Projects Spotlight Local Innovations and Global Visions for the Built Environment

Architizer, the largest online platform for architecture, announces the 2025 A+Awards shortlist, honoring the year’s best buildings and spaces from around the world. With a focus on local and global innovation, the 2025 program spotlights architects and designers who are responding to the globalization of the industry in myriad ways. With more than 4,000 entries from over 80 countries, the program’s renowned Jury has selected Finalists in each of the program’s 120+ categories. NPO Aoyama Design Forum (ADF) proudly supports the "A+ Award" as a media partner of Architizer again this year.

Dongmingshan Senyu Hotel by GLA Design
Photo credit: Xi Chen

Dulin Educational and Cultural Center by Project Mingde (The University of Hong Kong)
Photo credit: Jin Weiqi

FW JI· The Rural Memory Museum by IARA
Photo credit: Yi Huang

Across the globe, architects are balancing universal challenges — from climate change to rapid urbanization — with the specifics of local conditions, cultures, and communities. This year’s finalists reflect that mission in full, demonstrating how buildings can be at once globally relevant and deeply rooted in place. Remarkably contextual, yet decidedly innovative, the 618 projects that made the cut impressed the jurors across the evaluation criteria, which include points for form, function, and social and environmental impact.

House on Lake Como by J. MAYER H. und Partner, Architekten
Photo credit: David Franck

MGA | Michael Green Architecture
Photo credit: Bruce Damonte

Library in the Earth by Hiroshi Nakamura & NAP
Photo credit: Koji Fujii / TOREAL

Select 2025 Finalists include:

• Apple The Exchange TRX by Foster + Partners (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)
• Library in the Earth by Hiroshi Nakamura & NAP (Kisarazu, Japan)
• Perth Museum by Mecanoo (Perth, UK)
• Portland Intl Airport Main Terminal Expansion by ZGF Architects (Portland, USA)
• Academia Atlas by Sordo Madaleno (Zapopan, Mexico)
• Duling Educational and Cultural Centre by Project Mingde (Duling, China)
• CA College of the Arts Campus Expansion by Studio Gang (San Francisco, USA)
• Paper Island by Cobe (Copenhagen, Denmark)
• Rwanda Institute for Conservation by MASS Design Group (Gashora, Rwanda)
• Aquifer Recharge Plant – Cape Flats by SALT Architects (Cape Town, South Africa)

See the full list of categories and Finalists here.

QR3D by Park + Associates
Photo credit: Derek Swalwell

School of Davos Platz by CURA Architekten
Photo credit: Daisuke Hirabayashi

Widbey Puzzle Prefab by Wittman Estes
Photo credit: Andrew Pogue

Selecting the shortlisted projects were some of the design industry’s most renowned practitioners and thinkers, such as Philippe Block (ETH Zurich), Kongjian Yu (Turenscape), Evelyn Lee (Practice of Architecture), James Corner (Field Operations), Jha D Amazi (MASS Design Group), Ismael Seleit (Foster + Partners) and more. Other members of the A+Awards prestigious 250+ Jury Academy include luminaries from the fields of art, technology, fashion, media, business, and real estate. See the complete Jury list here.

The Bull @ Zabb e Lee Cooking School by Chiangmai Life Architects
Photo credit: Alberto Cosi

SAP Garden by 3XN
Photo credit: Rasmus_Hjortshoj

U.S. Embassy Guatemala City, Guatemala by The Miller Hull Partnership
Photo credit: Gabe Border

The A+Awards is unique among global architectural awards, with shortlisted projects also judged by the voting public, including design students, enthusiasts, building occupants, and the general public, who vote for their favorite work. In 2024, over 300,000 ballots were cast. Architizer will announce the 2025 A+Awards Winners on June 9th. Winners will be featured in The World's Best Architecture 2026, the year’s definitive architectural guide.

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