Museum of Modern Art Launches New Architecture Award

While the dollar amount of the new Ambasz-MoMA Annual Prize doubles both the Pritzker Architecture Prize and the Cornelia Hahn Oberlander Prize, and matches that of the Richard H. Driehaus Prize, the $200,000 will be evenly split between the architect(s) who designed “a pathbreaking architectural project completed in the last 30 years” and “$100,000 going to a not-for-profit organization to plant trees in honor of the project client’s name.” Regardless, the new prize can boast of being the highest amount given for a single project in the domain of architecture, given how the Pritzker, Oberlander, and Driehaus awards focus on an architect's wider portfolio.

Money aside, the Ambasz-MoMA Annual Prize is somewhat unique given its focus on what it describes as “nature-reconciled architecture”—what could also be called green architecture, ecological architecture, sustainable architecture, biophilic architecture, etc.—and the wide, 30-year net it encompasses. While yesterday's announcement does not explicitly define “nature-reconciled architecture,” it does indicate that contending projects must align “with the core principles of the Ambasz Institute [for the Joint Study of the Built and the Natural Environment],” which was established in 2020 by an earlier gift from the Legacy Emilio Ambasz Foundation. The mission of the Ambasz Institute is “to promote the exploration and study of creative approaches to design at all scales of the built environment—buildings, cities, landscapes, and objects—with an emphasis on understanding their joint relationship to the natural environment.” As such, the winner of the inaugural prize, set to be announced toward the end of 2026, could be a landscape, an urban district, a piece of furniture, or something else designed, not necessarily a building.

How exactly will the prize work? The winner will be determined by a three-person jury composed of Martino Stierli, MoMA’s Philip Johnson Chief Curator of Architecture and Design, Evangelos Kotsioris, Director of the Ambasz Institute, and one of two “esteemed external experts who will rotate every two to three years.” The prize will follow a “research-driven, nomination-based process” in which an initial pool of 20–30 projects will be generated by a “global network of invited advisors and Institute research,” and then “evaluated through a multistage review.” In addition to aligning with the core principles of the Ambasz Institute, the finalists also must “actively contribute to their environments by restoring ecological balance, reinforcing local contexts, and advancing regenerative relationships with natural systems.”

On top of the Ambasz-MoMA Annual Prize, the gift from Emilio Ambasz's foundation will enable a new lecture series, titled "Architecture as Poetry," will be organized by MoMA’s Department of Architecture and Design but will not commence until spring 2028.