Selections from the 2025–2026 Design Excellence Nominees

August 27, 2026

For the inaugural issue of The Plot, a review committee curated a selection of highlights from the nominees of the 2025-2026 Design Excellence awards. These projects represent just a few of the exemplary design works and research projects from our student body from the past academic year.

Physical model of housing development with skylights and chiseled angles

Cross section of a residence in a forest

^{Aran Culhane — Advanced Studio, David Heymann}

Rendering of a courtyard for a community center in Mexico

^{Caroline Shifflett, Mia Witherspoon — Advanced Studio, Benjamin Ibarra-Sevilla}

Rendering of luminous glass building on the Gowanus canal

^{Zubia Azhar — Advanced Studio, Dean Almy}

^{Praniti Bhoir, Anushka Deshpande, Shannon Lee — Advanced Studio, Liang Wang}

^{Joseph Doyague, Annika Ostrom — Integrative Studio, Matt Zubia Azhar — Advanced Studio, Dean Almy}

Section drawing of a building on a slope with a W-shaped roof structure

^{Roxana Cuadrado Levis — Design V, Dean Almy}

Isometric drawing of a large-scale workspace

^{Reyna Valencia — Advanced Studio, Hans Tursack}

^{Above: Justin Gill, Caden Rivers — Integrative Studio, Martin Haettasch}

Diagram of landscape elements such as paths and programming in a meadow

^{Skylar Brown — Advanced Studio, Phoebe Lickwar}

Oblique section drawing from the middle of the building offering high and low perspectives with blue tones

^{Roxana Cuadrado Levis, Cassidy Wong — Design VI, Kyriakos Kyriakou}

Interior rendering with light pouring through vertically slatted windows

^{Carly Halpern — Design V - Interiors, Ria Bravo}

Diagram of a mechanical structure that expands and contracts through inflation

^{Noah Guth — Advanced Studio, Nanako Umemoto and Bill Gargroetzi}

Rendering of an exterior landscape with printed clay walls

^{Cherry Chu — Design V, Danelle Briscoe}

^{Summer Aberle — Advanced Studio, Burton Baldridge, Jacob Dasuta, and Drew McMillian}

Rendering of an interior with textured wall panels in multicolored modules

^{Taylor Edwards, Elizabeth Gediman — ID Core I, Igor Siddiqui}

Selections from the 2025–2026 Design Excellence Nominees

Read more from The Plot no.01 →

Q&A with Professor Kory Bieg

Luis Rodriguez (M.Arch) earns Honorable Mention in 2026 ACSA Concrete Masonry Competition

Michael Garrison and Larry Speck Still Find Joy and Responsibility in Architecture

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Selections from the 2025–2026 Design Excellence Nominees

Read more from The Plot no.01 →

Q&A with Professor Kory Bieg

Luis Rodriguez (M.Arch) earns Honorable Mention in 2026 ACSA Concrete Masonry Competition

Michael Garrison and Larry Speck Still Find Joy and Responsibility in Architecture