing in her native Mexico and beyond, Bilbao was the winner of the 2017 A+Awards Impact Award.

Mecanoo

Designing for human experience, Mecanoo was officially founded in Delft in 1984, and is made up of a highly multidisciplinary staff of creative professionals from 25 countries. Each project responds to a philosophy of People, Place and Purpose: to the client’s requirements and the user’s needs (People); the physical context, climate and culture (Place); and the current and predicted potential of a building’s function (Purpose). The National Kaohsiung Centre for the Arts (Wei-Wu-Ying) was designed as a new home for thousands of locals and visitors alike to pursue cultural activities, uniting exhibition halls, theaters and public plazas under a single roof. It was recognized with the 2019 A+Awards Project of the Year.

Studio Odile Decq

Studio Odile Decq is an architecture firm based in Paris, known for spatial and interactive experimentation in urban planning, architecture, design and art. Decq has stated that her philosophy on architecture is that a building ” has to be a place where people can move, live in good conditions, forget the hardness of the life outside, so it has to have a kind of humanistic approach.” Odile Decq won the 2017 A+Awards Lifetime Achievement Award for her extraordinary contributions to the fields of architecture and design.

Steyn Studio

London-based firm Steyn Studio is a collaborative architecture practice that believes design has the power to solve problems, inspire, and improve lives. They create designs that aspire to make a difference to the end-user and the client; culturally and commercially. Winner of the 2019 Popular Choice A+Award in the Religious Buildings category, Bosjes Chapel is a modern architectural landmark for South Africa and one of five buildings to take home the title of 2019 A+Awards Project of the Year.

Got a project like the ones above? Enter it in the 8th Annual A+Awards for a shot at international publication and global recognition. Submit your projects by May 8th 2020 for the world’s largest awards program for architecture and building products.

Enter the 8th Annual A+Awards