Earlier this month, the American Institute of Architects California unveiled the 2026 winners of its highest, project-based annual honor: the AIA California Design Award. In total, 22 projects across the Golden State—and a small handful scattered across the U.S.—were recognized with awards. Per 2026 AIA California president Ginger Thompson, the diverse cohort of 2026 awardees demonstrates “the rigorousness of our membership, the constant leaning forward.” Projects anywhere in the world designed by architects with California licenses were eligible as were projects in California designed by architects with licenses in other states.  

As AIA California points out in its announcement, adaptive reuse, renovation, and historic preservation projects received particular attention this year as did buildings that rethink staid and challenging typologies. Some winning firms won for multiple projects across three levels of recognition: Honor Awards, Merit Award, and Citation. Several of the winners have been profiled by RECORD, including one of the two Honor Award winners, Malibu High School by KoningEizenberg Architecture and NAC Architecture. One of the winners, the (W)rapper office tower by Eric Owen Moss Architects, has received no shortage of public attention since it first opened in Los Angeles on the border of Culver City.

The jurors of the 2026 AIA California Design Award were Allison Williams, principal at AGWms Studio; Brent Linden, principal at Allied Works; David Powell, principal at Hasting Architecture Associates’ Keith Hempel, president and CDO at LPA; and Lisa Switkin, partner at Field Operations.

The full list of 22 winners is below. All are in California unless otherwise noted.

Malibu High School by Koning Eizenberg Architecture and NAC Architecture. Photo © Here and Now Agency

Honor Award

Hangar One | HDR Architecture
Mountain View

Malibu High School | Koning Eizenberg Architecture and NAC Architecture
Malibu

Contemplative Commons at the University of Virginia by Aidlin Darling Design. Photo © Matthew Millman

Merit 

Congregation Emanu-El | Mark Cavagnero Associates
San Francisco

Contemplative Commons at the University of Virginia | Aidlin Darling Design
Charlottesville, Virginia

Santa Monica Vermont Apartments | KoningEizenberg Architecture
Los Angeles

University High School | Leddy Maytum Stacy Architects
San Francisco

University of California, Berkeley — Grimes Engineering Center | SOM
Berkeley

Vineyard Residence | Clayton Korte
Buellton

Barrington 1503 by Lorcan O'Herlihy Architects. Photo © Eric Staudenmaier

Citation 

Barrington 1503 | Lorcan O'Herlihy Architects
Los Angeles

David Rubenstein Treehouse at Harvard University | Studio Gang
Boston 

Glorya Kaufman Community Center at the Wende Museum | AUX Architecture
Culver City

Imperial County Criminal Courthouse | Safdie Rabines Architects
El Centro

Lake Tahoe | Cabin(s) | Ro | Rockett Design
Incline Village, Nevada

Pavilion for Music and Meditation | Aidlin Darling Design
Undisclosed (Northern California)

Pritzker Hall Psychology Tower Modernization, UCLA | CO Architects
Los Angeles

Resnick Sustainability Center at Caltech | Yazdani Studio of CannonDesign
Pasadena

Sierra Valley Preserve | Arkin Tilt Architects
Beckswourth

The Kelsey Civic Center | WRNS Studio
San Francisco

The Sophie Maxwell Building | Leddy Maytum Stacy Architects
San Francisco

(W)rapper | Eric Owen Moss Architects
Culver City