2024 Design Awards

This year, fourteen projects have been recognized for excellence in architectural design by the 2024 Design Awards program of AIA Wisconsin, the state society of The American Institute of Architects (AIA).

All projects were designed by AIA Wisconsin architect members. Out of 52 total entries from architects across the state of Wisconsin, three projects were awarded the Honor Award for overall excellence, and six projects received Merit Awards for distinction in a focused area. Additionally, six projects were given Merit Awards, recognizing exceptional work in a focused area of design, and five projects received Special Recognition Awards for outstanding achievement in specific elements of design such as Brownfield Transformation or Exterior Detailing. Projects could be located anywhere in the world as long as they were submitted by a Wisconsin architect member.

A nationally distinguished jury from outside of Wisconsin selected the award-winning projects. Members of the 2024 Design Awards jury included nationally and internationally recognized architects Margaret Cavenagh, AIA, of Studio Gang in Chicago, Paul Lewis, FAIA, of LTL Architects in New York City, and Corey Squire, AIA, of Bora Architecture & Interior in Portland, Oregon.

AIA Wisconsin has been promoting, supporting, and advocating on behalf of architects in the state of Wisconsin since 1911. The member organization focuses on providing continuing education to architects and designing a better built environment for the future. Each Design Award submission included AIA’s Framework for Design Excellence, which asks questions regarding how the project considered social and environmental issues in its design. Each of this year’s projects were measured not just on aesthetic components, but how the building interacts with people and the natural environment.

Margaret Cavenagh, AIA 

Margaret Cavenagh, AIA, is a Design Principal based in Studio Gang’s Chicago office. Drawing on her expert observations of how people use space, Margaret designs and develops all interior concepts for the Studio’s public, cultural, institutional, office, and residential projects. Ranging widely in scale and typology, her award-winning work holistically extends building concepts into the interior using layered, flexible programs that expand the Studio’s ethos of material exploration at an intimate scale.

Margaret’s recent built work includes the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts, MIRA, Writers Theatre, Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership, and Maisonette. She is currently working on the Spelman College Center for Innovation & the Arts, a new arts and STEM center in Atlanta, GA, focused on interdisciplinary collaboration. Her projects have obtained some of the highest sustainability ratings, including LEED Platinum and Living Building Challenge certifications. Actively engaged in the field, she chaired the jury for the 2022 American Institute of Architect’s COTE Top Ten Awards. She has also served on juries for AIA Design Awards in Wisconsin and Missouri and lectured at the University of Pennsylvania Women in Design Symposium.

Margaret holds a Master of Architecture from Washington University in St. Louis and a Bachelor of Science in Architecture from the University of Virginia (UVA). She is the Chair of the Dean’s Advisory Board at UVA’s School of Architecture and is currently a Lecturer on Professional Practice for the School’s graduate program.

Paul Lewis, FAIA 

Paul Lewis, FAIA, is a Principal at LTL Architects based in New York City and Professor at Princeton University School of Architecture. LTL are the 2019 NY State AIA firm of the year, have received the National Design Award, and were inducted into the ID Hall of Fame. The firm’s recent work includes Poster House, The Helen R. Walton Children’s Enrichment Center, and a new residence hall at Carnegie Mellon University. Their current focus is on the architectural potentials of plant and earth-based materials which is explicated in their recently published book Manual of Biogenic House Sections (2022). LTL Architects are also the authors of Intensities (2013), Opportunistic Architecture (2008) and Situation Normal….Pamphlet Architecture #21 (1998) and Manual of Section (2016) which has been translated into six languages. Paul received a BA from Wesleyan University and a M.Arch from Princeton University, and is a recent past president of The Architectural League of New York.

Corey Squire, AIA

Corey Squire, AIA, is Sustainability Director at Bora Architecture & Interior in Portland Oregon, and a member of the American Institute of Architects’ Strategic Council. He lectures nationally on a range of sustainability-related topics and was a creator of AIA’s Framework and Toolkit, resources that are actively redefining excellence in the built environment. Corey is the author of the recently published book, People, Planet, Design: A Practical Guide to Realizing Architecture’s Potential.