Architizer Vision Awards 2026

Competition Brief

The Architizer Vision Awards 2026 is an international recognition programme celebrating creators shaping the future of architecture through both design and visual storytelling. Organised by Architizer, one of the world’s largest architecture platforms, the awards honour bold concept designs, renderings, drawings, photographs, and cinematic videos. The programme is open to architects, designers, photographers, visualisers, and videographers worldwide.

New to the 2026 season, select winners will be showcased at RELEASE [AEC], a major industry conference at the Cité des Sciences et de l’Industrie in Paris. Winners will be featured in the Visionary 100, Architizer’s annual global index of the most innovative creators in architectural communication, and select winners will be published in the spring 2027 edition of Metropolis magazine, distributed at the 2027 AIA Convention.

Intent

The Vision Awards celebrates architectural ideas and imagery rather than built work alone. It recognises conceptual projects, unbuilt visions, and outstanding visual representation alongside conventional design submissions, making it one of the few awards programmes that explicitly values architectural communication and visual storytelling as disciplines in their own right.

Purpose

The programme connects architectural creators with a global audience through Architizer’s platform of millions, editorial coverage, social media promotion, and in-person exhibition in Paris. Select video winners will also have their work published on DESIGNTV. The Visionary 100 publication, one of Architizer’s most-read annual features, profiles winning creators across all disciplines. Winners also receive an official certificate and digital badges.

Categories

The 2026 Vision Awards covers three main tracks. Conceptual Projects showcases unbuilt works, planned projects, and visions for the future of architecture across creative mediums. Architectural Representation celebrates standout single images or videos across photography, video, renderings, and drawing. Architectural Visionaries honours innovative design firms and creators demonstrating excellence in architectural representation across disciplines. An additional Best of the Year add-on is available for any entry at an extra fee.

Jury

The jury comprises practitioners and thought leaders from the worlds of architecture, design, technology, and media. The full confirmed 2026 jury is:

1. Daniel Libeskind – Founder and Principal Architect, Studio Libeskind
2. Winka Dubbeldam – Principal Partner, ARCHI-TECTONICS NYC
3. Steven Holl – Founding Principal, Steven Holl Architects
4. Keely Colcleugh – Founder and CEO, Kilograph
5. Sanjay Puri – Principal, Sanjay Puri Architects
6. Suchi Reddy – Principal, ReddyMade
7. Lyndon Neri – Founding Partner, Neri&Hu
8. Ari Melenciano – Artist and Technologist
9. Amaury Greig – Partner and Director of Operations, Renzo Piano Building Workshop
10. James Wines – Founder and President, SITE
11. Andres Ramirez – Founder, PLANESITE
12. Katherine Chia – Co-Founder, Desai Chia Architecture
13. Sean Shen – Architect, ZJJZ Atelier China
14. Carlotta Cominetti – Co-Founder, VirginLemon
15. Arjun Desai – Co-Founder, Desai Chia Architecture
16. Brodie Kerst – Architectural Videographer, Brodie Kerst Productions
17. Sabina Blasiotti – Creative Director, Sabi Space
18. Hamid Hassanzadeh – Founder and CEO, Parametric Architecture
19. Krista Jahnke – Architectural Photographer, Krista Jahnke Photography
20. Alex Hogrefe – Creator, Visualizing Architecture; Co-founder, Design Distill
21. Bless Yee – Project Architect, DLR Group
22. Filip Kurasz – Founding Partner and Art Director, ELEMENT
23. James Biber – Founder and Principal, Biber Architects
24. Jakub Figel – Founding Partner, ELEMENT
25. Amanda Ferber – Founder, Architecture Hunter
26. Dan Hogman – Architect, SmithGroup
27. Ema Peter – Founder, Ema Peter Photography
28. Bennett Oh – Content Creator, Archi Hacks
29. Andy Shaw – Managing Partner, AMA Design; Chair, RIBA Gulf Chapter
30. David Godshall – Co-Founder and Principal, Terremoto
31. Mengyi Fan – Director of Visualization, SHoP Architects
32. Luca Bussolino – Partner, Head of Strategy and Innovation, Carlo Ratti Associati
33. Paul Clemence – Founder, Archi-Photo
34. Vivien Liu – Founder, StudioUNIT
35. Georg Windeck – Architect, Professor of Design and Construction, Rhein Main University
36. Hassan Ragab – Media Artist and Interdisciplinary Designer, HSNRGB
37. Niknaz Aftahi – Founder, aecplustech
38. Simone Lapenta – Design Director and Director of Visualization, RIOS
39. Marcelo Coelho – Director, MIT Design Intelligence Lab
40. Ar. June Chow – Principal Architect and Founder, JUN Architect
41. Duy Phan – Senior Visualizer, ERA-co
42. Natasha Sandmeier – Assistant Adjunct Professor, UCLA
43. Hamza Shaikh – Creative AI Lead, Gensler
44. Darren Bradley – Architectural Photographer, Darren Bradley Photography
45. Olin McKenzie – Design Partner, SOM
46. Linna Choi – Founder and Partner, OUALALOU+CHOI
47. Thomas Schaller – Artist, Schaller Architectural and Fine Arts
48. Ismail Seleit – AI Innovator, Foster + Partners

Registration Fees

Entries open 30 March 2026. The Best of the Year award is an optional add-on to any existing entry at a flat fee of $125 and is not available as a standalone entry.

Prizes and Rewards

No cash prizes are offered at any level. Paris exhibition, Metropolis publication, and DESIGNTV publication are available to select winners only, with no published criteria for selection within the winner pool.

Key Dates

✦ ArchUp Competition Review

The Architizer Vision Awards is backed by one of the most widely read platforms in global architecture, giving it genuine reach and credibility. The jury of 48 members is exceptionally diverse and well-credentialled, spanning principals of internationally recognised firms, Pritzker-affiliated architects, leading visualisers, photographers, and technology innovators, with a notable emphasis on architectural representation and AI. The programme’s scope is genuinely broad, celebrating visual communication and unbuilt work alongside built architecture, filling a gap most traditional awards ignore. Entry fees are substantial, ranging from $195 to $375 depending on timing, with student discounts available. No cash prizes are offered and the most coveted rewards including the Paris exhibition and Metropolis publication are available only to a subset of winners with no published selection criteria. For visualisers, concept designers, and photographers in particular, this remains one of the more credible and well-connected platforms in the architecture awards landscape.

Final Thoughts

The Vision Awards 2026 offers strong institutional backing, a genuinely impressive jury, and tangible rewards that go beyond digital recognition. The fee structure rewards early submission significantly, making the 17 April early entry deadline the most cost-effective entry point. Practitioners and visual creators working across architecture, visualisation, and photography should assess the categories carefully and enter early to maximise value.

Registration Deadline

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