Every year, exceptional projects from around the world demonstrate how thoughtful design can improve the way we live, work, and interact with our surroundings. The A’ Design Award & Competition provides an international platform where these achievements are recognized, bringing together architects, designers, companies, and creative professionals from more than a hundred disciplines.
Since its establishment in 2010, the A’ Design Award has grown into one of the world’s largest and most comprehensive design competitions. Its mission extends beyond celebrating aesthetic excellence; the program seeks to encourage innovation, promote responsible design, and highlight projects that make a meaningful contribution to society. By recognizing outstanding work across a diverse range of creative fields, the competition helps elevate both established professionals and emerging talent on the international stage.
For architects and designers, the competition offers an opportunity to present their work to a global audience while gaining recognition from an independent panel of experts. Winning projects receive extensive international exposure through exhibitions, publications, media coverage, and professional networks, making the award a valuable distinction for both individuals and practices.
The competition encompasses more than one hundred categories, reflecting the increasingly interdisciplinary nature of contemporary design. Among the categories most relevant to the architectural community are:
- Good Architecture Design Award
- Good Product Design Award
- Good Interior Space and Exhibition Design Award
- Good Furniture Design Award
- Good Industrial Design Award
- Good Communication Design Award
(Explore all categories here: Full Category List)
Why Architects Choose to Participate
In today’s increasingly competitive design landscape, professional recognition plays an important role in building credibility and expanding opportunities. For architects, participating in the A’ Design Award represents more than the possibility of receiving an international accolade; it offers an opportunity to present their work to an audience of peers, media, potential clients, and industry leaders.
Recognition from a respected international competition can strengthen a firm’s portfolio, reinforce its reputation, and increase visibility in both established and emerging markets. The award also offers valuable exposure for projects that demonstrate innovation in sustainability, technology, material research, heritage conservation, or spatial experience.
Equally important is the opportunity to become part of a global design community. Each edition brings together professionals from numerous countries and disciplines, encouraging dialogue between architecture, engineering, industrial design, product development, visual communication, and the creative industries. This multidisciplinary environment reflects the increasingly collaborative nature of contemporary practice.
For younger studios and independent architects, participation can serve as an important milestone, introducing their work to an international audience. For more established firms, it offers continued recognition while reinforcing their position within the global architectural conversation.
Benefits of Winning
The A’ Design Award is designed to provide lasting professional value beyond the announcement of the results. Winners receive the A’ Design Prize, a comprehensive package of promotional, editorial, and networking opportunities intended to maximize international visibility.
Among the benefits awarded to winners are:
- Exhibition of winning projects in Italy
- Publication in the annual A’ Design Award Yearbook
- International public relations and media exposure
- Inclusion in the World Design Rankings
- The official A’ Design Prize Winners’ Kit
- Invitation to the exclusive Gala Night and award ceremony
- Trophy and printed certificate
- Multilingual translations and international press support
- Professional press release distribution
- Publication across numerous architecture and design media platforms
(Discover the complete benefits here: Benefits for Winners and Design Prize)
Entries are evaluated by a multidisciplinary international jury panel composed of academics, industry professionals, and media members. The judging process follows a transparent and rigorous methodology developed over five years. Learn more about the jury and methodology.
- Early submission deadline: June 30, 2026
- Public results announcement: May 1, 2027
- Register now: Registration Portal
- Learn more: What is A’ Design Award
Selected Past Winners
ArchEyes is proud to spotlight 20 remarkable winners from recent editions, showcasing the breadth and quality of entries submitted each year.
Changchun Aerospace Expo Comprehensive Cultural Building by Cheng Sun, Dagang Qu, and Xi Huang
This aerospace landmark features a curved form that mirrors the silhouettes of space, linking cosmic aspirations to the wetland. A low-profile layout minimizes ecological impact, while the first-floor roof integrates with the surrounding park, blending culture and leisure. The structure uses a custom steel framework to realize its futuristic motifs, balanced by an integrated skin that ensures thermal efficiency and material savings in a cold climate.
