New Practices New York: Voice

After a pause since the last award cycle in 2020, we are excited to relaunch the ninth edition of the New Practices New York Award for 2025. In the intervening years, the world has experienced major upheaval, and the field of architecture has been met with both challenges and opportunities in light of those changes, opening new questions about how we work, respond, evolve and adapt. 

In this new context, we seek New York City-based architecture and design practices who offer a distinctive voice in engaging the critical issues that are relevant now. In particular, we call for portfolios with innovative design work and thinking that draws upon the idea of voice, both as an expression of unique identity and as an instrument for communicating purpose and intent. We seek practices that use the agency of their voice to expand the role of the practitioner in crafting new approaches and models for working in architecture, to promote a spirit of experimentation in the design process, and to provoke creative and adaptive bodies of work. 

As a new practice, how do you “find your voice” and establish a fresh point of view that can be distinguished amid a saturation of images, information, data, and the emergence of AI? When and how do you “raise your voice” and assert your practice in engaging critical issues or as an agent for positive change for communities and the built environment? What do you have to say and how do you express the tone, tenor, and message of your voice? 

Through this call for entries, we are looking to discover and highlight a diverse array of voices in architecture that stand out both for their contributions as a singular practice and together as a cohort of voices in complementary and collective dialogue with one another. 

• New practices are defined as architecture and design firms founded after January 1, 2012.
• The competition is open to all architects and designers, registered and non-registered.
• The aim of the competition is to highlight design firms practicing in New York City; therefore, the applicants must be located within the five boroughs. If practicing internationally, the main office of the firm should be located within the five boroughs.
• All work for built projects must credit the architect of record for the project on the individual portfolio page.
• Theoretical and unbuilt work is welcome and encouraged. 

November 13, 2024 – Awards Submissions Open
January 10, 2025, 5 pm – Submission Deadline
February 11, 2025 – Jury Day and Winners Announcement
May 8, 2025 – Exhibition Opening 

Register and submit online at aiany.org/NPNY. The competition brief asks firms to submit one (1) landscape-oriented, 11”x17”, 10-page PDF portfolio (6 MB maximum). PDFs that do not conform to this format will be disqualified. All entries will be reviewed by the jury via digital projection. The PDF should also include a practice narrative (500 words maximum) that should address the following questions: 

Critical Practice 

How does your practice engage critically in the environmental, social, cultural or technological conditions of our contemporary culture? How is your practice informed by the local and global context? 

Methods of Practice 

How do you design and work in new, different, and/or more innovative ways than traditional practices? 

Engagement of Practice 

What are the key issues that you address and advocate for as a practice? How do you choose to communicate and engage the agenda of your practice to a broader audience and public?   

Start your online submission using the submit button on this page (aiany.org/NPNY). The submission deadline is January 10, 2025 at 5:00 PM EST. 

Entry fee: $165 

Entrants must also include three (3) high-res, press-ready images representative of their practice and its work, a signed image release form and a copy of “Certificate of Firm Incorporation” or a signed certification that practice was founded after January 1, 2014. 

Entrants can download the release form in advance of starting the submission from here.

When applicable to projects included in the submission, the architect or firm of record, associate architects, project team, consultants, client, and general contractor must be credited. Failure to do so may lead to disqualification. 

• Participation in an exhibition at the Center for Architecture to open May 2025–September 2025
• A stipend towards the exhibition installation
• Participation in a symposium to discuss their practice at the Center for Architecture
• An individual lecture at a local showroom (location to be announced)
• Media exposure through AIANY digital communications and social media