Design Awards

The AIA Houston Design Awards program recognizes design excellence in:

Architecture greater than 50,000 SF
Architecture less than 50,000 SF
Residential architecture
Interior architecture
Restoration/renovation
Divine detail
Urban design
On the boards
Conceptual

Criteria to be used by the jury include quality of design, resolution of the program idea, sustainable responsibility, innovation, thoughtfulness, and technique.

2026 Award Winners

Click on project image to view project.

Champions Golf Club Pavilion

Clarksville Residence

Common Grounds

Deep Transparency

Electrolit U.S. Headquarters

Felecia Residence

House With One Room

Main Street Promenade

The Tree Farm

Tilman J. Fertitta Family College of Medicine

Turkey Bend Warehouse

2026 Jurors

Georg Rafailidis

DAVIDSON RAFAILIDIS

Rafailidis is an Associate Professor at the Knowlton School of Architecture and co-founder (with Stephanie Davidson) of the collective Davidson Rafailidis. Rafailidis has taught internationally at both the undergraduate and graduate levels in numerous institutions in Germany (PBSA Düsseldorf, RWTH Aachen), Greece (UoI), Canada (UofT), and the US (Syracuse University, University at Buffalo). Before teaching, Rafailidis gained experience in the London and Basel offices of Herzog & de Meuron. He studied architecture at the University of Applied Sciences, Munich (D), and the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London (UK) with the support of a German Academic Exchange (DAAD) Scholarship.

Blair Payson, AIA, LEED AP

Principal/Owner, Olson Kundig

Blair Payson is a principal/owner at Olson Kundig, whose office locations include Seattle, New York, and Chicago. He has worked on both architectural and exhibit design projects, including the Century Project at the Space Needle, the Moody Center Complex for Student Life at Rice University, the Bill and Melinda Gates Visitor Center, and [storefront] Olson Kundig, as well as residential and cultural projects across the United States and Mexico. A maker at heart, Blair is an architect who revels in the details, able to distill large, complex projects into distinct culminating moments. His current and recent work spans cultural, residential, urban revitalization and civic projects, including a new museum in Hawaii and the reimagination of Seattle Center’s Armory building. Blair holds a Bachelor of Architecture from Rice University and is the recipient of multiple design awards, as well as a frequent speaker at architectural and design conferences.

Kyle Miller

Associate Dean, Syracuse University School of Architecture

Kyle Miller is Associate Dean and Associate Professor at Syracuse University’s School of Architecture, Co-Founder of Possible Mediums, and Fellow (’19) of MacDowell. His design research has been supported by the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts and Syracuse University, and has been included in the AIA Emerging Professionals Exhibition and shown at the A+D Museum in Los Angeles, Harvard Graduate School of Design, and Yale School of Architecture. In addition to co-authoring Possible Mediums and Building Practice, Miller’s writing has been published in Log, Monu, Constructs, Pidgin, Project, Offramp, PLAT, Room One Thousand, and the Journal for Architectural Education. Miller was Architecture Program Director at Syracuse University in Florence (2016-2018), previously taught at the University of Kentucky College of Design (2009-2013), and worked professionally in Milwaukee, Los Angeles, and for Ben van Berkel and Caroline Bos with UNStudio in Amsterdam. Miller is a graduate of the University of Michigan Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning and the University of California Los Angeles Department of Architecture and Urban Design, where he earned his professional degree and was awarded the AIA Henry Adams Medal and Certificate.