NEW YORK, MARCH 12, 2026 – The American Academy of Arts and Letters announces the five recipients of its 2026 Awards in Architecture, which honor both practicing architects and those who have contributed to the field through other mediums of expression. The 300 members of Arts and Letters nominate candidates for awards, and a rotating committee of architects selects the winners. This year, the members of the architecture award committee were Meejin Yoon (chair), Marlon Blackwell, Elizabeth Diller, Steven Holl, Thom Mayne, Toshiko Mori, Laurie Olin, Annabelle Selldorf, and Nader Tehrani.
Established in 1955, the Arnold W. Brunner Memorial Prize of $20,000 for an architect of any nationality who has made a significant contribution to architecture as an art will be given to the Japanese architect Junya Ishigami.
Hervé Descottes and Ultramoderne (Aaron Forrest and Yasmin Vobis) will receive Arts and Letters Awards of $10,000 each that recognize architects whose work is characterized by a strong personal direction.
Keller Easterling and K. Michael Hays will receive Arts and Letters Awards of $10,000 each that recognize excellence in those who explore ideas in architecture through any medium of expression.
The architecture awards will be presented alongside the art, literature, and music awards at Arts and Letters’s annual Ceremonial in May.
A full list of 2026 architecture award recipients follows.
Arts and Letters
Founded in 1898, the American Academy of Arts and Letters represents the highest standards of artistic achievement in this country, and our community of members are among the leading contemporary architects, visual artists, writers, and composers. Arts and Letters honors creative accomplishment through the election of members, the conferment of awards, and presenting public exhibitions and interdisciplinary programs at our historic buildings in the Washington Heights neighborhood of New York City.
Click here to view the original announcement
Photo: Randy Reid interviews Hervé Descottes in Paris in June of 2025 at the launch of the Targetti Catirpel.