Congratulations to all the 2026 ACSA Architectural Education Award Winners: https://www.acsa-arch.org/awards-archive/2026-architectural-education-award-winners, last accessed on January 21, 2026.
“Washington D.C., January 21, 2026 – The Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) is excited to announce the recipients of the 2026 Architectural Education Awards, which honor architectural educators for exemplary work in areas such as building design, community collaborations, scholarship, and service. The award-winning educators inspire and challenge students, advance the discipline’s knowledge base, and extend their work beyond the borders of academia into practice and the public sector. The 2026 Architectural Awards will be presented during the ACSA 114th Annual Meeting in Chicago, IL, March 26-28, 2026.
This year’s recipients are:
AIA/ACSA
Topaz Medallion
Awarded to an individual who has had a significant impact on architectural education and the discipline and practice of architecture. Awarded in partnership with the American Institute of Architects (AIA).
Sarah M. Whiting | Harvard University
Distinguished
Professor Award
Recognizes individuals who have had a positive, stimulating, and nurturing influence upon students.
Carla
Jackson Bell | Tuskegee University
Phillip Bernstein | Yale University
Botond Bognar | University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Caryn Brause | University of Massachusetts Amherst
David Hughes | Kent State University
Richard Mohler | University of Washington
Eric P. Mumford | Washington University in St. Louis
Alan J. Plattus | Yale University
AIAS/ACSA
New Faculty Teaching Award
Recognizes demonstrated excellence and innovation in teaching performance during the formative years of an architectural teaching career. Awarded in partnership with the American Institute of Architecture Students (AIAS).
Full-Time
Faculty Winners
Andrew Gipe-Lazarou | Virginia Tech
May Khalife | Miami University
Leyuan Li | University of Colorado Denver
Part-Time
Faculty Winner
Ashley Tannebaum | Boston Architectural College
Diversity
Achievement Award
Recognizes the work of faculty, administrators, or students in creating effective methods and models to achieve greater diversity in curricula, school personnel, and student bodies, specifically to incorporate the participation and contributions of historically under-represented groups or contexts.
La
Esperanza Community Center in Dallas, TX: Transforming a Vacant School Into a
Community Hub Through Design, Diversity, and Collaboration
Lorena Toffer | University of Texas at Arlington
Diversity Achievement Honorable Mentions
Counter-Narratives:
Thirteen Years of a Puerto Rican Decolonial Pedagogy
Yazmín Crespo Claudio | University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Omayra Rivera Crespo | University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras
Irmaris Santiago Rodríguez | University of Puerto Rico, Carolina
Disability
and Design: Reframing Architectural Education Through Disability Justice
Gail Dubrow | University of Minnesota
Chelsea Wait | University of Minnesota
Laura Leppink | University of Minnesota
Creative
Achievement Award
Recognizes a specific creative achievement in teaching, design, scholarship, research, or service that advances architectural education.
The
Biophilic Region: A Vision for a Nature-Connected Future
Mona El Khafif | University of Virginia
Video
Essays and Their Public Dissemination
Stewart Hicks | University of Illinois at Chicago
Where Is
Denver’s Chinatown?
Leyuan Li | University of Colorado Denver
Collaborative
Practice Award
Honors the best practices in school-based community outreach programs.
Beyond
Wayfinding
Karla Sierralta | University of Hawaiʻi
at Mānoa
Brian Strawn | University of Hawaiʻi
at Mānoa
Kūhaʻo
Zane | Sig Zane Designs and SZKaiao
Community
Design & Action Capstone Studio: Tucson Hope Factory Micro Shelter Village
Teresa Rosano | University of Arizona
Greg Veitch | University of Arizona
Reframing
Architecture: Engaged Practice for Community Preservation
Gorham Bird | Auburn University
With the
Workforce
John Folan | University of Arkansas
Urban Design Build Studio (UDBS) AR Home CoLab | University of Arkansas
Faculty
Design Award
Provides a venue for work that advances the reflective nature of practice and teaching by recognizing and encouraging creative design and design investigation in architecture and related environmental design fields. This award promotes work that expands the boundaries of design through, for example, but not limited to, formal investigations, innovative design process, addressing justice, working with communities, advancing sustainable practices, fostering resilience, and/or centering the human experience.
In the
Shadow of the Cloud
Ali Fard | University of Virginia
Kiosk
K67: System for Urban Imagination
Dijana Handanovic | University of Houston
Your
Greenhouse Is Your Kitchen Is Your Living Room
Leyuan Li | University of Colorado Denver
Faculty Design Honorable Mentions
BoardWalk
Dillon Pranger | Illinois Institute of Technology
Christopher Battaglia | Cornell University
Hell
& High Water House
Rafael Beneytez-Duran | University of Houston
Ophélia Mantz | University of Houston
Twenty
Ways Home
Matt Burgermaster | Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute/Parsons School of
Design
Design-Build
Award
Honors the best practices in school-based design-build projects.
Bird
Blind Wetlands Observatory
Patrick Peters | University of Houston
Jason Logan | University of Houston
Joseph Colaco | University of Houston
CLT2:
Phoenix House
Chad Kraus | University of Kansas
Rituals
of Remembrance – A Healing Garden and Memorial for a University Campus
Scott Lawrence | University of Idaho
Urban
Learning Greenhouse
Ken Marold | University of Oklahoma
Bryan Bloom | University of Oklahoma
AIA/ACSA
Practice + Leadership Award
Recognizes “best practice” examples of highly effective teaching, scholarship, and outreach in the areas of professional practice and leadership. Awarded in partnership with the American Institute of Architects (AIA).
From
Studio to Systems: A Research-Based Model for Architectural Education
Ming Hu | University of Notre Dame
ZoomSEs:
Prototyping a Consultancy Design Studio Model for Advanced Structural
Integration in Architecture
Thomas Fowler IV | California Polytechnic State University
Practice + Leadership Honorable Mention
Entrepreneurship
Is Leadership: Redefining Professional Practice
Nea Maloo | Howard University
AIA/ACSA
Housing Design Education Award
Recognizes the importance of good education in housing design to produce architects ready for practice in a wide range of areas and able to be capable leaders and contributors to their communities. Awarded in partnership with the American Institute of Architects (AIA).
Adaptable
Housing: Selma, Alabama
Kevin Moore | Auburn University
Housing
America: Exploring Ethics in Architecture
Ted Shelton | University of Tennessee-Knoxville
Tricia Stuth | University of Tennessee-Knoxville
Housing
Without Displacement
John Dwyer | Thomas Jefferson University
TAD Research
Contribution Award
Recognizes
outstanding peer-reviewed research published in the Technology |
Architecture + Design Journal.
Article from
Volume 8.1: Climate
Predictive
Model for Optimal Growth and Benefits of Exterior Building-Integrated
Vegetation
Keith Van de Riet | University of Kansas
Eiman Graiz | University of Kansas
Article from
Volume 8.2: Coding
Enhancing
Outdoor Comfort: Leveraging Sky View Factor Analysis
Lei Xu | Future Cities Laboratory Global, Singapore-ETH Centre
Daniel K. H. Wong | Singapore University of Technology and Design
Srilalitha Gopalakrishnan | Future Cities Laboratory Global, Singapore-ETH
Centre
Thomas Schroepfer | Singapore University of Technology and Design”
For more, https://www.acsa-arch.org/awards-archive/2026-architectural-education-award-winners,
last accessed on January 21, 2026.