The awards celebration that accompanied the annual Accent on Architecture gala, sponsored by the American Architectural Foundation, brought a powerful trifecta of AIA awards this February: Vince Scully delivered a panegyric honoring the Vietnam Veterans Memorial—Homeric in its linguistic economy, unflinching, moving overall. Edward Larrabee Barnes, who received the Gold Medal posthumously, came vividly to life in the words of Harry Cobb and Toshiko Mori, who described both his wide-ranging contributions to design and to the built environment (think of the Crown Center in Kansas City or the Dallas Museum of Art, in addition to the Haystack Mountain School, in Maine) and his innate personal qualities. The third award came with a sense of urgency.

The AIA Firm of the Year Award recognizes an important shift in the practice of architecture. While in the past, and even today, the individual has made significant contributions to the built environment, the increasing complexity of contemporary society, coupled with growing demands for conversation and collaboration among design professionals, has brought the shared practice into the limelight. We are witnessing both “stars,” who garner the lion’s share of media attention, and “star firms,” who deserve wider appreciation.