2026 Honor Awards Live Event

Live Event November 9 at Town Hall Seattle

The Honor Awards for Washington Architecture is AIA Seattle’s annual marquee program, drawing hundreds of attendees to a lecture-style event of unique rigor and breadth. This nationally-recognized program provides an important opportunity for the design community to share and celebrate its achievements, both among practitioners and with the community at-large. The awarded projects will be announced by the jury for the first time on stage at the live event. Like previous years, the Honor Awards will be livestreamed virtually, providing multiple access points and enabling us to extend these celebrations to broader audiences.

Honor Awards for Washington Architecture | Monday, November 9 @ Town Hall Seattle

5:30pm – Doors and Bars Open 21+
- Come early for beer & wine, small bites, music, and a photo booth
7:00pm – Program Begins all ages welcome
- Livestreaming of the program begins for “Livestream Only” ticket-holders
9:00pm – Program Ends

Online Gallery

Check out the Online Gallery to view all 116 submissions to the Built, Conceptual, and Research & Innovation categories for the 2026 Honor Awards!

Tickets

Includes small bites + refreshments (come early!). All tickets must be purchased online in advance.

Submitters receive one (1) free ticket per project submission, to be distributed to whomever they choose. Promo codes will be distributed via e-mail through Submittable soon after submissions close.

$60.00* General Admission
$54.00* Group Rate Discount – Save 10% with purchase of 10 or more tickets before October 24!
$25.00* Student (with valid student ID)
$10.00* Livestream Only

*Plus taxes and processing fees

Purchase Tickets

Venue and Accessibility

The year’s Honor Awards will one again be held at the landmark historic building, Town Hall Seattle. Please enter using either the Lobby entrance located on 8th Avenue or the Forum entrance located off Seneca St. We will be activating both floors starting at 5:30pm!

Read more about Town Hall’s Location & Entrances, Public Transit, Parking, and Accessibility.
- Town Hall Seattle encourages the use of public transit whenever possible. Metro Route #2, Route #12 and the RapidRide G Line stop close to Town Hall, and the venue is just four blocks from the 3rd & University light rail station.
- Town Hall Seattle also partners with LAZ at the 6th Avenue/Hilton Hotel Garage to provide discounted parking ($5.75) for Town Hall Seattle patrons. This garage is a short 3-minute walk from Town Hall (.2 miles), provides ADA-accessible parking, and the convenience of prepayment online. Learn how to reserve your spot.
For more information, visit Town Hall Accessibility. If you would like to discuss access needs for this program, please contact Program Coordinator, Pamela Tagata (206-957-1922), by October 16. We will do our best to support access needs conveyed after this date.

CATERING: We are offering fully vegetarian food which include vegan and gluten-free options. We encourage guests to plan for a larger dinner before or after the program, if needed.

Meet the Jury

Billie Tsien | Studio Tsien | New York, NY | Billie Tsien is a New York-based architect, mentor, and leading voice in the design and broader cultural community. Her approach to architecture is rooted in the spirit of collaboration with a portfolio imbued with a sense of optimism, warmth, texture, and serenity. She is a founding partner of Studio Tsien and Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects. In parallel to her architecture practice, Billie teaches at Yale University and is a devoted participant in many arts organizations. Her dedication to work and the cultural landscape at large has garnered her numerous awards including the National Medal of Arts from President Obama, the 2013 AIA Architecture Firm Award, and the 2019 Praemium Imperiale presented by the Japan Art Association. As an educator, arts advocate and practitioner, Billie is steadfast in her mission to create a better world through architecture.

Omar Gandhi | Omar Gandhi Architects | Toronto, ON | Omar is the Principal of Omar Gandhi Architects, an architectural practice founded in 2010 with small teams in both Halifax, Toronto and Berlin.

In its early years, the studio was awarded the Canada Council for the Arts Professional Prix de Rome, was included in Wallpaper* Magazine’s Architects Directory, and Omar himself was named as one of Monocle Magazine’s ‘Most Influential Canadians’. Omar was chosen as one of the Architectural League of New York’s ‘Emerging Voices’ of 2016 and in 2018, was appointed the Louis I. Kahn visiting Assistant Professorship in Architectural Design at the Yale School of Architecture.

Most recently, Omar Gandhi Architect was the recipient of a 2018 Governor General’s Medal in Architecture for its work on Rabbit Snare Gorge and honored as the only Canadian practice in Architectural Record Magazine’s 2018 Design Vanguard. In 2020, the studio was part of the team awarded the new Art Gallery of Nova Scotia and in 2021, completed the revitalization of one of Canada’s most Iconic landmarks, Peggy’s Cove.

Omar was made a Fellow of the Royal Architectural Association of Canada in 2022.

Z Smith | EskewDumezRipple | New Orleans, LA | Z Smith is Principal and Director of Sustainability and Building Performance at EskewDumezRipple, winner of the AIA Firm Award. His built work includes academic, laboratory and residential buildings earning LEED Gold and Platinum certification, and winners the AIA COTE Top Ten award, the RAIC Green Building award (Canada), and the international Urban Land 10 Extra Green award. He brings training and experience in physics and engineering to the field of architecture, is named as inventor on 10 patents, and author on over 50 peer-reviewed scientific publications. He has taught at the Tulane School of Architecture, and has served on state, national and international bodies including the Louisiana Energy Code Commission, the Louisiana Climate Initiatives Task Force, the US Green Building Council Louisiana Chapter, the national Advisory Group of the AIA Committee on the Environment (COTE), and the International Union of Architects Sustainable Development Commission.

Meet the Moderator

Moderator: Lauren Gallow | Independent Design Journalist, Editorial Advisor for ARCADE | Seattle, WA Lauren Gallow is a Seattle-based design writer, editor, and educator. With a background in architectural history and a keen interest in how people live with design, she covers stories about art, design, and architecture for outlets around the world. A regular contributor to the Art & Design section of The New York Times, Lauren is also a columnist for Dwell and Luxe Magazine and has bylines in Architectural Digest, Interior Design, Metropolis, Wallpaper*, The Architect’s Newspaper, and more. Lauren serves as Editorial Advisor for ARCADE, a local non-profit design platform founded in 1981, and she is a lecturer at the University of Washington’s Department of Architecture, where she teaches courses on writing and storytelling in the built environment. Her book New Northwest (Figure 1 Publishing) is in stores this November and showcases contemporary residential architecture in Washington state.

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?

The integration of the Common App into the submission process also raises awareness of the Framework for Design Excellence.

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 and/or with less than 5 years experience in the profession), 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. This chosen project, the “Young Voices Selection,” will be recognized at the live event in November and selected by this year’s Young Voices.