A Showcase of Global Creativity
Making the cut as an AZ Awards finalist means standing out to a jury of international experts. This year’s list of 86 projects spans everything from boutique cottages in Muskoka to cutting?edge shading systems in Seattle. Whether it’s a cultural centre in Dalian, a women’s shelter in Toronto or an experimental installation in Saudi Arabia, each finalist reflects a fresh way of seeing and shaping our world.
Innovations in Reuse and Revitalization
Adaptive reuse and urban renewal show up strongly among this year’s contenders. Think Skylab Architecture’s revamped Portland HQ, Atelier Global’s dialogue?driven Commune STORE in rural China, or hcma’s Indigenous?led aquatic centre in New Westminster. They all prove that breathing new life into existing structures can be just as exciting—and sustainable—as building from scratch.
Celebrating Emerging Voices
Alongside the big?name firms, the AZ Awards shine a light on tomorrow’s stars via the inaugural EMERGING categories. Recent grads and student teams tackled everything from land?reclamation studies in Barcelona to supportive housing prototypes in Toronto. The winners will be announced at the gala, and their work will appear in Azure’s July/August 2025 issue—so keep an eye out for tomorrow’s design leaders.
Get Involved and Save the Date
Public voting is now open for the People’s Choice award—so take a moment to back your favourites. All winners (jury and People’s Choice) will be revealed at the AZ Awards gala on Thursday, June 19 in Toronto, celebrating 15 years of the Awards and 40 years of Azure magazine. Whether you’re a design pro or simply passionate about great spaces and objects, this is where creativity meets community.
| Category | Project | Firm(s) | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| Architecture – Adaptive Reuse | Dialogue with Nature — Commune STORE | Atelier Global Limited | Houyuan Village, China |
| Skylab HQ | Skylab Architecture | Portland, OR, U.S. | |
| The Yard | Dalian Cultural Center | Neri&Hu Design and Research Office | Dalian, China | |
| Architecture – Commercial/Institutional Buildings Over 1,000 m² | Academia Atlas | Sordo Madaleno | Zapopan, Jalisco, Mexico |
| Forskaren | 3XN with Urbio AB | Stockholm, Sweden | |
| Sun Tower | OPEN Architecture | Yantai, China | |
| t?m?sew?tx? Aquatic and Community Centre | hcma architecture + design with PFS Studio | New Westminster, BC, Canada | |
| University of Nebraska-Lincoln College of Architecture | NADAAA with HDR | Lincoln, NE, U.S. | |
| Architecture – Commercial/Institutional Buildings Under 1,000 m² | Domino Square Building | Studio Cadena with Field Operations | New York City, U.S. |
| Inuusirvik Community Wellness Hub | Lateral Office and Verne Reimer Architecture | Iqaluit, Nunavut, Canada | |
| Los Milics Vineyard Tasting Room | Chen Suchart Studio | Elgin, AZ, U.S. | |
| Saint Catherine’s Chapel | Audax | Florence, Italy | |
| Tek?k?pim?k Contact Station | Saunders Architecture with Alisberg Parker Architects and Reed Hildebrand | Maine, U.S. | |
| Architecture – Experiential Installations | Djerba Prototype 366 | L.E.FT Architects with Iheb Guermzi and Beya Othmani | Jeddah, KSA |
| Sky Ring | line+studio | Shaoxing, China | |
| Pearl Jam | Good Urban Design (Nicole Nomsa Moyo) | Miami Design District, U.S. | |
| Garden for the Eyes | c+d studio | Shanghai, China | |
| Residential Architecture, Houses | Arbour House | Patkau Architects | Vancouver, Canada |
| House 720 Degrees | Fernanda Canales | Reserva Peñitas, Mexico | |
| El Aleph Guesthouse | MacKay?Lyons Sweetapple Architects | Port L’Hebert, NS, Canada | |
| Lantern House | Leckie Studio Architecture + Design | Vancouver, Canada | |
| Sagamore North Cottage | Akb Architects | Muskoka, ON, Canada | |
| Residential Architecture, Multi?Unit | Ulster House | LGA Architectural Partners | Toronto, Canada |
| Isla Intersections Supportive Housing & Paseo | Lorcan O’Herlihy Architects | Los Angeles, U.S. | |
| PS1200 | Marlon Blackwell Architects with D.I.R.T. studio and Studio Outside | Fort Worth, TX, U.S. | |
| Landscape Architecture | Presidio Tunnel Tops | Field Operations with Magnusson Klemencic Associates and EHDD | San Francisco, U.S. |
| Triangle Park | Stoss Landscape Urbanism | Cambridge, MA, U.S. | |
| Huaiyang Fuxi Cultural Park | Turenscape | Zhoukou, China | |
| Love Park | CCxA with gh3* | Toronto, Canada | |
| Urban Design – Built Developments | START Ivry | STAR strategies + architecture with Bureau of Architecture, Research and Design | Paris, France |
