As the climate crisis accelerates, the architect’s role becomes ever more complex: designs must lower carbon emissions in the materials and construction styles they demand while reducing the environmental impact on endangered habitats — on-site and in areas where materials are sourced. They also must shrink energy consumption once the building is in use and anticipate resilience to rising temperatures and increasingly intense weather events becoming more frequent and worse.
This task certainly won’t be easy. Hope lies in the fact that architects are uniquely positioned to significantly impact the industry and are a resourceful group that thrives on finding unexpected solutions to colossal challenges. Industry leaders are already emerging and paving the way for their colleagues to follow suit. These practitioners will find themselves in good company; the 11th Annual A+Awards highlights the program’s renewed commitment to sustainable design. Architizer’s new suite of A+Sustainability Awards were designed to serve as a platform to amplify the ideas of architects whose projects act as positive precedent for green building practices.
Architizer has collaborated with leading sustainability experts to establish robust criteria for these categories, and now we’re thrilled to announce sustainability specialists from around the world who will be joining our prestigious jury to evaluate the submitted projects.
Vincent Martinez
President & COO of Architecture 2030
Through his 16-year tenure at Architecture 2030, Vincent Martinez, Hon. AIA, has been working to solve the climate crisis by catalyzing global building decarbonization efforts through the development and activation of robust networks focused on private sector commitments, education, training, and public policies. Vincent is an honorary member of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and was the 2018 chair of the AIA Energy Leadership Group, a former member of the AIA Sustainability Leadership Group, and was the 2022 chair of the AIA Committee on Climate Action and Design Excellence.
Renee Chow
Dean of College of Environmental Design at University of California Berkeley
Renee Y. Chow is Professor of Architecture and Urban Design at University of California Berkeley as well as founding principal of Studio URBIS. She currently serves as the William W. Wurster Dean of the College of Environmental Design.
Her work addresses the metropolitan challenges of the 21st century — water scarcities, resource reductions, and sustainable places. She is author of Suburban Space: The Fabric of Dwelling (2005) and Changing Chinese Cities: The Potentials of Field Urbanism (2015).
Renee has been honored as a ACSA Distinguished Professor, the Eva Li Chair in Design Ethics, “Ten Top Architectural Educators” by Architecture, as well as received research and project awards from the American Institute of Architects. She received her B.S.AD and M.Arch from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where she also taught before joining Berkeley.
Michael Ingui
Partner and Founder, Baxt Ingui Architects and Passive House Accelerator
A partner at Baxt Ingui Architects since 2000, Michael believes in creative collaborations and allows his artistic process to inform his designs, blending art and architecture to award winning spaces and groundbreaking businesses. Michael is also co-founder of BIA Interiors (2016), an integrated and forward-thinking interiors firm within Baxt Ingui. A leader in High performance buildings, Michael is also the founder of the Passive House Accelerator (2019); and co-founder of Source 2050 (2021).
Mette Skjold
CEO and Partner of SLA A/S
Mette is partner and CEO at SLA with over 20 years of experience in sustainable urban planning and architecture in Denmark and worldwide. Mette leads SLA’s strategic urban planning with an emphasis on sustainability in environmental, economic, and social terms. She has extensive experience connecting urban spaces and buildings and the meeting between architecture and landscape architecture. Mette is also responsible for the studio’s complex stakeholder engagement processes, where she succeeds in getting residents, builders, and authorities to enter a joint, trusting collaboration for the benefit of every project.
In addition to her involvement with SLA, Mette is a member of the Board of Directors of the Danish Architecture Center. She combines her architectural knowledge with a master’s degree in Leadership & Innovation to continuously push SLA and the industry towards a more sustainable, innovative future for life in our cities.
Mette has for several years been participating at the School of Architecture at the Royal Danish Academy as an external lecturer and juror. She is a thought leader and diligent speaker on topics such as nature-based design, SMART cities and sustainable urban spaces at universities and conferences worldwide.
Rajeev Kathpalia
Designated Partner of Vastushilpa Sangath
Rajeev Kathpalia is a designated partner at Vastushilpa Sangath LLP (formerly Vastu Shilpa Consultants), the multi-disciplinary practice founded in 1955 by the Pritzker laureate Balkrishna Doshi. Kathpalia’s work integrates frugal and environmentally responsible strategies to create inclusive habitats for people. Renowned for his institutional designs, he has won several national and international competitions.
