The Architect’s Newspaper’s fourth annual Best of Practice Awards is currently open for submissions. The program recognizes the outstanding companies that create our built environment: architects, MEP engineers, fabricators, interior designers, acoustic consultants, developers, and more. To judge the 20 total categories, AN invited a jury of celebrated professionals to apply their sought-after experience in reviewing applications. This year’s panel of principal architects, educators, and authors are discerning about not only design and visual language, but also the ethics and best practices of running a business.
The jury will be reviewing applications using three criteria: design, culture, and social impact. Design considers the company’s work product and evaluates the level of quality present in completed projects. Culture considers the internal experience and operations that can best support their employees and create an office culture that prizes advancement, achievement, and diversity. Finally, social impact looks at how a firm engages with its community to envision and enact a better world. This year’s program will also offer additional support to emerging firms of all kinds, providing an additional 50 percent price reduction applicable in addition to the Early Bird discount.
Submissions are currently open until April 19, 2024 with the Early Bird discount available until March 8. Get a sense of what makes a winning practice by checking out 2024’s Best of Practice jury.
Susan Jones | Principal and Founder | atelierjones
Susan Jones is the principal and founder of Seattle-based architecture firm atelierjones. Through her practice, Jones drives design that can engender large-scale sustainable changes in the carbon-intensive U.S. building industry. A national leader in the mass timber community, Susan represented over 90,000 architects on behalf of the American Institute of Architects in 2016 to successfully change American building codes to allow tall mass timber buildings up to 18 stories in the U.S. She published the book, Mass Timber | Design and Research, in 2018, and was elected to the AIA College of Fellows in 2010.
Stephanie Lin | Dean | The School of Architecture
Stephanie Lin is the dean of The School of Architecture, principal of Brooklyn’s Present Forms, and a cofounder of the design collective Office III along with Sean Canty and Ryan Golenberg. Previously, she taught at the Cooper Union in New York, and she has also been faculty at UC Berkeley, Pratt Institute, and Columbia University GSAPP.
Jonathan Marvel | Founding Principal | MARVEL
Jonathan Marvel is the founding principal of MARVEL and a fellow of the American Institute of Architects. Born in Puerto Rico, Jonathan is an architect and urban designer with over 30 years of experience providing architectural planning, community, economic, and sustainable development of public spaces, educational institutions, single and multi-family housing, libraries, museums, and large-scale, mixed-use developments. Jonathan has led MARVEL’s efforts across countless typologies, from urban housing to single-family residences; ground-up theaters to adaptive reuse performance spaces.
Wendy Dunnam Tita | Principal and Chief Practice Officer | Page
As an architect, Wendy Dunnam Tita champions the conversation between design, craft, and people to advance and nurture this essential collaboration and to enrich the human experience of architecture and its making. For more than two decades, Dunnam Tita has sought to integrate innovation, sustainability, and forward-thinking strategy with exceptional design quality. She is the chief practice officer at Page and co-leader of the firm’s Global Commercial and Mixed-use Market Sector. She is an AIA Fellow, former AIA Austin Board President, and has served the City of Austin on the Downtown Commission and Cultural Trust Advisory Committee. She was the 2023 President of the Pease Park Conservancy Board.
Elizabeth “Dori” Tunstall | Founder and Lead Executive Director | Dori Tunstall, Inc.
Dr. Elizabeth “Dori” Tunstall is a distinguished design anthropologist, celebrated author, visionary organizational design leader, consultant, and coach. Formerly the dean of Ontario College of Art & Design, Tunstall made history as the first Black woman dean of the school. As the renowned author of Decolonizing Design: A Cultural Justice Guidebook and founder of her firm Dori Tunstall, Inc., she is a path-breaker of progressive approaches that challenge conventional design paradigms that exclude and harm Indigenous cultures in order to decolonize them.
Robert Yuen | CEO and Cofounder | Monograph
Robert Yuen is the CEO and Cofounder of Monograph, a software company revolutionizing the future of architecture and engineering firm performance. Trained in architecture, Yuen recognized the need for better business tools and developed Monograph to address the challenges facing A/E professionals. As a result, he has become a leading voice in the industry, promoting the importance of A/E business performance and helping firms improve their workflows and profitability. His mission is to always be in service to the design professionals responsible for our built environment, letting them focus on what they love and do best.
Emily Conklin | Managing Editor | The Architect’s Newspaper
Emily Conklin is a writer, architecture historian, and the managing editor of The Architect’s Newspaper. She holds a M.S. in Historic Preservation from Columbia GSAPP, and her current areas of research include the architectures of labor and the urban commons.
Jack Murphy | Executive Editor | The Architect’s Newspaper
Jack Murphy, AN’s executive editor, studied architecture at MIT and Rice University before going on to contribute to award-winning architectural practices in Texas, New York, and Massachusetts. Previously, he was the editor of Cite: The Architecture and Design Review of Houston and an adjunct professor at the University of Houston. He has been featured in Architectural Record, Dwell, Texas Architect, Places, PLAT, Paprika!, The SF Gate, The Houston Chronicle, and The New York Review of Architecture, amongst other publications.
