2024 Honor Awards
Designing a vibrant future.
In this time of transition and possibility, it is more important than ever to ask powerful questions: What kind of world do we want to leave future generations? What is our role in bringing about a thriving future? How can our design solutions address ecological and social needs and what new collaborators bring additional wisdom to the design table?
You play a vital role in showcasing the visionary design and impactful projects in our region and beyond, and we encourage you to share your work by submitting to AIA Seattle’s 2024 Honor Awards for Washington Architecture. Here are some of this year’s highlights:
- We encourage submitters to celebrate the people and places that shape their projects by showcasing the role of all collaborators that contribute to the vision and impact of these projects.
- You’ll see that we’ve updated the information requested for the Energy, Carbon, and Water measures in the 2024 Common App for Design Excellence as AIA Seattle continues to advocate for and demonstrate solutions to climate change. All BUILT submitters are required to complete the Common App to the best of their ability and convey their approach to sustainable design.
- With your feedback, we’ve revamped our approach to Project Tours as part of the Jury Process. Read the Project Tour Guidelines to learn more!
- We invite you to join colleagues to celebrate outstanding design and strengthen our amazing community. This year’s Live Event is on Monday, November 4 at Town Hall Seattle, and we can’t wait to start the party at 5:30pm!
Every project is part of a larger interconnected system and provides an opportunity to enhance and improve the whole. As architects, we occupy a unique and powerful position in this effort, shaping the future of our region and participating in the evolution of our communities through the process of design.
On behalf of the Honor Awards Committee and AIA Seattle, we invite you to consider how your project moves us in the direction of designing a vibrant future. Download the 2024 Call for Submissions + Guidelines.
– Rachael Meyer ASLA & Jennifer Barnes AIA | Co-chairs, Honor Awards Committee
HOW TO SUBMIT
After logging into your existing Submittable account or creating a new one, you can start, save, and return to draft submissions at any point until the final deadline (5:00pm September 25).
Submit to one of three categories: BUILT, CONCEPTUAL, or RESEARCH & INNOVATION. Download the 2024 Call for Submissions + Guidelines for details about requirements, submission categories, and submitter eligibility. Refer to the FAQs page as needed!
Reduced rate options are available! Please submit the Scholarship / Reduced Rate Request Form via email by Wednesday, September 11.
WHAT TO SUBMIT (THE OVERVIEW)
For complete details about the submission categories, file requirements, and submitter eligibility, download the 2024 Call for Submissions + Guidelines.
BUILT category submissions: Download and complete the updated 2024 Common App for Design Excellence!
Get inspired by past winners here. Awards are the final determination of the jury.
THE COMMON APP FOR DESIGN EXCELLENCE
Now in its fifth year, AIA Seattle is implementing an updated 2024 Common App for Design Excellence with changes to the Energy, Water, and Carbon measures. All applicable BUILT submitters are required to complete the Common App to the best of their ability. To qualify for the Energy in Design Award, the submitted project must meet the 2030 Challenge criteria or better. The Common App raises awareness of the Framework for Design Excellence and is a revolutionary opportunity to move toward design that supports climate action. Use the Performance Statement to describe how sustainable design strategies elevate design excellence and the impact of your project!
Want direct support with the Common App for Design Excellence? Join the UW Integrated Design Lab and members of the Honor Awards Committee online for Submitter Support Office Hourson Thursday, September 5, 12:00-1:00pm PT. Learn more and register here.
Additionally, the Integrated Design Lab is available by email until September 23 at 5:00pm PT. E-mail Teresa Moroseos (teresafm@uw.edu) with the subject line “AIA Seattle Common App.”
WHY SUBMIT?
TELL YOUR PROJECT STORY
Every year, jurors praise submissions that reveal the story behind the marketing images. What concepts and considerations drove the design? How did the design team creatively address the project parameters and client goals? What benefit or impact does the project create for its occupants and for the larger context? Ultimately, what makes this an award-winning project? We encourage submitters to use the project narrative, captions, and the inclusion of process work as opportunities to graphically tell a design story. Submit to start a dialogue with the jury.
JURY CONSIDERATIONS
In addition to the jury’s own criteria, the AIA Seattle community has identified four considerations for the submission review process:
- Inspiration | How does the project manifest its stated intent–in form and function–revealing innovation in both thought and practice?
- Problem-solving | How does the project creatively address challenges inherent in its site, budget, program, materials, collaboration, and context? What are the organizing principles informing design?
- Environmental Sensitivity | How does the project exhibit serious intent to minimize negative environmental impact and enhance its relationship to the environment?
- Social Impact | How does the project engage the community in which it is situated? How does it help promote a vibrant, equitable, and just community?
We invite submitters to carefully consider how the jury will interpret one or more of these jury considerations in connection to the project’s design story.
YOUNG VOICES SELECTION
The Young Voices Selection (YVS) program aims to elevate and engage the voices of young designers through direct participation and representation in AIA Seattle’s Honor Awards for Washington Architecture. Three young designers (30 years of age or younger), endorsed by firm/industry leaders and selected by the Honor Awards Committee, will be given the opportunity to review, deliberate, and then select ONE Built project submission recognized as the “Young Voices Selection” at the Live Event.
WHO IS A ‘YOUNG’ VOICE?
The YVS program aims to reinforce the value of young perspectives considering both career experience and generational/lived experience. After leaving the creative hub and intellectual rigor of university, young people often find themselves without clear and direct avenues to participate in serious design discourse, though they are appreciated for their technical expertise. The Young Voices Selection program elevates young designers for their unique perspectives, and the YVS program establishes a sanctioned platform for these perspectives to be widely shared.
ELIGIBILITY + NOMINATION
Nominees for the Young Voices Selection Panel must be 30 years of age or younger and may not currently be enrolled in any undergraduate or graduate education programs.
Complete the YVS Nomination Form to nominate a ‘Young Voice’ by 5pm PDT on September 11, 2024.
QUESTIONS?
Please refer to the FAQs page before contacting the team with any additional questions.
Questions about Submitting? Contact Senior Programs Manager, Zoe Guckenheimer
Questions about attending the Live Event? Contact Senior Programs Coordinator, Andrea Aguilera
Sponsorship Questions? Contact Development Manager, Zee Mars
SPECIAL THANKS TO THE HONOR AWARDS COMMITTEE
Special thanks to the Honor Awards Committee who plans and executes AIA Seattle’s Honor Awards for Washington Architecture!
THANK YOU TO OUR 2024 HONOR AWARDS SPONSORS
Interior Tech | Berger Partnership | Cairncross & Hempelmann | CBIZ Berntson Porter
Coughlin Porter Lundeen | Dowbuilt | Fsi Engineers | GLY | Hoffman Construction Company
KPFF Consulting Engineers | Lane Powell | Magnusson Klemencic Associates
Malsam Tsang Structural Engineering | MR. | Sazan | Schuchart | Schultz Miller | Swenson Say Fagét
Quantum Consulting Engineers, LLC | citizenM Pioneer Square | Fremont Brewing