
On Friday, September 18, AZURE celebrated the 10th annual AZ Awards in our first-ever virtual AZ Awards Gala. Representing the best work in global architecture and design today, the 20 winning projects include a modular housing complex in Portugal, a chemical-free pool in Alberta and an ingenious blown-glass assemblage that appears to float between rings of ambient light. In case you missed the online gala, you can watch a replay on AZURE’s YouTube channel.
To select these 20 winners, our expert jury of leading international designers drew from a record-breaking pool of 1,241 entries – and 68 AZ Awards finalists. Helmed by Italian-born furniture and product designer Luca Nichetto, this year’s jury members were: Stephanie Davidson, co-founder of renowned experimental design practice Davidson Rafailidis and assistant professor at Toronto’s Ryerson School of Interior Design (RSID); Mia Lehrer, founder of the progressive Los Angeles-based landscape design firm Studio-MLA; globally renowned Canadian architect Omar Gandhi; and Marion Weiss, co-founder of multidisciplinary New York design practice Weiss/Manfredi.
Here are the AZ Awards Winners chosen by our jury, as well as the People’s Choice faves and the 48 Awards of Merit:
ARCHITECTURE

Winner in Buildings Over 1,000 Square Metres:
Neri&Hu Design and Research Office: Aranya Art Center, Qinhuangdao, China
Awards of Merit:
Lacime Architects: MOMA Lotus Resort, Chizhou City, China
LAN: Minimum-Security Area and Penitentiary Services for Integration and Probation, Nanterre, France
Zaha Hadid Architects: Leeza SOHO, Beijing, China (People’s Choice)
Oppenheim Architecture: Ayla Golf Academy and Clubhouse, Aqaba, Jordan

Winner in Buildings Under 1,000 Square Metres:
Gh3* architecture: Borden Park Natural Swimming Pool, Edmonton, Canada
Awards of Merit:
SUP Atelierwith THAD: Indoor Playground (Doubling as Lecture Hall), Yueyang City, China (People’s Choice)
Lasvit with OV-A: Lasvit Headquarters, Nový Bor, Czech Republic

Winner in Single-Family Houses:
Mork-Ulnes Architects: Skigard Hytte, Kvitfjell, Norway
Awards of Merit:
S-AR: Casa Cosmos, Puerto Escondido, Mexico
BAAQ’: Casa Naila, Puerto Escondido, Mexico (People’s Choice)
Ian Moore Architects: Redfern Warehouse, Sydney, Australia
Jun Sang You / AtelierJun: The Boulder House, Seoul, South Korea
D’Arcy Jones Architects: Double Header House, Victoria, Canada

Winner in Multi-Unit Residential Buildings:
Summary: VDC, Vale de Cambra, Portugal (People’s Choice)
Award of Merit:
L. McComber: Off Plaza, Montreal, Canada

Winner in Temporary and Experiential Installations:
Lambert & Fils with DWA Design Studio: Caffè Populaire, Milan, Italy
Awards of Merit:
APPAREIL Architecture: Le Dernier Petit Cochon, Grand-Métis, Canada (People’s Choice)
Studio Roosegaarde: Presence, Groningen, Netherlands

Winner in Adaptive Re-Use:
Atelier tao+c: Capsule Hotel in a Rural Library, Qinglongwu, China (People’s Choice)
Awards of Merit:
Valerio Dewalt Trainwith FGM Architects: UC Laboratory Schools: Gordon Parks Arts Hall, Chicago, U.S.
Coarchitecture, Atelier In Situ and Jacques Plante Architecte: Diamant Theatre | Engraved in the Memory, Québec City, Canada
MAD Architects: Hutong Bubble 218, Beijing, China

Winner in Landscape Architecture:
EFFEKT Architects: Forest Tower, Rønnede, Denmark (People’s Choice)
Awards of Merit:
DECA Architecture: Voronoi’s Corrals, Milos, Greece
Turenscape: Suzhou Zhenshan Park, Suzhou City, China
DESIGN

Winner in Furniture:
Molteni&C: Surf Sofa by Yabu Pushelberg
Awards of Merit:
Nienkämper: Heartbeat by Karim Rashid
IBEBI: Tam Tam by Arter & Citton
Eric Haskins Design: Rammed Earth Chair (People’s Choice)

