The Winners of the 2020 Studio Prize

This year's jury selected six studios that encouraged students to think critically about the role of architecture and about how designers can better engage with the communities they serve.

The 2019–2020 academic year was a tale of two proximities—it started with the familiar in-person, intensive studios that are the hallmark of architectural education, and ended up, as did so many things in 2020, on Zoom, as COVID-19 forced schools to shift to remote instruction. Remarkably, as demonstrated by the 2020 Studio Prize—the winning students will share a $25,000 prize purse generously furnished by our sponsor, Sloan—the level of investigation, inquiry, and exploration did not falter. Whether in-person or remote, these studios encouraged students to think critically about the role of architecture, and about how to better engage—more equitably, sustainably, and creatively—with the communities they serve. With that approach as a foundation, this next generation of architects will be poised to create a better built environment for all.

Jury |

Victor Body-Lawson, AIA, Body Lawson Associates Architects & Planners, New York
Weihan Vivian Lee, AIA, LAMAS, Toronto
Jonathan Tate, OJT, New Orleans

Winners

Studio Prize: An Archaeology of the Future: The Pine Street African Burial Ground
City College of New York, The Bernard and Anne Spitzer School of Architecture

Studio Prize: Weighted Transparency: Literal and Phenomenal
Cornell University, College of Architecture, Art, and Planning

Studio Prize: Being-With: Coexistence at a Planetary Scale
Columbia University, Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation

Studio Prize: Deep Dust | The Killing Dark
Carleton University, Azrieli School of Architecture and Urbanism

Studio Prize: Flatlanders: Multi-Income, Mixed-Use, Mid-Rise Housing for Downtown Los Angeles
California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, Department of Architecture; The Cal Poly Los Angeles Metropolitan Program in Architecture and Urban Design