2024 Design Awards Submissions

What are the Design Awards?
2024 Design Awards Jury
How to Submit in 2024
People/Chapters Choice

AIA East Tennessee Design Award Winners

2025 Design Awards

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2024 Design Awards

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2023 Design Awards

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2022 Design Awards

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2021 Design Awards

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2020 Design Awards

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2019 Design Awards

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2018 Design Awards

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2017 Design Awards

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What are the Design Awards?

To recognize excellence in architecture, AIA East Tennessee conducts an annual juried Design Awards Program. This program seeks to honor built and unbuilt works of distinction designed by AIA members in East Tennessee and to serve as a catalyst for local participation in the AIA Tennessee Awards Program. The program also brings public attention to outstanding examples of architecture, cultivating an ongoing public interest in architectural excellence. This year’s program winners will be announced and celebrated at the 2024 Design Awards Gala on October 3rd at Jackson Terminal, displayed on the website, and in the membership newsletter. This competition is open to all members of AIA East Tennessee.

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2024 Design Awards Jury

Tim Love, FAIA, will chair the 2024 AIA East Tennessee Design Awards. Tim is a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects and is the founding principal of Utile, a 65-person Boston-based architecture and planning firm. Through a rigorous, research-based process, Utile strives to develop intelligent and programmatic solutions to complex urban problems. This approach has earned the firm numerous accolades, including the 2023 Best Large Practice (NE) Award from The Architect’s Newspaper and the 2022 COTE Top Ten Award for the Roxbury Branch Boston Public Library Renovation.

Tim will be joined by Elizabeth Bowie Christoforetti, director of Supernormal and Assistant professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, Jeffry Burchard, Design Principal / Managing Partner at Machado Silvetti and Assistant professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, and Anda French, cofounder of Boston-based French 2D and Visiting Lecturer at the Princeton School of Architecture.

We look forward to the varied perspectives and voices reviewing our Chapter’s work for this year’s 2024 Design Awards.

2024 AIA East Tennessee Design Awards Jury Chairs

Hilary's Bio
Kim's Bio
Arthi's Bio
Mark's Bio

2024 AIA East Tennessee Design Awards Jury Coordinator

Cameron Bolin, AIA– 2024 Jury Coordinator

How to Enter

This year, we’re introducing an updated submission template in 16×9 format in partnership with AIA Tennessee. The electronic format facilitates a submission in which all images support the program statement. Each visual should have a purpose as it relates to the larger idea. The photos should contain some compelling information to make the statement readily understood from a quick scan. Be sure to label plans clearly, indicating a north arrow. Within each square, you can layer images and plans or place images side-by-side. Keep in mind the impact the image will make once projected on a large screen.

Submission Templates: (You must use one of these templates to submit your project for the 2024 AIA ETN Design Awards.)

Dates and Deadlines

1. Submit the Registration Form and Entry Fee by the deadline, July 12th at 5 PM.

2. Once you have submitted the registration form and entry fee, you will receive a project number after the July 12th deadline that you will use on all project slides.

3. Once you have received your project number, visit the Design Awards Submission Portal and submit your project. (Portal Opens June 28th) Multiple entries from one firm are assigned random code numbers to ensure fairness.

4. All electronic submission materials must be received by August 16th at 5 PM. Entries not following the submission guidelines outlined below will not be accepted.

4. The jury will view your submission with all identifying information removed during the week of September 6th.

We are no longer accepting submissions for the 2024 Design Awards.

Eligibility

Any architectural project completed since 2019 produced by, or in collaboration with, an AIA East Tennessee Chapter member is eligible for submission. Projects may have been executed anywhere in the United States. Firms are encouraged to submit previously submitted non-winning projects and those that have won awards in other programs. The Design Awards Program is open to architectural projects of all types, including unbuilt work. An entry may consist of one building, a related group of buildings forming a single project, or an interior design project. “Building” includes any new architectonic composition and the remodeling, rehabilitation, and/or preservation of existing structures. Unbuilt work prepared for academic purposes may not be submitted.

Awards

Awards will be designated by a jury of architects whose work and reputations have been nationally established.

Each project will be judged according to its own merit and how well it resolves the problem(s) addressed. Projects should also demonstrate the AIA national commitment to sustainability, resilience, and inclusivity as detailed in the AIA Framework for Design Excellence. Projects will not be judged in competition but by measuring the architect’s performance against each project’s potential. Design Awards can be given in three degrees: Honor, Merit, and Citation. Honor Awards, the top honor, will be granted to built projects for overall design excellence. Merit Awards will be granted to built projects worthy of recognition because of their design quality. Citation Awards will be granted at the discretion of the jury. In addition, highlighting the importance of sustainable design, the jury may select award winners also to receive a commendation for sustainable design at their discretion.

Classifications

For clarity, please designate the general classification of the submitted project from the following:

  • New Construction
  • Renovation/Restoration
  • Residential
  • Architectural Interior Design
  • Emerging Professionals
  • Unbuilt

When multiple classifications can describe a project, the entrant must make the most appropriate choice. Jurors are not obligated to provide awards for each classification.

Emerging Professionals: To be eligible for this classification, project entries must be led by an Emerging Professional. This classification intends to encourage participation and acknowledge the contributions of our members who have completed their academic studies up to the point of licensure or up to 10 years after completion of their academic studies. Project entries may be built or unbuilt projects. This classification offers a discounted entry fee.

Unbuilt classification: Projects not yet or never to be constructed may be submitted under the Unbuilt classification. This includes projects on the boards, conceptual/theoretical in nature, and competition entries. If later constructed, projects entered in this classification may be submitted for future consideration by the Design Awards Program even if they have previously won an award in the Unbuilt classification.

