Every year, the Architectural League of New York gives its Emerging Voices award to practitioners with just enough work under their belts to attract attention. Founded in 1982, the annual honor is a bellwether for architectural ascendance. Early rosters included a young Steven Holl, AIA, an edgy Morphosis Architects, and an experimental Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, FAIA. Winners are invited to present as part of a public lecture series, with back-story interviews and images of their work featured online. In addition to the Emerging Voices program, the institution now sponsors the Architectural League Prize for Young Architects and Designers, a thematic competition, series of lectures, and exhibition open to those out of school for 10 years or less and who have a graduate or undergraduate degree.
“Back when Emerging Voices was initiated, there were very few opportunities for emerging architects to have their work published in mainstream journals, at the time one of the only means to draw the attention of a national audience,” explains League program director Anne Rieselbach, 53, who has overseen the awards since 1986. “On the whole, the juried series has been a great predictor of future success—in the winners’ own designs as well as in their roles shaping future generations of architects through design education and mentoring.”