Designing across a range of scales, Kathpalia’s practice encompasses regional and city plans, institutional campuses, individual buildings, and even furniture. His net zero approach to campus design, which integrates architecture, landscape, ecology, energy generation and management – both human and mechanical – while creating an equitable and inclusive social milieu, has set new benchmarks for sustainability and innovation.
Kathpalia serves as a trustee and is a former director of the Vastu Shilpa Foundation, a research based, non-profit charitable trust. The organization creates environmental and habitat designs for the poor, working extensively in informal settlements to create low-cost housing. He also runs the Foundation’s International Habitat Studio Program, which brings together students from across India and around the globe. He was recognized with the Prime Minister’s Award for innovative Urban Design for his pioneering advocacy and design work on the inner city of Hyderabad within the Charminar precinct.
Kathpalia earned his Bachelors Degree in Architecture from the Chandigarh College of Architecture and his Master of Architecture and Urban Design from Washington University. For the past more than 30 years, he has also taught as a university professor, lecturing extensively in India and abroad, and receiving several honors and awards. Most recently, he was conferred the 2019 Award for Distinction in Architecture by Washington University USA and has also been appointed as Honorary Professor at the Xia Jiaotong – Liverpool University, Suzhou, China and Chair Professor, Anant National University, Ahmedabad.
Jonsara Ruth
Designer, Co-founder, Design Director, Healthy Materials Lab at Parsons School of Design, and Associate Prof. of Interior Design
Jonsara Ruth is co-founder and Design Director of Healthy Materials Lab (HML) at Parsons School of Design, where she is an Associate Professor and Founding Director of the MFA Interior Design program.
At HML, Jonsara brings creative leadership to the ambitious goal of improving the health of underserved communities through the transformation of design and material practices. At Parsons, Jonsara cultivates new understandings of design through her teaching, research, and convening experts from a wide variety of fields for large-scale symposia and public events. Material curiosities drive her research.
Jonsara is a designer, artist, and founder of Salty Labs, a collaborative studio improving human and environmental health through imaginative design. She has led creative and production teams to achieve award-winning designs and to mass-produce the healthiest, environmentally friendly children’s furniture available in America to improve indoor air quality and children’s overall health. Elevating everyday human experience is her underlying pursuit.
Currently, she serves on the board of the Sustainable Furnishings Council, and was recently awarded, with Alison Mears, the 2022 Women in Architecture Innovation Award from Architectural Record.
Julian Weyer, MAA
Partner at C.F. Møller Architects
Julian Weyer was born in Berlin, and has lived in Denmark since 1975, where he finished his studies at the Aarhus School of Architecture in 1994. Since then, he has lectured at the School of Architecture, and worked professionally as an architect and at C.F. Møller Architects, before becoming a partner of C.F. Møller Architects in 2007.
Julian Weyer has extensive experience in the field of architecture, landscape architecture and urban design, including numerous competition wins and award-winning designs. He is working on projects in Denmark, Germany and the UK as well as worldwide, with a particular focus on creating integrated and innovative solutions where urban spaces, landscapes and buildings go hand in hand with social and environmental sustainability. He is also a frequent lecturer worldwide, and author of articles and book publications.
Awards include the European Architecture Award, the Iconic Award, the International Architecture Award, Civic Trust Awards, RIBA International Award, Aarhus and Odense Municipality Architecture Awards, Residential of the Year WAN AWARD, Commercial of the Year WAN AWARD, Worldwide Brick Award and the Danish Academy Council prize.
David Benjamin
Principal at The Living
David Benjamin is Founding Principal of The Living and Associate Professor at Columbia GSAPP. His work combines research and practice, with a focus on an expanded and actionable framework of environmental sustainability. Recent projects include the Airbus NIS Engine Factory (a low-carbon lighthouse project for the future of manufacturing), the Princeton University Embodied Computation Lab (a new building for research on robotics and IoT), and Hy-Fi (a branching tower for MoMA PS1 made of a new type of biodegradable brick).
May-Britt Frank-Grosse
Editor in Chief of baunetz id
May-Britt Frank-Grosse studied architecture in Germany at BTU Cottbus and TU Stuttgart and holds a certificate for Sustainability and Communication from Leuphana University Lüneburg. Since 2006 she has been working as an architecture & design journalist and consultant, amongst others, for BauNetz, the largest German-language online platform for architecture. Since 2019 she has been Editor-in-Chief of the companies interior & design magazine baunetz id (www.baunetz-id.de).
