The Architectural League Prize for Young Architects + Designers is an annual portfolio competition open to young architects and designers ten years or less out of an undergraduate or master’s degree program. As one of North America’s most prestigious awards, the program exemplifies the League’s longstanding commitment to identifying and nurturing the development of talented young architects and designers.

Given the constraints of social engagement due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s League Prize program will be presented entirely online. Winners have created digital installations of their work for an online exhibition, rather than the annual exhibition in the galleries of the Sheila C. Johnson Design Center at Parsons School of Design at The New School. They will deliver streamed lectures followed by a live Q&A session (see below).

As defined by this year’s committee, Value is a slippery construct in architecture, leading to thoughts of numbers, colors, measurement, worth, and ethics. Value can be personal or shared, analytical or sensorial. It suggests economic and aesthetic highs and lows and hints at the ideological urgencies that undergird and influence the production of architecture. In its many forms, value demonstrates a stance toward the wider world, influencing how we act, sense, imagine, and create, both collectively and individually.

In a time of political and social precariousness when all cultural value sets seem publicly permissible, this year’s Architectural League Prize competition asked entrants to consider how notions of value operate in their work. How are values mediated by the processes of design? What are the discursive contexts, forms of representation, and/or spaces of action in which these values manifest themselves?

The winners of the 2020 prize are:

• David Eskenazi of d.esk, Los Angeles, CA
• Garrett Ricciardi and Julian Rose of Formlessfinder, Los Angeles, CA / New York, NY
• Leslie Lok and Sasa Zivkovic of HANNAH, Ithaca, NY
• Isaac Michan Daniel of Michan Architecture, Mexico City, Mexico
• Ivi Diamantopoulou and Jaffer Kolb of New Affiliates, New York, NY
• Luis Beltrán del Río García and Andrew Sosa Martínez of Vrtical, Mexico City, Mexico

Online Lecture Series
Lectures begin at 7:00 p.m. EST. Admission is free and registration via Zoom is required. Each evening will consist of an introduction, lectures by two winning firms, and a moderated q&a.

The 2020 League Prize recipients and The Architectural League encourage attendees to donate to NOMA’s Project Pipeline through their online donation form.
**Please note “Architectural League Prize donation” in the comments section of the form.

Night 1: 7/8/2020
Ivi Diamantopoulou and Jaffer Kolb | New Affiliates
Luis Beltrán del Río García and Andrew Sosa Martínez | Vrtical
Moderated by Kevin Hirth

A recording of Night 1 is available here.

Night 2: 7/15/2020
David Eskenazi | d.esk
Leslie Lok and Sasa Zivkovic | HANNAH
Moderated by Mira Henry

A recording of Night 2 is available here.

Night 3: 7/22/2020 
Garrett Ricciardi and Julian Rose | Formlessfinder
Isaac Michan Daniel | Michan Architecture
Moderated by Kutan Ayata

A recording of Night 3 is available here.

Continuing Education credits:

1.5 New York State and AIA CEUs.

Registered viewers who join the Zoom airing of the program at 7:00 p.m. EDT and remain for its entirety are eligible to receive credit. After the program, please email rsvp@archleague.org with your full name and AIA number so we can report your credits.

SUPPORT
The Architectural League Prize is made possible by Hunter Douglas Architectural, Kubany Judlowe, and Tischler und Sohn.

League programs are made possible, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council, and the New York State Council on the Arts, with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. Support is also provided by the Next Generation Fund, an alumni fund of The Architectural League’s Emerging Voices and Architectural League Prize programs, and the J. Clawson Mills Fund of The Architectural League.