Insider Voices: 9 Esteemed Design Leaders Join the A+Awards Jury

The A+Awards are still open for entries, and with the Main Entry Deadline on December 6th, now is the time to share your work with the world. These awards not only offer global recognition for your projects but also provide the opportunity to elevate your practice by showcasing your designs to an audience of industry leaders and innovators.

One of the most distinctive features of the A+Awards is the exceptional jury, a group of over 250 experts from architecture, publishing, technology, and beyond, who evaluate the entries and celebrate the best in design. Each year, we expand the panel to include fresh voices that reflect the evolving design landscape.

Enter the 13th Annual A+Awards

Among this year’s new jurors, nine standout design leaders bring exceptional expertise as founders and principals of renowned practices. Their work spans innovative housing concepts, culturally impactful projects, and cutting-edge sustainability efforts.

So without further ado, meet nine of the new voices redefining what’s possible in architecture:

Saul Kim

Director, Saul Kim Studio and Adjunct Professor, Hongik University

Saul Kim is an architectural designer and founder of Saul Kim Studio in Seoul, specializes in unconventional design solutions for global clients.

With a Master of Architecture from Harvard University Graduate School of Design, Saul combines innovation with a personal touch. His ‘Architecture Anomaly’ series is an experimental architectural autobiography that has gained recognition online.

Saul’s dedication to education is evident in his role as an adjunct professor at Hongik University and as an instructor at Domestika, where he mentors a thriving community of nearly 3000 students

Alison von Glinow

Co-Founder, Kwong Von Glinow

Alison Von Glinow is a highly accomplished architect and co-founder of the award-winning practice Kwong Von Glinow, based in Chicago. A graduate of the Harvard Graduate School of Design and Barnard College, Alison’s career has spanned prestigious roles with internationally renowned firms, including Herzog & de Meuron, SOM and Toshiko Mori Architect. Her work reflects a deep commitment to creating innovative, optimistic spaces that foster cultural engagement and elevate everyday experiences.

As a licensed architect in Illinois and New York, and a dedicated advocate for design excellence, Alison serves as Chair of the Burnham Prize and is a Board Member of the Chicago Architectural Club. Kwong Von Glinow’s accolades include the Architectural League Prize, AN Interior’s Top 50 Architects, and multiple AIA awards for projects ranging from elegant residences to transformative public spaces.

Elizabeth Graziolo

Founding Principal, Yellow House Architects

Elizabeth Graziolo is the award-winning founder and principal of Yellow House Architects, a collaborative-minded practice based in New York City specializing in residential and commercial work. She has directed projects ranging from private homes to developments in the United States and abroad. Elizabeth is a trustee of The Institute of Classical Architecture & Art, The Museum of the City of New York, and The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science & Art and serves on the Delano & Aldrich/Emerson Fellowship Committee of the American Institute of Architects. Elizabeth is an ADPro and a 2022–24 Architectural Digest AD100 honoree. In 2021, AD profiled her as “One to Watch.” She has recently contributed to articles for The Institute of Classical Architecture & Art, Traditional Building, and Veranda. Elizabeth has been honored with The Museum of the City of New York “City of Design Award” and the prestigious Cooper Union President’s Citation in Architecture.

Suning Zhou, Tao Tang, Ziye Wu

Principals, Mix Architecture

Founded in 2016, Mix Architecture is committed to exploring the possibility of architecture in various contexts to respond to the most primitive emotional and spiritual needs of human beings. By connecting imagination and reality, Mix Architecture creates space that enters deep consciousness through the exploration of the spirit of the site and the sensitivity to material construction, integrating people, architecture, and nature intrinsically.

As a qualified architectural design firm, its projects cover urban planning, architectural design, interior design, and landscape design. The team has long focused on the design and research of new business formats, cultural revitalization, urban renewal, and rural revitalization, offering creative and comprehensive solutions to the increasingly complex and changing urban environmental, social, and cultural needs and ensuring the integrity and quality of project completion through refined management and control processes.

Jen Wood

Founding Principal, AD—WO

Jen Wood is a founding principal of AD—WO, an internationally acclaimed art and architecture practice recognized for its critical and experimental approach to spatial design. As a licensed architect in New York, Jen has extensive experience working with leading architecture firms in both Melbourne and New York. She earned her Bachelor and Master of Architecture degrees from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, as well as a Master of Advanced Architectural Design from Columbia University.

At AD—WO, Jen’s work investigates spatial systems and their entanglement with issues of racialization, ecological degradation and coloniality. Rooted in decoloniality and conceptual art, her practice develops architectural schemes that challenge conventional frameworks, offering expansive definitions of freedom and communality. AD—WO’s work has been showcased at renowned exhibitions such as the Venice Architecture Biennale, the Chicago Architecture Biennial, and the Museum of Modern Art, and is held in the permanent collections of the Art Institute of Chicago and the High Museum of Art in Atlanta.

Sameep Padora

Founding Principal, sP+a and Dean, CEPT University

Sameep Padora is an architect and author. Born in Chamba, Northern India, Sameep Padora established his Mumbai based practice in 2007 after graduating from the GSD, Harvard University.

The studio’s work has been widely published and has in the past received the Wallpaper Design Award for Best Public Building, Beazley Architecture Prize, Wienerberger Brick Award, Archdaily Building of The Year, Wallpaper Design Award for House of the Year, as well as the Architectural Review’s Emerging Architecture and the AR Library Commendation Awards.

Besides the architectural practice, Sameep also runs a not-for-profit sPare that researches issues of urbanization in India with a focus on housing. sPare’s research publications; In the Name of Housing, How to build an Indian House and(de)Coding Mumbai are projects attempting to unravel the production of affordable housing in Indian cities.

Sameep has presented the studio’s projects and built work at numerous forums including te Seoul Biennale and at various universities including the GSD, Cooper Union, Cornell and TU Delft amongst others. Sameep serves on the academic boards of a number of educational institutes and is currently the Dean of the Faculty of Architecture at CEPT University.

Meisa Batayneh

Founder & Principal Architect, maisam architects and engineers

Meisa Batayneh is the founder and principal architect of maisam architects & engineers, established in 1987 with offices in Amman and Abu Dhabi. Over her long and distinguished career, she has led multi-disciplinary teams on large-scale international and regional projects. In 2015, she was recognized as the Leading Arab Woman Architect by the Arab syndicate for Architects and Engineers.

In addition she is actively involved in social initiatives through numerous national and international commissions and boards. Maisam’s work has won numerous global awards, including the Architizer A+Award in 2015, LEAF Award in 2014 and multiple Arabian Property Awards. Maisam won the World Architecture Festival’s Future Projects for “School in a Park” in 2019. Ms. Batayneh joined the Board of the LafargeHolcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction in January 2020. Ms. Batayneh has served on the Master Jury of the Aga Khan Awards for Architecture and was appointed member of its steering committee for the fifteenth cycle 2022 and sixteenth cycle 2025.

With a diverse jury of global experts and a global voting public, Architizer's A+Awards champions firms around the world. Get your work in front of the industry's best by starting your submission today. 

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