Celebrating Craft in Context: 3 Projects of the Year Named at Architizer’s 13th A+Awards Event in NYC
The winners of the 13th Architizer A+Awards have been announced! Looking ahead to next season? Stay up to date by subscribing to our A+Awards Newsletter.
This fall, Architizer will host its first-ever Regional A+Awards celebrations, honoring architectural excellence across three global design hubs. At each event, three extraordinary works will be named Projects of the Year — nine in total — spotlighting buildings that define the future of their cities while earning global acclaim.
We are thrilled to announce the first trio of winners, who will take the stage in New York City to accept their awards. This special selection of exceptional projects wholly exemplifies the theme of the 13th A+Awards, Celebrating Local Innovation with Global Recognition. At the same time, what has set these projects apart is the way that they act as a bellwether for the changing nature of the profession, which, in the face of rapid technological advancement, is seeing architects reclaiming their role as makers and storytellers by recentering human ingenuity, material intelligence and the art of detailing. In this way, anticipate the focus of the 14th edition, Crafting the Next Era of Architecture, which is set to launch next week.
Together, they reflect the power of architecture to elevate local context into lasting cultural landmarks. They collectively showcase how architects are redefining craft, context, and community, creating works that resonate locally while shaping the trajectory of architecture worldwide.
Without further ado, here are the Project of the Year winners selected to be awarded at the New York City regional ceremony:
Hudson River Park’s Gansevoort Peninsula
By Field Operations, New York City, New York
Jury Winner, Public Parks and Green Spaces, 13th Architizer A+Awards
This remarkable feat of design and engineering reclaims a former sanitation pier as Manhattan’s first public beach and salt marsh, setting a new benchmark for resilient urban landscapes. The New York City-based firm shaped the site through an intensive community-driven process, balancing active amenities — ballfields, lawns, and gardens — with layered ecological edges that expand biodiversity and reconnect New Yorkers with the river. From oyster-seeded reef balls to tidal pools and shaded dunes, the project merges computational precision with natural systems to anticipate climate challenges while enriching daily civic life.
“Digital tools are here to stay and continue evolving. We should harness them to create the innovative landscapes of tomorrow—not only in terms of form and spatial experience, but also ecological performance and resilience,” says Karen Tamir, Associate Partner at Field Operations. “At Gansevoort Peninsula, wave oscillation and storm surge modeling informed the siting of the salt marsh — identifying an area with calmer wave action that would provide a more stable environment for marsh establishment and long-term ecological resilience.”
Importantly, this park neatly exemplifies the thread of excellence that runs through Field Operations’ broader oeuvre — one that has boldly reimagined the face of public green space in cities from here in New York to London and Shenzhen. In so doing, they have not only positively improved the lives of those living in the various locales but have also powerfully reshaped the global narrative around landscape architecture more broadly, paving the way for other designers to follow in their footsteps.
Vistalcielo
Veinte Diezz Arquitectos, Merida, Mexico
Popular Choice Winner, Architecture +Renovation, 13th Architizer A+Awards
In Mérida’s historic center, this design transforms an abandoned house into a serene refuge that not only revitalizes an old structure but also uses contemporary architectural language as a frame to celebrate a design culture that revitalizes existing structures, rather than simply replacing them. This is done through a rich material palette of grey cement, striated concrete and regional stones, which root the home in its local material language. Meanwhile, sky-blue grilles punctuate the textured walls, recalling the vibrancy of Yucatán’s built heritage. Inside, a sequence of patios and open modules encourages fluid movement between interior and exterior spaces, reconnecting domestic space with the city’s tropical climate.
“Architectural craft today is about knowing when to step away from the screen,” reflects José Luis Irizzont, Principal Architect of Veinte Diezz Arquitectos. “Digital tools accelerate design, but true craft lies in understanding how things are built by hand, on-site, under the sun. It’s the moment where lines become matter.”
This is one of many homes that the Merida-based firm has rescued from ruination. Through this ethos, Vistalcielo bridges past and present: “We risk losing the wisdom of ancestral techniques in our obsession with speed and novelty,” Irizzontadds. “Honoring the past doesn’t mean resisting change, it means building bridges between material memory and contemporary intention.” By leaving its traces visible, their designs incorporate the story of dereliction into a hopeful symbol that simultaneously imbues neglected local heritage with a brighter future while promoting an architecture of regeneration as opposed to replacement.
Lever Club
Marmol Radziner, New York City, New York
Popular Choice Winner, Commercial Interiors (>25,000 sq ft), 13th Architizer A+Awards
When Lever House first rose on Park Avenue in 1952, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill’s glass-and-steel tower redefined the Manhattan skyline and set a global precedent for modernist design and architectural techniques. Marmol Radziner’s recent transformation of this third-floor space restores this spirit of innovation, recasting the long-neglected cafeteria level as a private lounge that simultaneously honors SOM’s legacy and asserts a contemporary vision of architectural craft.
The bespoke furnishings throughout the space were designed and fabricated by the firm: the proportions of tables, chairs, and other furniture were inspired by the structure’s slender mullions. Likewise, this honed green stone, rosewood paneling, and custom carpets echo Lever House’s pioneering façade. With a close attention to detail, the project celebrates the beauty of its midcentury precedent while also reimagining the space for more contemporary uses.
More broadly, as a design-build firm, Marmol Razinger’s attention to detail reasserts the vital connection between design and construction—the substance of architectural craft. “The separation of design from construction is one of the risks to architectural craft,” notes Ron Radziner, Design Partner. “As an architect-led design-build firm, we provide clients with comprehensive and realistic information about every aspect of their project, from start to finish. Our precise construction capabilities allow us to be innovative within our design, ensuring each project is built.
The winners of the 13th Architizer A+Awards have been announced! Looking ahead to next season? Stay up to date by subscribing to our A+Awards Newsletter.
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