National University Hospital Singapore, Gensler

Unbuilt Award

The AIA Chicago Unbuilt Award honors unbuilt projects that thoughtfully address social, cultural, environmental, and technological opportunities and challenges. This award seeks to recognize the profound value embedded in the creative process, promote critical dialogue and idea generation within the design community, and celebrate innovation, intention, and conceptual rigor in projects not yet realized.

Having been last conferred in 2018, this award is back in 2025 to celebrate projects that were creatively conceived between 2020 and 2025.

Award Information

Submissions open: Closed for 2026, Returning in 2027

Submissions close: Closed for 2026, Returning in 2027

Submission Fee:
AIA Members with 11+ employees: $225
AIA Members with 10 or fewer employees: $180 (20% fee reduction)

Submit

Open to all AIA Chicago members and firms, except student members.
Projects must have been completed between 2020 and 2025.
Projects that are not scheduled for construction at the time of submission. Projects under construction or otherwise apparently assured of construction are ineligible.
May be theoretical or commissioned, as long as they remain unbuilt.
Projects may be located anywhere in the world or designed for any location.
Submitted projects that are later constructed may not be submitted to the Design Excellence Awards (DEA) or other AIA Chicago award programs in the future.

Narrative Content:

Written narratives addressing the:

Project Narrative & Goals.
Design Justification.
Linkage to Visual Materials: explain how the images in the portfolio connect to the project's purpose, process, and intent.

Visual Portfolio:

Submit a single PDF file (max 10 MB or 10 pages in length) containing up to 10 images with NO IDENTIFYING INFORMATION. Each image should be on its own page; collaged slides are allowed but may be harder for the jury to review digitally. Images should contextualize the project within its environment, showcasing its design process and conceptual development while telling the story of how it creatively addresses social, cultural, environmental, and technological opportunities and challenges. Each image must include a title (10 words or less) and a caption (50 words or less) in Helvetica or Arial, size 11 or 12. Submissions should include images and drawings that primarily:

Locate the project in context.
Demonstrate evidence of design process and conceptual development.
Tell the project’s story: how does the project address social, cultural, environmental, and technological opportunities and challenges through its creativity and design?

Recommended content includes (but is not limited to):

Site Plan
Situating Plan
Section Drawings
Sketches
Renderings
Diagrams or Graphics
Site Analysis
Demographic Studies (as applicable)

The 2025 AIA Chicago Honors & Awards Committee, led by Peter Wojtowicz, AIA, with members Lori Day, AIA, Eve Fineman, Assoc. AIA, and Cesar Santoy, AIA. assembled juries from a pool of qualified candidates that are AIA members from outside the Chicagoland area. Jurors will evaluate projects anonymously without access to the firm name, relying solely on Round 1 submitted materials. See juror profiles below.

Submissions will be judged based on creativity, clarity of intent, and alignment with the award’s values.
Projects will be evaluated for how effectively they address:
- Social, cultural, and environmental relevance
- Conceptual innovation
- Design process and development
- Contextual awareness

Note: No need to disclose the use of specific tools or technologies (e.g., AI) in your submission. AI is one of many tools used by architects, so its use will not be treated in isolation. Instead, the focus should remain on design thinking, process, and intent—not the software or toolset used.

Award Categories

Unbuilt Honor Award (one per cycle)
Unbuilt Citation(s) of Merit (as the jury sees fit to award)

Award level(s) and quantity will be determined at the discretion of the jury.

2025 Jury

Jose Alvarez, FAIA, LEED AP
INFORM studio
Detroit, Michigan

Patricia Rhee, FAIA, DBIA
EskewDumezRipple
New Orleans, Louisiana

Damian Hines, AIA
HINESAD
Houston, Texas

Arthur Chang, AIA
NADAAA, Inc.
Boston, Massachusetts

Julie Hui-Guang Kaufman, AIA, LEED AP BD+C
BIG
New York, New York

Jury Chair
Francisco Javier Rodríguez-Suárez, FAIA
Director, School of Architecture, Clayton T. Miers Professor in Architecture
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

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