| The Well | Hariri Pontarini Architects with BDP, Adamson Associates Architects, architects alliance, Wallman Architects, CCxA and Urban Strategies | Toronto, Canada | |
| Urban Design – Masterplan Proposals | Arnos Vale Resilient City Masterplan | Stoss with Charles Waldheim Architecture and Skidmore, Owings & Merrill | Saint Vincent and the Grenadines |
| Earls Court Masterplan | Hawkins\Brown, Studio Egret West and SLA | London, UK | |
| Urban Interventions & Infrastructure | Tramdepot Bern | Penzel Valier | Bern, Switzerland |
| Hall Street Pier | The Marc Boutin Architectural Collaborative with Stanley Office of Architecture | Nelson, BC, Canada | |
| Woven Passage to Cloudy Peaks | line+studio | Shaoxing, China | |
| Design – Architectural Products | Amazon HQ2: Butterfly Kinetic Shading System | ZGF Architects with Levolux | Seattle, U.S. |
| Orme | Kast | — | |
| Design – Furniture Systems & Collections | Aurena Collection | Antonio Citterio for Duravit | — |
| Fresh Catch | Lauren Goodman | — | |
| Monterey | Landscape Forms | — | |
| Design – Furniture, Single Piece | Catifa Carta | Arper | — |
| Obi | Ludovica+Roberto Palomba for Expormim | — | |
| Mynt | Erwan Bouroullec for Vitra | — | |
| Fortune Chair | Jumbo for Heller | — | |
| Design – Interior Products | Moments of Wander | Müller Van Tol for HBF Textiles | — |
| Garment Waste Platform Collection | Suzanne Tick for Luum Textiles | — | |
| Arcade | Turf Design | — | |
| Design – Light Fixtures | Outline | Landscape Forms | — |
| Pola Collection | Anony | — | |
| Rificolona | e-ggs for Miniforms | — | |
| Folia Collection | Federico Stefanovich for Ago Projects | — | |
| Experiential Graphic Design | Kobe Port Tower | Motive Inc with COL.architects, VANS Architects and Studio Tanbo | Kobe, Japan |
| Tanuki Noboru Building | Motive Inc with Takenaka Corporation | Sapporo, Japan | |
| Interiors – Health & Wellness | POUTx | Studio Author | Toronto, Canada |
| Clinique Monkland | Atelier Échelle with Table Architecture | Montreal, Canada | |
| Lumea | Reflect Architecture | Toronto, Canada | |
| Interiors – Institutional | Assembled Void – Korean Cultural Center New York Library | Studio Empathy and Praxes | New York, U.S. |
| Bamboo Pavilion | Vermilion Zhou Design Group | Shanghai, China | |
| The Edes | KTGY | Morgan Hill, U.S. | |
| Librairie Avant-Garde | Cloud Ocean Design | Anhui, China | |
| The Arena – Qiantan Cultural Center | Neri&Hu Design and Research Office | Shanghai, China | |
| Interiors – Residential | House on the Park | Superkül + Pencil Design | Toronto, Canada |
| Village House | Studio MK27 | São Paulo, Brazil | |
| Unplanned Domestic Prototype – PROT/USRBL/SE08 | MedinaManzano Architects | San Sebastián, Spain | |
| Brar Residence | Omar Gandhi Architects | Toronto, Canada | |
| Interiors – Retail & Hospitality | Civil Works | Futurestudio | — |
| ANIML Restaurant | Nivek Remas | Toronto, Canada | |
| SIGMA Space | ONOAA STUDIO | Shanghai, China | |
| Tojiro Knife Gallery | Katata Yoshihito Design | Tokyo, Japan | |
| Cult Gaia Miami Flagship | Sugarhouse | Miami, U.S. | |
| Interiors – Workspace | Crane Cove | Obata Noblin Office | San Francisco, U.S. |
| Structured Narrative | Shine-V Interior Design | Nanjing, China | |
| GO HQ | FMA | Morelia, Mexico | |
| Deepmoss Office | Xiamen Fenggu Fashion | Xiamen City, China | |
| A+ Student Award | Land Reclamation – Return to El Prat’s Origins | Eduard Matarredona Gómez (ETSALS – Escola Tècnica Superior d’Arquitectura La Salle – Universitat Ramón Llull – Barcelona) | Barcelona, Spain |
| Bahar Narenj | Mo Bayati and Zhiyuan Zhu (University of Toronto) | Toronto, Canada | |
| tempo? | Mu Qu Jennifer Liu (Carleton University), Natalie Cole Bajet & Nikki Elim Ng (University of Manitoba) | Canada | |
| Concepts – Conceptual Projects, Ideas and Prototypes | Augusta Township CABN Community Development | CABN with B+H | Ontario, Canada |
| DWT Tiny House | DWT Tiny House Team (Washington State University) | Seattle, U.S. | |
| Durham Meadoway Visioning Study | SvN Architects + Planners | Ontario, Canada | |
| Tofino Fish Pier | Leckie Studio Architecture + Design | BC, Canada | |
| Environmental Leadership | t?m?sew?tx? Aquatic and Community Centre | hcma architecture + design | New Westminster, BC, Canada |
| DWT Tiny House | DWT Tiny House Team (Washington State University) | Seattle, U.S. | |
| Social Good | Tek?k?pim?k Contact Station | Saunders Architecture with Alisberg Parker Architects | Maine, U.S. |
| Anduhyaun Women’s Shelter | LGA Architectural Partners | Toronto, Canada |