She is committed to the relevance and communication of interior design and sustainable building topics. As part of the project team, she was responsible for the program of „Heinze Klimafestival für die Bauwende“ in 2022. The Climate Festival brings together all stakeholders from the building industry to discuss, develop and initiate tangible solutions for the future.
Dave Pigram
Director of supermanoeuvre and Senior Lecturer at University of Technology Sydney
DAVE PIGRAM invents new design and material systems to produce memorable experiences and climate positive outcomes. He is co-director of the international award-winning architecture and innovation practice supermanoeuvre.
A pioneer in Algorithmic Architecture and Robotic Fabrication, Dave’s work has been widely exhibited internationally including at multiple Venice and Beijing Architecture Biennales, the Centre Pompidou, New York’s Storefront for Art and Architecture and the UN-Habitat World Urban Forum. He has lectured at the Architectural Association, Bartlett; Columbia and Princeton Universities, the Alaska Design Forum and Architekturforum Zürich.
Dave was Director of the Masters of Advanced Architecture at the University of Technology, Sydney; the first Researcher in Residence of the NCCR for Digital Fabrication at ETH Zürich; Visiting Professor of Practice at the University of Michigan; and a Research Affiliate at MIT Media Lab. He was a project leader at Studio Daniel Libeskind, NY.
supermanoeuvre has won the ‘Smarter Hobart Challenge’ international design competition; YAF Atlanta Design Build Competition; a Red Dot Design Award; Architizer A+ Juried and Popular Choice Awards; an Australian National Urban Design Award and were recently named ‘Most Innovative International Architecture Firm – Australia’ (BUILD UK). Their design process artefacts are in the permanent collection of the FRAC Orléans.
Mari Balestrazzi
Global Director, Environments Design at Airbnb
As Director of Operations for Environments, Mari oversees the team that designs Airbnb’s offices worldwide, and collaborates with real estate developers to create new models of housing that support Airbnb’s goal to make it possible for guests to experience the world in a more authentic, connected way.
Before assuming her role at Airbnb Mari held numerous positions within the hospitality design industry. Most recently she was Vice President of Design Services for Hyatt Hotels in Chicago, where she oversaw design for Hyatt’s portfolio of full-service hotel brands throughout the Americas region. Prior to Hyatt Mari was the Group Director, Architecture at Value Retail based in London and Senior Vice President of Design for Morgans Hotel Group in New York. Mari’s first in-house role was as Global Director of Design for St. Regis Hotels.
Before transitioning to in-house design roles, Mari got her start as Studio Director for Aero Studios Limited in New York City where she oversaw new construction and renovation projects, both residential and commercial, including the hotel 60 Thompson and Giorgio Armani’s private residence in Manhattan.
Bill Browning
Managing Partner of Terrapin Bright Green
William Browning, BED Colorado University, MSRED MIT, Hon. AIA, LEED AP., is one of the green building industry’s foremost thinkers. Terrapin Bright Green is an environmental strategies research and consulting firm. Browning’s clients include Disney, New Songdo City, Lucasfilm, Google, Bank of America, Salesforce, CoStar, the US National Park Service, Marriott, the White House, Interface, and the Sydney 2000 Olympics. He has written a number of publications including, GreenDevelopment, The Economics of Biophilia, and Nature Inside. Browning was a founding board member of the USGBC.
Tao Zhang
PLA, ASLA, LEED AP-ND, SITES AP, Principal & Board Member at Sasaki
Tao is a principal and serves as Chair of Design Culture on Sasaki’s Board of Directors and as a trustee on the firm’s non-profit arm Sasaki Foundation. He is a leader of Sasaki’s strong global practice, and his works have been recognized by national and international awards, including ASLA, APA, SCUP, the Plan, MIPIM, and IFLA awards.
Trained as an ecologist and landscape architect, Tao is active in ecological design, striving to bridge the gap between practice and science. As well as being mindful and invested in creative expression, he seeks inspiration from science and always roots his design in a deep understanding of the socio-ecological context.
Tao is a strong advocate for critical thinking and independent research. He oversees Sasaki’s research initiatives and has led research and collaborated with academic institutes on topics including post-occupancy metrics and environmental health. He has published in peer-reviewed journals and frequently speaks at conferences worldwide. Besides practice, he has taught
landscape architecture at the Rhode Island School of Design and has been a regular studio critic at Harvard University Graduate School of Design, MIT, and various universities in the US and abroad.
To get your sustainable projects viewed by these and more than 250 other creative leaders on the A+Awards jury, enter your best projects before the Extended Entry Deadline on February 24th, 2023:
