Excellence in Design Awards 2023

The American Institute of Architects UK Chapter hosted the 2023 Excellence in Design Awards Ceremony at the Barbican on 18 May 2023. This year marked a special milestone. For over thirty years the AIA UK has organised the Excellence in Design Awards to celebrate architecture and design in not only the United Kingdom, but around the world.

Professional entries are sought from architects, industrial designers, urban planners, landscape architects and interior designers based in the UK for projects built anywhere in the world, and from practitioners based around the world for projects built in the UK. Entrants are not required to be members of the AIA as long as the criteria are achieved.

Throughout the evening attendees could see a newly published, rolling slideshow of not only the many entrants received this year but also of submissions and winners from the past three decades. The collection of images from our archives will be made available for future reference.

The 2023 London jury was an assemblage of accomplished architects and engineers consisting of:

Patty Hopkins, Founder, Hopkins Architects
Stefan Behnisch, Founding Partner, Behnisch Architekten
Becci Taylor, Director, ARUP
Sergio De Gaetano, Senior Principal, Thornton Tomasetti
Alex Miller, Senior Associate Principal, KPF
Margherita Giannoni, Iris Ceramica Group UK

True to the rich history of the awards, there were many exceptional submissions - making the task of the jury particularly difficult and challenging. The submissions ranged from private residences to corporate headquarters and even a selection of bridges. Beyond the base program, the submissions demonstrated a great diversity in scale, function and location.

The following projects were selected by the Jury as winners:

Professional - Large Projects

Pears Building, Institute of Immunity & Transplantation, Hopkins Architects