We are delighted to announce the winners of the 2021 Residential Design Architecture Awards. RDAA exceeded expectations in this extraordinary year of pandemic challenge and received more than 370 entries in 11 categories of residential design. With such a large pool of entries from the top firms in the country, the competition was formidable, and our judges had some very tough decisions to make in their lengthy deliberation. Ultimately, they selected just 38 projects for awards, including one Project of the Year, 13 Honor awards, and 24 Citation awards.
Some of the winning projects may look familiar to you, and, indeed, some have appeared previously in this magazine or have been awarded in other competitions. Previous publication or award status are not disqualifications for entry. Residential projects completed after January 1, 2016 were eligible. It is always our goal that all good work be considered on its own merits, regardless of media exposure.
Serving on this year’s judges panel were six accomplished architects with special expertise in residential architecture: Allison Ewing, FAIA, Hays+Ewing Design Studio, Charlottesville, Va.; Joseph Tanney, FAIA, Resolution 4: Architecture, New York, N.Y.; Kirsten Ring Murray, FAIA, Olson Kundig, Seattle, Wash.; Geoffrey Warner, FAIA, Alchemy, Saint Paul, Minn.; Allan T. Shulman, FAIA, Shulman+Associates, Miami, Fla.; and David E. Neumann, FAIA, Neumann, Lewis, Buchanan Architects, Washington, D.C.
The jury reviewed projects at their own pace virtually before gathering for an intense, real-time deliberation over Zoom of the strongest entries. It was an exhilarating and exhausting process, yielding a body of nationally important and inspiring residential architecture.
In the year since COVID subsumed everyone’s personal and professional lives, residential architects have demonstrated impressive resilience. They’ve steered their firms from the edge of the precipice last March—when it looked like all work would grind to a halt for a protracted period—and guided them with talent and aplomb through a tremendous rebound. We can’t wait to see what you’ve all created, when you have an opportunity to document your progress.
In the meantime, we showcase the winning work from 2016 through early this year. Even the most recent projects were surely conceived before the world turned upside down, so it still remains to be seen how this shared human experience of the last year may reshape how and where we live. In preparing for the future, it behooves us to scrutinize the past and gird for the uncertain future ahead of us.
Click on each project name to view our expanded online editorial coverage of this competition’s winning projects, or turn to our digital edition to view a facsimile of our print coverage.
Project of the Year
Palm Desert, California
Architect: Aidlin Darling Design
Custom Rural or Vacation House
Honor Award
Boulder, Colorado
Architect: Studio B Architects + Interiors
Citation Award
Cornwall, Connecticut
Architect: Desai Chia Architecture
Citation Award
Queensberry, Central Otago, New Zealand
Architect: Actual Architecture
Citation Award
Campbellsport, Wisconsin
Architect: Johnsen Schmaling Architects
Custom Urban House
Honor Award
Dallas, Texas
Architect: Max Levy Architect
Honor Award
San Francisco, California
Architect: Aidlin Darling Design
Citation Award
Salt Lake City, Utah
Architect: Sparano + Mooney Architecture
Citation Award
Dallas, Texas
Architect: Alterstudio Architecture
Citation Award
Sacramento, California
Architect: Johnsen Schmaling Architects
Custom Period, Contextual, or Vernacular House
Honor Award
Duxbury, Massachusetts
Architect: Hutker Architects
Citation Award
Falmouth, Massachusetts
Architect: Peter Zimmerman Architects
Citation Award
Alexandria, Virginia
Architect: David Jameson Architect
Renovation
Honor Award
Washington, D.C.
Architect: Robert M. Gurney, FAIA, Architect
Citation Award
Silver Spring, Maryland
Architect: KUBE architecture
Citation Award
San Francisco, California
Architect: Fougeron Architecture
Citation Award
Malibu, California
Architect: Brininstool + Lynch
Custom Period, Contextual, or Vernacular Renovation
Honor Award
Arlington, Virginia
Architect: Donald Lococo Architects
Citation Award
Washington, D.C.
Architect: Robert M. Gurney, FAIA, Architect
Citation Award
Charleston, South Carolina
Architect: e e fava architects
Citation Award
Golden Valley, Minnesota
Architect: SALA Architects
Citation Award
Washington, D.C.
Architect: Colleen Healey Architecture
Residential Special Constraints
Honor Award
Seattle, Washington
Architect: Hybrid Architecture
Citation Award
Montgomery, Alabama
Architect: DPZ CoDesign
Architectural Interiors
Honor Award
Texas Hill Country
Architect: Clayton Korte
Honor Award
Charlottesville, Virginia
Architect: Bushman Dreyfus Architects
Citation Award
San Francisco, California
Architect: building Lab, inc
Citation Award
Washington, D.C.
Architect: Colleen Healey Architecture
Custom Accessory Dwelling or Outbuilding
Citation Award
Washington, Connecticut
Architect: Haver & Skolnick Architects
Citation Award
Vancouver, British Columbia
Architect: Campos Studio
Citation Award
Denton, Texas
Architect: M Gooden Design
Architectural Details
Honor Award
Sagaponack, New York
Architect: Bates Masi + Architects
Citation Award
Shreveport, Louisiana
Architect: Robert M. Cain Architect
Citation Award
Washington, D.C.
Architect: McInturff Architects
Custom Outdoor Living Design
Honor Award
Atherton, California
Architect: Feldman Architecture
Honor Award
Costa Azul, San Jose Del Cabo, Mexico
Architect: Campos Studio
Custom On the Boards
Honor Award
Yucca Valley, California
Architect: Edward Ogosta Architecture
Citation Award
Saginaw County, Michigan
Architect: DPZ CoDesign