Winner in Furniture Systems and Collections:
Fantoni with Gensler: Atelier (People’s Choice)
Awards of Merit:
GAN: Lan Seating by Lyndon Neri & Rossana Hu of Neri&Hu
Reform: Match by Muller Van Severen
Valcucine: Logica Celata by Gabriele Centazzo

Winner in Lighting Fixtures:
Flos: Noctambule by Konstantin Grcic (People’s Choice)
Awards of Merit:
Lambert & Fils: Sainte Collection in collaboration with Rachel Bussin
Vibia: Tube by Ichiro Iwasaki

Winner in Lighting Installations:
Stacklab: Temporary Tyvek Lighting Installation at Stackt Market, Toronto, Canada (People’s Choice)
Award of Merit:
Licht Kunst Licht: National Museum of Qatar, Doha, Qatar

Winner in Interior Products:
Pair: Toast by Studio Hopkins (People’s Choice)
Awards of Merit:
Carnegie: Xorel Knit by Heather Bush
Coalesse: Nanimarquina Collection for Coalesse by Nani Marquina and John Hamilton

Winner in Architectural Products:
Tarkett North America: iD Mixonomi
Awards of Merit:
Rimadesio: Modulor by Giuseppe Bavuso (People’s Choice)
Tarkett North America: Tatami System
INTERIORS

Winner in Commercial and Institutional Interiors:
Manea Kella: Casa Popeea, Brăila, Romania
Awards of Merit:
Atelier Alter Architects: Yingliang Stone Natural History Museum Xiamen, China (People’s Choice)
Rockwell Group: Cedric’s at the Shed, New York City, U.S.
Esrawe Studio: Tori Tori Santa Fe, Mexico City, Mexico
Vermilion Zhou Design Group: Green Massage, Shanghai, China

Winner in Residential Interiors:
Johnson Chou: ShadowBox, Toronto, Canada
Awards of Merit:
Akb Architects: Lytton Park Residence, Toronto, Canada (People’s Choice)
Aspa: Apartment in Santa Catarina, Lisbon, Portugal
CONCEPTS

Winner in Ideas and Prototypes:
EFFEKT Architects: The Urban Village Project (People’s Choice)
Award of Merit:
OSD Outside: Farm to City

Winner in Unbuilt Buildings:
Moriyama & Teshima Architects: Honey Bee Research Centre at the University of Guelph
Award of Merit:
Lemay: Bellechasse Transport Centre (People’s Choice)
A+ STUDENT AWARD

Winner of the A+ Award:
Connery Friesen (University of Manitoba): In the Spirit of Shibui: Re-Animating the Ruins of Fukushima
Awards of Merit:
Siqi Wangand Shawn Dylan Johnston(University of Toronto): Horizontal (People’s Choice)
Austin Corriher and Caroline Cox(North Carolina State University): KEF International Airport
Students of Islamic Azad University of Najafabad (Prof. Hossein Moradi): Kooshk Research Pavilion
ENVIRONMENTAL LEADERSHIP

Winner in Environmental Leadership:
Dorte Mandrup: The Wadden Sea Centre, Ribe, Denmark
Awards of Merit:
Gh3*architecture: Borden Park Natural Swimming Pool, Edmonton, Canada (People’s Choice)
KPMB Architects and Stantec Architecture: Isttaniokaksini / Science Commons at University of Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada
SOCIAL GOOD

Winner in Social Good:
Studio Lotus: Krushi Bhawan, Bhubaneswar, India (People’s Choice)
Awards of Merit:
Lorcan O’Herlihy Architects: MLK1101 Supportive Housing, Los Angeles, U.S.
La SHED Architecture: A Modern Barn: Au Gré des Champs, Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Canada
Whiteknee: Zig Zag Park, Bogotá, Colombia
The 2020 AZ Awards is presented by JennAir, Keilhauer and Landscape Forms and sponsored by Cosentino and Great Gulf.
The 2020 AZ Awards Gala sponsors are Dark Tools, George Brown School of Design, Improve and Scavolini.
The 2020 AZ Awards Gala Partner is Frontier.
Media Partners: Archello, Archiexpo, Archilovers, Archinect, Archiproducts, Architect@Work, The Architect’s Newspaper, Architonic, Bustler, Design Week Mexico, Interior Designers of Canada, INDEX Design, Kollectif, v2com newswire and World-Architects.
Announcing the 2020 AZ Awards Winners!
The results of Azure’s 10th annual AZ Awards competition are in!