The biennial award, established in 2013 by the IIT College of Architecture, honors the best works of architecture completed in North, Central, or South America between June 2022 and December 2023. Previous winners include the Anahuacalli Museum in Mexico City by Taller | Marucio Rocha (2023) and Edificio E, Universidad de Piura in Piura, Peru by Barclay & Crouse Architecture (2018). This year’s winning project will be announced at a May 5 symposium at IIT, and its design team will be recognized with the MCHAP Award, the MCHAP Chair in IIT’s College of Architecture, and $50,000 to fund research and a publication.

The 2025 jury includes Maurice Cox, Chicago’s former planning director; Giovanna Borasi, director and chief curator at the Canadian Centre for Architecture; Gregg Pasquarelli, founding principal of SHoP Architects; Mauricio Rocha, founder of Taller | Mauricio Rocha and 2023 MCHAP winner; and Sofia von Ellrichshausen, founding partner of Pezo von Ellrichshausen and winner of the 2014 Prize for Emerging Practice.

Below are the five finalists, along with a short description of and collective jury statement about each project.

Centro de Investigación Mar de Cortés | Tatiana Bilbao Estudio

Mazatlán, Mexico

A stark composition of violet-tinted concrete, an aquarium is conceived as a “living ruin.”

    Centro de Investigación Mar de Cortés, Mazatlán, Mexico. Photos by Juan Manuel McGrath

“Activating an underutilized park and lagoon of a seaside resort town, a massive series of walls is conceptualized as a discovered ‘ruin’ inhabited by birds, fish, plants, and water. This arrangement sets up a series of beautifully composed one-point-perspective view corridors, replete with dramatic oculi allowing light to frame the water displays. Visitors wander through a non-prescriptive circulation pattern, easily moving between moody indoor spaces, glowing tanks holding aquatic species, and outdoor gardens. The mechanical complexity of such a program is deftly concealed to allow for a fluid and effortless experience. A building driven by the spectacle of a captured nature, it amazes and delights as it connects to the surrounding park landscape and paves the way for an elevated public architecture for the whole city.”

Clínica Veterinaria Guayaquil | Adomo-Faiden

Buenos Aires, Argentina

A disused building from the early 20th century is transformed into an urban veterinary clinic.

Clínica Veterinaria Guayaquil, Buenos Aires, Argentina. Photos by Javier Agustín Rojas

“Despite synthetic decisions and a sharp material palette, this subtraction within a preexisting house is in no way reductive. Rather, the generous volume of air adds to a wide range of readings of the new piece: a serene and ventilated waiting room stimulating interaction; a passage to a hidden plaza that draws the sidewalk into the backyard; a temple-like city lantern radiating at night. It is the ultimate political project, remaking the city one small piece at a time by recycling its structure on a tight plot and taking a normal program and elevating it to improve everyday life for humans and nonhumans alike.”

Ecoparque Bacalar | Colectivo C733

Bacalar, Mexico

An open-air museum showcasing the largest freshwater bacterial reef in the world is created on 700 feet of dock.

Ecoparque Bacalar, Bacalar, Mexico. Photos by Rafael Gamo

“A mangrove, a square and a promenade: a strong idea that transcends its materiality. Rarely does a line materialized into a pasarell do so many things at once. This topography, slightly tilted to give each of its corners a different height and experience, manages to combine a healthy ecosystem with an open-air museum and public space for swimming, walking, and jogging while offering users a perspective on recreation and learning. Paradoxically, this protective perimeter preserves nature while also allowing thousands of people to enjoy a highly fragile yet mostly privatized shoreline, heightening consciousness of this unique endangered ecosystem and becoming part of the signature identity of Bacalar.”

Pumphouse | 5468796 Architecture

Winnipeg

A financially savvy design incorporates materials and technology from industrial boom times to adapt and expand a former pumping station into multifamily housing.

  Pumphouse, Winnipeg. Photo © James Brittain

“The project builds a contemporary way of living within the memory of an industrial archaeology. A series of smart strategies adds new residential use, views, and private and shared spaces in a complex urban plot while maximizing the identity of the abandoned pump house and extending its precise and rigorous material language beyond its original enclosure. The small domestic interiors expand into shared spaces, and circulation animates the block in all directions. These units are elevated making ways for the use of alleys and a series of pockets of communal activities.”

Thaden School | Eskew Dumez Ripple, Marlon Blackwell Architects, and Andropogon Associates

Bentonville, Arkansas

A daring new campus reflects an unorthodox approach to education.

   Thaden School, Bentonville, Arkansas. Photo by Timothy Hursley

“The powerful interpretation of a new academic pedagogical mission of learning while doing is matched by an equally powerful campus steeped in the rural culture of its place. The barn, the porch, and the long and low farm buildings of Arkansas are assembled to create a new type of public space in scale with the surrounding fabric. The design of five academic buildings loosely scattered within a garden successfully creates an environment of constant indoor-outdoor porosity. Students and the public gather and mingle under outward-facing porches and covered passageways that shelter outdoor activities, encouraging movement through spaces with a strong community orientation. Within the comfort of containment, this campus masterfully composed allows for natural flows of people, wildlife, and weather.”