Architect Iwona Buczkowska and and political activist, philosopher and writer Angela Davis have been announced as the recipients of the 2024 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.

Iwona Buczkowska. Image © Patricia Stroud, courtesy of W Awards 2024

Architect Iwona Buczkowska has been awarded the Jane Drew Prize for Architecture 2024. 

The award "recognizes an architectural designer who, through their work and commitment to design excellence, has raised the profile of women in architecture." 

The Polish-French architect designed the largest timber housing complex in France, the Cité Pierre Sémard – a social housing project of 225 units completed in 1992 in Seine-Saint-Denis. Founding her practice Atelier Iwona Buczkowska in 1980, Buczkowska has completed several radical social housing projects and public buildings in France.

"Iwona Buczkowska is both a pioneer of timber construction and a fierce defender of the right to good housing," said Manon Mollard, Editor of The Architectural Review. 

"Rejecting standardisation, she prefers arcs and oblique planes to create intimate and brightly lit homes, and encourages us to think of architecture’s contribution to social ecology. Buczkowska’s buildings need to be preserved, and her ideas celebrated," Mollard added.

Angela Davis. Image © Oregan State University, courtesy of W Awards 2024

Political activist, philosopher and writer Angela Davis has been named as the winner of the Ada Louise Huxtable Prize for Contribution to Architecture 2024.

The award "recognises individuals, from fields adjacent to and that intersect with architecture, who have made a significant contribution to architecture and the built environment." 

Davis is a leader of the movement for abolition of the prison system as well as an important voice in other fields of civil rights activism. Davis’s latest book Abolition: Politics, Practices, Promises, Volume 1 is due to be published by Penguin in March.

"Angela Davis’s activism and leadership is as relevant and pertinent to architecture as it has ever been," said Eleanor Beaumont, Deputy Editor of The Architectural Review. 

"Her work highlights the complicity of architecture as a tool of violence and encourages architects to advocate for spatial justice. Davis continues to speak truth to power, setting an example for architects around the world," Beaumont added.

Jane Drew Prize winner Iwona Buczkowska will be speaking about her life and work at the W Programme Spring Lecture on 14 March 2024 in London. 

In 2023, Pritzker Architecture Prize-winning architect Kazuyo Sejima, co-founder SANAA, was awarded the Jane Drew Prize for Architecture. 

Canadian architect, author, scholar and activist Phyllis Lambert was awarded The 2023 Ada Louise Huxtable Prize. 

Formerly known as Women in Architecture, the W Awards continue to build on the work the AR and the AJ have done to date: continuing to raise the profile of women and non-binary people in architecture worldwide, inspiring change as a united voice of this global call for respect, diversity and equality.

Top image in the article (from left to right): Iwona Buczkowska (© Patricia Stroud), Angela Davis (© Oregan State University).

> via The Architectural Review and The Architects’ Journal

Angela Davis Iwona Buczkowska W Awards