Pritzker Architecture Prize-winner and Lacaton & Vassal co-founder Anne Lacaton and writer Suad Amiry have been announced as the recipients of the 2025 W Awards, formerly known as the Women in Architecture awards.

Presented in partnership with both The Architectural Review and The Architects’ Journal, the W Awards are presented annually as a celebration of talent and ambition, of leadership and outstanding architecture.

The Jane Drew Prize for Architecture 2025, which honors an architect who has elevated the status of women in architecture through their work and dedication to design quality, has been given to architect Anne Lacaton.

Suad Amiry has been awarded with the Ada Louise Huxtable Prize for Contribution to Architecture 2025, which honors people from disciplines that overlap and are related to architecture and who have made a substantial impact on architecture and the built environment.

Anne Lacaton. Image © Philippe Ruault

Architect Anne Lacaton has been awarded the Jane Drew Prize for Architecture 2025. 

Lacaton, who co-founded the French firm Lacaton & Vassal with Jean-Philippe Vassal, has played a significant role in defining what it means to build responsibly in the twenty-first century. 

Lacaton and Vassal, who frequently defy expectations, are well-known for their minimalist restoration of Paris's Palais de Tokyo and for enclosing existing housing stock in winter gardens, which softly extends residences while improving their thermal efficiency.

Palais de Tokyo by Lacaton & Vassal. Image © Philippe Ruault

"Far from pretensions to stardom, Anne Lacaton’s practice is considered and audacious, with a clarity of purpose that must be celebrated. With Jean-Philippe Vassal, she places residents and users at the centre, and designs buildings that are both frugal and generous," said Manon Mollard, Editor of The Architectural Review.

"Their denunciation of demolition as madness, and advocacy for reuse and transformation is an urgent message for all architects, clients and politicians," Mollard added.

Suad Amiry. Image courtesy of Columbia GSAPP/Wikimedia Commons

Suad Amiry has been awarded the Ada Louise Huxtable Prize for Contribution to Architecture 2025. Amiry is the founder of Riwaq, a Palestinian organization dedicated to the conservation and repurposing of old structures.

Amiry is a prolific novelist who leads Riwaq's conservation efforts. She has written award-winning works like Sharon and My Mother-in-Law (2003) and, most recently, Mother of Strangers (2022).

"In light of continuing and increasing violence and destruction in Palestine, Suad Amiry’s commitment to the restoration and reuse of historical Palestinian structures is vital. Amiry’s varied practice, combining both advocacy and writing, teaches spatial practitioners to imagine a world beyond the rubble," said Eleanor Beaumont, Deputy Editor at The Architectural Review.

Designing Motherhood on display at Stockholm’s ArkDes. Image courtesy of ArkDes

The Designing Motherhood initiative is the recipient of this year's Prize for Research in Gender and Architecture. The study project was started in 2017 by US design historians Michelle Millar Fisher and Amber Winick after they saw a lack of literature, exhibitions, and schools on design for the arc of human reproduction. 

Today, it includes a book published by MIT Press in 2021, a popular Instagram account, a traveling exhibition that is currently in its fourth and fifth iterations at the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft and ArkDes in Stockholm, Sweden (curated with Juliana Rowen Barton and Zoë Greggs), and a number of local collaborations with activists, policymakers, and maternal and infant health experts.

"Designing Motherhood is a multifaceted research project into the rich and largely unexplored design histories of human reproduction. By incorporating a multiplicity of voices, it reveals deep biopolitical stories of the buildings, objects and materials that have been used to control as well as emancipate birthing people and their bodies," said Kristina Rapacki, Senior Editor at The Architectural Review.

Faith Museum by Jacqueline Stephen, Níall McLaughlin Architects. Image © Nick Kane

In addition to the prizes above, The Architectural Review and The Architects’ Journal have announced shortlists for the MJ Long Prize for Excellence in Practice and Moira Gemmill Prize for Emerging Architecture. 

The MJ Long Prize shortlist comprises:

Rachel Elliott of Lynch Architects, for Westminster Coroner’s Court in London

Rebecca Kalbfell of HAT Projects, for Sunspot in Jaywick Sands

Mathilda Lewis of dMFK Architects, for Voysey House in Chiswick

Jacqueline Stephen of Níall McLaughlin Architects, for the Faith Museum in Bishop Auckland

Ana Maria Gutiérrez, Organizmo. Image © Felipe Cotero

The Moira Gemmill Prize shortlist comprises:

- Marialuisa Borja of Al Borde based in Ecuador

- Ana Maria Gutiérrez of Organizmo based in Colombia

- Ashleigh Killa of The MAAK based in South Africa

- Sara Alissa and Nojoud Alsudairi of Syn Architects based in Saudi Arabia

The W Awards, formerly known as Women in Architecture, carry on the work that the AR and AJ have done so far, which is to increase the visibility of women and non-binary individuals in architecture globally and to inspire change as a unified voice of this global appeal for equality, diversity, and respect.

In 2023, Kazuyo Sejima and Phyllis Lambert won W Awards. In 2022, Swati Janu Of Social Design Collaborative and Fiona Monkman Of Islington Architects won W Awards. 

Top image in the article: Anne Lacaton (© Philippe Ruault), Suad Amiry (courtesy of Columbia GSAPP/Wikimedia Commons).

> via The Architectural Review and The Architects’ Journal

Anne Lacaton Suad Amiry