Last week, the American Academy of Arts and Letters announced its 2021 Architecture Award recipients, a group of five winners selected from a pool of 32 nominations from Academy members. The Academy's awards began in 1955 with the Arnold W. Brunner Memorial Prize for architecture, an honor that comes with a purse of $20,000 dollars to "an architect of any nationality who has made a significant contribution to architecture as an art," according to the Academy's press release. Over the years, the award has expanded to encompass four additional awards, each accompanied by a $10,000 prize purse.
The jury for the 2021 Architecture Awards comprised chair Annabelle Selldorf, AIA, founder of Selldorf Architects in New York; British architect and historian Kenneth Frampton; Steven Holl, FAIA, founder of Steven Holl Architects in New York; Thom Mayne, FAIA, founder of Morphosis Architects in Los Angeles; Richard Meier, FAIA, founder of Richard Meier & Partners Architects in New York; Toshiko Mori, FAIA, founder of Toshiko Mori Architect in New York; Robert A. M. Stern, FAIA, founder of Robert A.M. Stern Architects in New York; and Billie Tsien, AIA, and Tod Williams, FAIA, the co-founders of Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects | Partners in New York.
Arnold W. Brunner Memorial Prize
This year's $20,000 Arnold W. Brunner Memorial Prize was awarded to Marina Tabassum, founder and principal of Marina Tabassum Architects in Dhaka, Bangladesh. A 2016 winner of the prestigious Aga Khan Award for Architecture, Tabassum has completed notable projects around the world, including Bait Ur Rouf Mosque, also in Dhaka.
Arts and Letters Award in Architecture
Julie Eizenberg, FAIA, and Hank Koning, FAIA, founding principals of Koning Eizenberg Architects, in Santa Monica, Calif., received an architecture award and $10,000 prize. This award celebrates "American architects whose work is characterized by a strong personal direction," according to the Academy's press release. Since its founding near four decades ago, their firm has completed projects such as the Pico Branch Library, 28th Street Apartments, Eleventh Street Residence, and the recently completed Geffen Academy at UCLA.
Arts and Letters Award in Architecture
Dwayne Oyler and Jenny Wu, founders of Oyler Wu Collaborative in Los Angeles, also received an architecture award and $10,000 prize for their work as "American architects whose work is characterized by a strong personal direction." In addition to creating several works displayed in worldwide exhibitions and launching a 3D-printed jewelry collection, Oyler Wu has designed Monarch in Taipei, Taiwan, The Exchange in Columbus, Ind., and Live Wire Installation in Los Angeles.
Arts and Letters Award in Architecture
Justin Garrett Moore, an urbanist, a designer, the program officer for the Humanities in Place program at the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and CEO and director of UrbanPatch, received an architecture award and $10,000 prize to recognize his work as "an American who explores ideas in architecture through any medium of expression," according to the Academy's release.
Arts and Letters Award in Architecture
Ersela Kripa and Stephen Mueller, founders of Agency in El Paso, Texas, also received an architecture award and $10,000 prize to recognize their work as Americans who explore "ideas in architecture through any medium of expression," according to the Academy's release.