Unbuilt projects will only be eligible for Merit Awards.

Submission Guidelines

Submittal guidelines are detailed completely in the Submittal Instructions above, but the following are required for integration into the PowerPoint template:

PROJECT INFORMATION: Include program statement, program summary, area and cost per square foot, construction cost, completion date, project code number and classification.

PLANS AND DRAWINGS: Include site plan, floor plan(s), or details describing special features, construction systems, “before” views, etc.

PHOTOGRAPHY/IMAGES: Include exterior views showing major elevations, interior views (one or more), other views or details describing special features, nighttime images, construction systems, “before” views, etc. It is the responsibility of the entrant to obtain all clearances for use.

Popular Vote Awards Categories 

Every project submitted for the 2024 Design Awards will automatically be entered into the annual People’s Choice and Chapter’s Choice Awards. Learn more about each award below, and cast your vote!

2024 Chapter’s Choice

Cast your vote for your favorite project during the 2024 Design Awards Gala! Chapter’s Choice voting is only open to 2024 Design Awards Gala attendees.

Housing ETN l 2024 ADU Design Competition- Gala’s Choice

To recognize the finalists for this year’s inaugural Housing ETN l 2024 ADU Design Competition, presentation boards will be printed and displayed for gala attendee review, and a “Gala’s Choice” will be selected/awarded. ADU Submission Platform is now closed.

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Hilary Sample, FAIA
Jury Member
Hilary Sample, FAIA, is an architect, co-founder of MOS – an architecture and design studio based in Harlem—and a Columbia University GSAPP Professor of Architecture.
Photo credit: Michael Vahrenwald.
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Kim Yao, FAIA
Jury Chair

Kim Yao, FAIA, is Principal of Architecture Research Office (ARO). She has taught at Cornell University, MIT, Columbia University, Parsons the New School for Design, and Barnard College. Kim was elected to the National Academy of Design (NAD) and serves as a member of the NAD Board of Governors. She was President of AIA New York (AIANY) in 2020, serves on the Board and Executive Committee of the Center for Architecture, and has been recognized with the AIANY Medal of Honor and the Beverly Willis Foundation Mentorship Award. She holds an undergraduate degree in architecture from Columbia College: Columbia University and a Master of Architecture from Princeton University.

Architecture Research Office is the New York City firm united by their collaborative process, commitment to accountable action, and social and environmental responsibility. Research gives their work purpose and intention. Their architecture unites beauty and form with strategy and intelligence. ARO designs spaces that inspire people, further institutional missions, and advance equity and resilience. This philosophy has earned the firm over one hundred design awards including the 2020 AIA Architecture Firm Award, the AIA New York State Firm of the Year Award, and the Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt National Design Award for Architecture. Published in October 2024, Architecture. Research. Office. presents ARO’s diverse body of work, its ethos, and the people behind its projects.

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Arthi Krishnamoorthy, AIA
Jury Member

Arthi Krishnamoorthy is an architect and Principal at TenBerke, where she leads transformative work for educational, cultural, philanthropic, and mission-driven institutions. Her practice is centered on architecture’s capacity to help organizations expand their reach, clarify who they are, and deepen relationships with their communities.

Arthi has led all the firm’s work for foundations, including for The Wallace Foundation and The Women’s Building. Most recently, she led the design and construction of two residential colleges at Princeton University to house over a thousand students, as well as a mass-timber and net-zero-ready career and leadership development center at Smith College. Her work is grounded in the belief that spaces should invite engagement and discovery, with craft and detail that reveal themselves over time. In doing so, she creates environments that people come to know intimately, fostering a sense of familiarity and enduring connection.

Raised in Singapore, Arthi’s outlook is global, sustained by unending inquisitiveness. In New York, she serves on the board of the Queens Museum, an institution dedicated to presenting the highest quality visual arts and educational programming for people in the New York metropolitan area, and particularly for the residents of Queens. Arthi also serves on the board of AIANY.

 

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Mark Gardner, AIA
Jury Member

Mark has led many of Jaklitsch / Gardner’s design initiatives and works to best understand the role of design as a social practice. He is the Associate Professor of Architectural Practice and Society at the School of the Constructed Environments, Parsons the New School. He was Director of the M.Arch Program from 2017-2020. Mark served on the Board of Advisors for the University of Pennsylvania Weitzman School of Design, where he advocates for issues of diversity and inclusion. Currently, he is helping support the Julian Abele Fellowship at Weitzman, which honors the first Black Architecture graduate from UPenn. Mark also served on the Board of Youth Design Center (YDC), a nonprofit on a mission to reduce the number of disconnected youth in Brownsville, Brooklyn by lowering their barriers to entry to the STEAM professions and increasing their relevant experience in the innovation economy.

Mark is the 2026 President-Elect of the American Institute of Architects, New York Chapter (AIANY), past Secretary AIANY, current member of the Exhibition Committee, and past Co-Chair and current member of the AIANY Diversity & Inclusion Committee, which he helped to restart with Venesa Alicea in 2012. He is a Past President and past Advocacy Chair for nycobaNOMA, the New York Chapter of the National Organization of Minority Architects. Mark is a Member of the Van Alen Institute’s Board of Trustees and a Fellow of the Urban Design Forum. Mark received his Bachelor of Science in Architecture from the Georgia Institute of Technology and his Master of Architecture Degree from the University of Pennsylvania. He is a Registered Architect in Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania. Mark currently resides in Brooklyn, New York with his wife, Margit Detweiler.

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