2024 HONOR AWARD WINNER: RAMBLIN’ RECK GARAGE, SQUARE FEET STUDIO | PHOTO CREDIT: GAREY GOMEZ
2026 Design Award Finalist
Merit Award
Photo Credit: Galina Juliana
HAUS 1580
XMETRICAL
Residential over $1M
Photo Credit: Galina Juliana
Ten 5 Summerhill
XMETRICAL
Residential over $1M
Photo Credit: AndrewThomas Lee
Lake Claire Pool Renovation
Gentle Works
Renovation/Restoration/Adaptive-Reuse under $1M
Photo Credit: Super Crispy
Strange Taco
Studio SOGO Architecture & Interiors
Renovation/Restoration/Adaptive-Reuse under $1M
Photo Credit: Marc Mauldin
European Collection
Studio SOGO Architecture & Interiors
Renovation/Restoration/Adaptive-Reuse under $1M
Photo Credit: Trent Bell
Hayden Ferry Lakeside 1
TVS
Renovation/Restoration/Adaptive-Reuse under $1M
Photo Credit: David Kresses
Ahavath Achim Synagogue Renovation
Siegman Associates, Inc
Renovation/Restoration/Adaptive-Reuse over $1M
Photo Credit: Brent Linger
Storehouses – Navy Yard Charleston
Post Loyal Architecture
Renovation/Restoration/Adaptive-Reuse over $1M
Photo Credit:
The Columbus Museum
Perkins&Will
Renovation/Restoration/Adaptive-Reuse over $1M
Photo Credit: Alex The Photo Guy
Bank of America Plaza Lobby Repositioning
Gensler
Interior Architecture
Photo Credit: Seamus Payne
Dogwood: A Southern Table
Arcturis | square feet studio
Interior Architecture
Photo Credit: David Mitchell
Linea
Fogarty Finger
Interior Architecture
Photo Credit:
RIVL Foundation Sports Performance Lab
The Beck Group
Unbuilt Project
Photo Credit:
Tennessee Public Health and Environmental Laboratory
HDR Architecture Inc.
Unbuilt Project
Photo Credit: Bruce Demonte
Antinori Village at the Hambidge Center
BLDGS | Brian Bell and David Yocum
Built Project under 5,000 SF
Photo Credit: Rion Rizzo
Crossroads Dining Hall at the Jones Center at Ichauway
DLR Group | Collins Cooper Carusi
Built Project under 5,000 SF
Photo Credit: Tom Harris
Spelman College Mary Schmidt Campbell Center for Innovation & the Arts
Studio Gang
Built Project over 5,000 SF
Photo Credit: Nic Lehoux
Fourth Ward Office Project
Olson Kundig
Built Project over 5,000 SF
Photo Credit: Garey Gomez
Lupo Loop Cottages
Local Architects
Built Project over 5,000 SF
Photo Credit: Integrated Studio / Cameron Campbell
New Des Moines U.S. Courthouse
Mack Scogin Merrill Elam Architects
Built Project over 5,000 SF
Photo Credit: NH Studio
The Commons at a Battery Manufacturing Campus
Gansam USA, Inc.
Built Project over 5,000 SF
Photo Credit: Gary Gomez
Advanced Materials Innovation Complex
HOK
Built Project over 5,000 SF
Photo Credit: Jonathon Hillier
George Tower | Scheller Tower at Georgia Institute of Technology
EskewDumezRipple (Design Architect)
Built Project over 5,000 SF
Dahlonega Nature Center
SCAD
Student Project
Ecotone Dialogues
Kennesaw State University
Student Project
Ground Station 706
SCAD
Student Project
The Dog House
Georgia Institute Of Technology
Student Project
When Walls Roam
Kennesaw State University
Student Project
Lumen Quartz
SCAD
Student Project
The Architecture program celebrates exceptional contemporary architecture, showcasing projects of all budgets, sizes, styles, and types. These works demonstrate the remarkable contributions architects make and the ways buildings and spaces enhance our lives.
In 2019, AIA introduced the Framework for Design Excellence as a guide to assess project performance and AIA Georgia adopted the framework for its awards in 2020. This framework promotes a holistic approach to climate action, emphasizing the interconnectedness of people, buildings, infrastructure, and the environment. While submissions don’t need to address every measure in the framework, they should demonstrate performance within this context, including relevant narratives and metrics when applicable.
For questions, email AIA Georgia Awards.
Entry Categories
You can review the 2026 submission guidelines and tips on the Call for Entries.
- Built Project (over and under 5,000 SF):
Built projects are divided into two entry categories and provides a catch-all opportunity for projects that demonstrate design achievement in architecture regardless of budget, style, or type with gross square footage over or under 5,000 square feet. - Unbuilt Project:
The Unbuilt Project category celebrates the best in yet-to-be-built and speculative/theoretical design. Projects in this category are judged on their innovation, ability to overcome stated design challenges, and overall design excellence. - Renovation/Restoration/Adaptive-Reuse (over and under $1 million):
The Renovation/Restoration/Adaptive-Reuse category honors masterful renovation, preservation, rehabilitation, reconstruction, adaptive-reuse and restoration projects with two gross cost levels of entry, over and under $1 million.
- Interior Architecture:
The Interior Architecture category celebrates spectacular interior spaces that demonstrate design achievement, including a sense of place and purpose, ecology and environmental sustainability, and history. - Residential/Housing (over and under $1 million):
Residential projects are honored with a category that celebrates the best in single-family, multi-family, and mixed-use residential design– showing the world how beauty, safety, sustainability, and comfort can come together. This category has two levels of entry for projects over and under $1 Million in gross cost. - Student Project:
Student Project awardees exhibit design excellence in student work including research, installations, conceptual projects, or competitions. The applicant must be a current student or recent 2024 graduate, from an accredited Georgia architecture degree program.
