2025 Excellence in Design Awards

2025 Excellence in Design Awards Submissions are now open!

Submission window is from June 4, 2025 through July 16, 2025. Below is a listing of the many award winning projects of our 2024 Awards.

REVIEW SUBMISSION CRITERIA AND SUBMIT YOUR DESIGNS HERE

2024 Excellence in Design Awards Winners

Good Design is Good Business Award

To be considered for this award, the project shall utilize Good Design to achieve strategic business objectives. This award is intended to recognize projects in which design excellence elevated the resulting benefit of a project to the business, institution, or community, which it serves. We are proud to award the 2020 Good Design is Good Business Award to:

Trolley Line Coffee

RLPS Architects

Jury Comments, also awarded a Citation Award

Good Design is Good Business Comments: Merit Award Comments:

To me, it is obvious that the client’s desire to honor a building’s past was such a strong program element. Having a clear direction allowed the architect to make the most of the opportunity.
A great example of the value in reusing “old’ buildings. This coffee shop benefits greatly from the ‘old soul’ of the building’s history.

Member’s Choice Award

George Spangler Farmstead

Warehaus

Jury Comments, also awarded a Merit Award

What a wonderful place! I always love to see places like this receive the care they deserve so they can be enjoyed and interpreted by future generations.
Really well done. Its clear that this architect has a comprehensive understanding of preservation, and the good judgement to wield a light touch whenever possible.

Honor Awards

Gardner, Russo & Quinn

Tippetts Weaver | Honor Award

Jury Comments –

The entry’s description of the project’s ‘elegant simplicity’ is an apt summation. Design restraint can be truly powerful when so judiciously utilized.
The architects took a nice old building and made it shine. This is an office environment where anyone would be happy to spend their workday.

Merit Awards

Forum Building

Murphy & Dittenhafer Architects | Merit Award

Jury Comments –

A wonderfully blend of preservation and forward-looking design.
I really like the interplay of respecting the building’s traditional design while allowing glimpses of structural elements in the open office spaces. They remind one of the scale of the building.
A testament to the longevity and adaptability of a well designed building.

Strawberry Square ClockBox Lounge & Stage

Chris Dawson Architect | Merit Award.

Jury Comments –

What a powerful ‘small’ project! This goes to show that the size of a project doesn’t have to reduce it’s impact.
An inventive reimagining of a ‘public square’..

Citation Awards

Beaver Run Elementary School

Hord Coplan Macht | Citation Award

Jury Comments –

Interior courtyards are often a missed opportunity, but Beaver Run’s thoughtfully planned solution makes the most of the space.
The exterior successfully evokes an ‘eastern shore agrarian’ aesthetic while introducing modern elements in a complimentary way.

Mountain Lake Cabin for a Glass Collector

McKissick Architecture | Citation Award

Jury Comments –

This reminds me of a college studio assignment, in the best way possible. Placing the owner’s glass collection in the center of the home is ideal.
The carefully curated views to the exterior from each room is really successful.

Center for Community Engagement

Murphy & Dittenhafer Architects | Citation Award

Jury Comments –

A fine example of how an historic building benefits from the hand of an architect whom understands the Secretary of Interior Standards, and how to implement them properly.
This project should be a guide to communities looking for reasons to save their historic buildings.

Highland Retreat

TONO Group | Citation Award

Jury Comments –

Thoughtful placement of the retreat’s buildings among the farmland is key to the success of the design.
I like the arrangement of the separate buildings to take advantage of the site’s differing viewscapes.
I hope this gets built, and I really hope I see it on AirBNB!

Bischoff Inn

Warehaus | Citation Award

Jury Comments –

The design team’s choices of where to add new elements and where to let the original elements shine really add to the project’s success.
This looks like a place where I’d like to stay, to enjoy the great design and restoration work.