The AAI Awards seeks to recognise the best of Irish architecture produced during a single calendar year, whilst providing a forum for the critique of contemporary work. The role of transparency and debate is also key, and the AAI Awards is the only such scheme in Ireland to make public jury members’ comments and conversations.
Entries are judged by a panel of five assessors: an architectural critic, a foreign architect, two Irish architects, and a distinguished non-architect. Projects eligible for submission must have been undertaken by architects working in Ireland or by Irish architects working abroad. Both built and unbuilt work may be considered suitable for assessment.
The jury may allot a project one of three strands of acclamation: a Special Mention, an Award, and the Downes Medal. Entries are not divided by category and are assessed individually according to the quality of work presented. A maximum of seven Awards and an indefinite number of Special Mentions may be bestowed. The Downes Medal is the AAI’s highest honour and is awarded to projects of outstanding architectural merit. There is no provision to confer the Downes Medal on an annual basis and it is only granted at the discretion of the jury.
Irish Architecture is a publication which details each of the year’s selected projects, presented through text, drawing, and photography, alongside the respective discussions had by the chosen panel of assessors. We hope the content of the work published, along with the transcript of the AAI’s Annual Critic’s Lecture, will act as both a reflective critique of contemporary architectural culture in Ireland and as a historical record of days, in the future, past.
AAI Awards 2024
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