King Boat Cultural Museum by Pingtung County Government and C.M.Chao
The building’s form is inspired by a traditional king boat, with a five-story white facade atop a wave-like base symbolizing the sea. Folded lines and recessed entries mimic ocean swells, leading to a central atrium with aluminum mesh panels that ripple like waves. Inside, a 1:1 King Boat replica is displayed, bathed in natural light. The rooftop observatory offers views of Donggang Harbor. The museum’s five exhibitions invite visitors to explore marine beliefs, parades, and boatbuilding rituals, celebrating Taiwanese folk religion.
Tramdepot Bern Infrastructure by Penzel Valier
The external appearance of the hall is characterized by the lightness of the glass-aluminum shell. The use of white glass, the special surface structure, and the staggered installation method (halved grid) result in a changing expression depending on the light. In grazing light, the white color of the glass and the matt shimmer of the surface create a proximity to the bare aluminum sheets, giving the building a three-dimensional expression.
Ascending Ground Community Library by Hao Zhong
The project reinterprets Wuzhen’s historic architectural language through a contemporary community library that merges cave-like enclosed spaces with open terraces. The façade employs locally sourced recycled bricks, reinforcing regional identity while reducing material impact. A heavy masonry mass contrasts with a light-filled central void, creating layered circulation and a social platform connecting residents and visitors.
The Ripple Hospice by Minghan Lin, Yuchen Qiu, and Hao Zhong
The Ripple reimagines hospice as an urban civic sanctuary structured by a concentric ripple geometry generated from a single water court. Architecture, structure, circulation, and environmental systems align into a single continuous spatial logic, integrating hybrid timber construction, passive ventilation, and water reuse. The design transforms end-of-life care into a collective, sensory experience embedded within the life of the city.
Casa Golf Residential House by David Guerra
Located on the edge of a golf course, this residence was designed to enhance the open view and integration with the landscape. In response to the owner’s desire for a single-story home, the project focuses on light, contemporary architecture with large, integrated spaces that face the landscape. The horizontal structure is based on a layout that emphasizes spatial fluidity and a constant dialogue between indoors and outdoors.
Unesco Ancient Theatre Revitalization Cultural Facility by Lyt X Studio
This project revitalizes an ancient open-air performance structure through adaptive reuse, repositioning a protected historic site as contemporary cultural infrastructure with ongoing civic relevance. Rather than introducing a new architectural object, the design adopts a strategy of minimal, reversible intervention that preserves archaeological integrity while respecting the site’s original spatial logic. A lightweight tensile membrane roof is introduced to filter daylight and provide thermal moderation while maintaining visual openness to the surrounding landscape. Carefully calibrated roof openings and multi-directional circulation enhance natural ventilation and passive cooling, enabling comfortable year-round use without reliance on intensive mechanical systems. By supporting flexible performance, public gathering, and civic programs, the intervention extends the site’s social and cultural relevance, reinforcing its role as an active component of urban life. Beyond the specific context, the project demonstrates a scalable approach to heritage revitalization, showing how climate-responsive design and lightweight architectural strategies can reactivate historic open-air typologies as sustainable civic infrastructure for contemporary use.
Amami House Residence by Kazunori Sakai
Located on Amami Island, with a hot, humid climate and among the lowest levels of solar radiation in Japan, this self-sufficient house explores how a family of four can live comfortably without relying on the power grid or air conditioning. Rooted in the island’s unique climate and culture, the design reinterprets vernacular architecture through passive strategies, including natural ventilation, daylighting, and insulation, thereby minimizing reliance on mechanical systems. The project presents a sustainable model of living in harmony with nature, nurturing resilience, and quietly redefining what it means to dwell in the modern world.
Art Omi Deconstructive Utopia Design Gallery and Installation by Daria Yang Du
Beginning with an experimental morsal-folly-finding process to explore form and movement, the Art Omi Design Gallery reinterprets kinetic gestures in architectural space. The design transitions from a linear system of tensioned strings to a centralized spherical volume, carved out and preserved as the main exhibition space and public entrance. This void serves as the anchor of spatial experience, emphasizing a fluid internal circulation that guides visitors throughout the site.
Terminal 2 Guwahati International Airport by Nuru Karim
Guwahati city is a key hub for regional, national, and international aviation. Handling around thirteen million passengers annually, the airport ensures a seamless flow. Its architecture draws from Assam’s natural beauty using the Bamboo Orchids theme. Blending tradition with innovation, it adopts eco-friendly strategies to reduce carbon footprint and sets a benchmark for sustainable aviation infrastructure.
