Top 20 A’ Design Award Winners

No Footprint Wood House by Oliver Schütte drew inspiration from historical prefabricated housing schemes such as Jean Prouvé’s Maison Tropicale and Buckminster Fuller’s Dymaxion House. The project reinterprets modular design for contemporary sustainability goals. Conceived within Costa Rica’s national roadmap to achieve carbon neutrality, the house offers flexible modular solutions that enable homeowners to actively contribute to the broader objective of reducing and balancing carbon emissions.

Valencia House by Lucas Padovani is conceived as a summer retreat in the countryside of São Paulo; the project draws from an initial sketch that guided its respect for the natural topography. The main volume is partially embedded in the terrain, reducing verticality while aligning with the slope. Slender lines and horizontal elements balance the scale of the three-story structure. At the same time, panoramic views and open, permeable social spaces ensure a strong connection between interior and environment, fostering family gatherings in harmony with nature.

Urban Symbiosis Mix Use Towers by Xiyao Wang is inspired by the complementary rhythms of residential and office life; the project aligns differing time demands to optimize energy use. Instead of a traditional vertical stack, the program is divided horizontally into two interconnected towers, balancing daytime and nighttime loads while fostering community through shared amenities. Anchored by a central subway entrance and a sunken garden that extends the experience of the High Line, the design integrates public access, private development, and urban connectivity into a seamless architectural vision.

Deep eaves, long regarded as a defining element of traditional Japanese architecture shaped by the local monsoon climate, have become almost absent in contemporary housing. Understanding their cultural and environmental significance is crucial in today’s context. Through the integration of advanced technology, this house reinterprets the deep eave for a humid climate, preserving its original function while generating new opportunities for this distinctive Japanese architectural quality to flourish in modern design.

Conceived as an integration of ecology and culture, the building’s form evokes the swirling vortex of the Yellow River. This concept continues into the interior, where the ritual and musical traditions of Central Plains culture are reinterpreted through modern design, allowing ancient music and heritage to be spatially experienced in a contemporary way.

Monopitched Roof Residence by Masato Sekiya, designed by Masato Sekiya and Shizuko Kuroda, is rooted in the traditional Japanese principle of continuity between inside and outside. The house emphasizes harmony with nature while ensuring year-round energy efficiency. Located in rural Nara Prefecture, it reinterprets traditional design, materials, and methods in a modern way, arranging spaces around a central Japanese garden that creates fluid connections between rooms and landscape.

Kujdane Holiday House by Yaser Rashid Shomali and Yasin Rashid Shomali received the Silver A’ Architecture, Building, and Structure Design Award in 2021–2022. Drawing from its natural surroundings, the project reinterprets the traditional A-frame cabin as a contemporary retreat. Cool-toned interior finishes complement a palette of wood, while a curving façade of full-height glazing opens the dwelling to its landscape, merging rustic typology with modern expression.

Clay Moulded Musical Theatre by Marius Mateika is located in Klaipėda, a coastal city defined by its sandy shoreline and red clay brick heritage. The theatre draws inspiration from both sea and clay to create a dramatic architectural language. Its interior is crafted almost entirely from natural clay, likely the largest such space in the world, with a continuous design conceived by artist Mantas Petravičius. Dynamic clay surfaces shift to adapt acoustics and spatial perception, transforming the theatre into a living, responsive environment for performance.

Slope House Residence, designed by Kyungsik Kim, is inspired by the nearby Kam-ak mountain. The design concept extends the mountain’s gentle slope into the architecture itself, shaping the distinctive sloped roof that defines the house. This gesture creates an intense dialogue between landscape and built form, grounding the residence in its natural context.

One Main Office by dECOi, led by principal Mark Goulthorpe with Raphael Crespin, challenges the conventional use of standardized, ready-made components by adopting a seamless protocol of customized digital fabrication. This approach generates a distinctive curvilinear aesthetic, where continuity of form and detail extends across every spatial scale, producing an office environment defined by innovation, precision, and fluidity.

Ruman Origin Farmstead Architecture by Jianshan Wangshui Planning and Design responds to the urban desire for retreat into nature while providing modern amenities. Organized around three courtyards, the farmstead reflects the evolution of architectural principles, from tradition to modernity, while referencing the distinctive forested settlements of Western Sichuan. Serving as accommodation, exhibition space, and social venue, the design curates a model for a renewed rural lifestyle that blends rustic charm with urban sensibilities.