Aero Grove Community Cultural Center by Xinyun Li
Aero Grove is a public cultural center located in a public area in Boston. The design explores how a large structure can humbly integrate into the urban fabric. It aims to create an inviting, active green space while featuring exhibition and immersive experience areas. Its fluid, circular form ensures open access and encourages community use. Incorporating a central courtyard, rooftop paths, and layered facades, the building seamlessly blends into the cityscape and promotes interaction among community members, culture, and technology.
Montemar Residential by Irakli Emiridze
Situated in Gonio, Georgia, a USECO-listed historical area, the complex rises where the tropical climate of Adjara meets the Black Sea Horizon. The complex comprises three 16-floor residential blocks, with the open spaces between the buildings maximized for green plantings, public squares, and communal areas. The development includes parking for 300 vehicles. One of the standout features is the premium panoramic apartments with individual terraces and Jacuzzis, offering stunning sea views.
House LW27 Private Residence by Stephan Maria Lang
The white volume contrasts with the rough natural stone elements. White plastered walls, wooden oak floors, and natural stone for floors, bathrooms, chimneys, and Walls.
The Intergenerational Commons Residential by Yi Lu
Memento (the Intergenerational Commons) redefines Stuyvesant Town as a contemporary model for intergenerational housing. Through adaptive reuse, the aging superblock becomes a layered residential ecosystem. A revitalized podium integrates senior learning and daily exchange, while rooftop kindergartens reconnect generations in close proximity. Terraces and gardens soften rigid edges, transforming density into social infrastructure and establishing a resilient paradigm for future urban living.
Osmosis Tourists Center by Cen Shen and Changsong Li
Reflecting the concept of osmosis, the center’s non-centric layout allows tourists to feel integral to the landscape. By contrasting heavy rammed-earth walls with transparent all-glass walls, the architecture dissolves physical barriers, fully immersing visitors in the terrain. Additionally, the undulating roof responds directly to El Paso’s arid climate by employing concealed gutters to support a vital water-collection system, ensuring long-term ecological resilience.
Factory City To Education City Multifunctional Theater by Ying Bi and Siyu Bai
The project transforms an industrial social-services complex into a modular educational campus. Existing concrete buildings are reactivated through light interventions, while new steel structures house a theatre and multifunctional spaces. A connecting public spine integrates learning, culture, landscape, and civic life, turning industrial heritage into a flexible framework for knowledge production.
Temporal Graft Multifunctional Ramp Gallery by Jungjae Park and Jingyi Hu
“Temporal Graft” is a timber armature mediating the threshold between the Seoul City Wall and the vulnerable alleyway residential fabric. Unlike traditional preservation that displaces communities, this surgical intervention recycles the vernacular urban edge. It provides an ADA-compliant ramp for universal access while serving as a permeable buffer, shielding residents from tourist influx and fostering a symbiotic coexistence between the city’s historic past and authentic present.
House In Mise Private Home by Tomomi Omachi
This project is a renovation of a traditional Japanese rural house that reorients daily living toward the forest and river through spatial layering, light modulation, and material authenticity. By retaining the existing timber structure and integrating engawa-like thresholds with locally sourced materials, it achieves environmental continuity, sensory depth, and long-term sustainability.
Crossing Walls House and Office by Satoshi Fujinaka
We will try to solve the problem by modifying the wall so that the office on the first floor and the living room on the second floor can be compatible with respect to communication and privacy. The cube is disassembled, and the three L-shaped walls separate and interlock. These three L-shaped walls manipulate open and closed spaces while maintaining a moderate relationship with their surroundings. Light and wind enter the building, vaguely connecting it to the outside.
Volcano Visitor Center Exhibition by Haisheng Xu
Embedded within the volcanic terrain, the project dissolves the boundary between building and landscape, offering a continuous journey of light, earth, and horizon. By uniting subterranean shelter with a sculpted roofscape, it transforms architecture into an environmental mediator that preserves the site while intensifying the experience, inviting visitors to inhabit nature not as observers but as participants in its elemental presence.
Registration for the A’ Design Award & Competition 2026-2027 is open now.
The deadline for early submissions is June 30, 2026. Results will be announced to the public on May 1, 2027.
