To inspire your entries to our new Dezeen Awards Regional Showcases, our editors select their favourite US architecture projects from previous shortlisted submissions.
This year, every project entered into Dezeen Awards can also be entered into our Regional Showcases, three Top 50 lists chosen by our editors that will celebrate the best projects in three regions: Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), Asia Pacific (APAC) and the Americas (AMER).
Have you got a project to enter into our Top 50: Americas list? Find out more about our Regional Showcases here and read on for previous standout examples of US architecture projects that have been shortlisted in past editions of Dezeen Awards.
Photo by Jean Sherrard
Overlook Walk by Field Operations
Landscape studio Field Operations designed a one-and-a-half acre elevated park in Seattle as part of a wider initiative to restore the city’s waterfront.
Built on top of a route that restores the historic link between Pike Place Market and the waterfront, pedestrians can enjoy expansive views of the adjacent harbour, Mount Rainier and the Olympic Mountains.
Find out more about Overlook Walk by Field Operations ›
Photo by James Florio
Tekαkαpimək Contact Station by Saunders Architecture
This mountain top, timber-clad visitor centre in northern Maine is fully off-grid and celebrates the region’s Indigenous peoples.
Norwegian studio Saunders Architecture designed the cantilevered Tekαkαpimək Contact Station, in collaboration with representatives of the Wabanaki Nations.
Visitors to the station can learn the area’s geography and Wabanaki culture and traditions as well as take in the sweeping vista across the forested landscape.
Find out more about Tekαkαpimək Contact Station by Saunders Architecture ›
Photo by Ema Peter
Portland International Airport by ZGF Architects
ZGF Architects‘ expansion of the main terminal at Portland International Airport in Oregon is designed to evoke a walk in the forest.
Passengers can find their transit canopied by a giant nine-acre undulating mass-timber roof – sourced within a 300-mile radius of the airport. During construction, in order to keep the airport operational, the studio prefabricated the roof on-site at a separate area on the property.
Find out more about Portland International Airport by ZGF Architects ›
Photo by Nick Hubbard
The Land Bridge & Prairie at Memorial Park by Nelson Byrd Woltz
This verdant land bridge outside downtown Houston designed by Nelson Bryd Woltz impressively covers a six-lane highway, hailed as “the triumph of green over grey”.
The bridge not only covered the busy roads but expanded the park by two acres, allowing for additional community space, as well as allowing for the reintroduction of endangered native species and wetlands.
Find out more about The Land Bridge & Prairie at Memorial Park by Nelson Byrd Woltz ›
Photo by Iwan Baan
The cave-like atrium of the Gilder Center at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, designed by Studio Gang, is intended to encourage exploration and amplify the museum’s intellectual impact.
The studio focussed on making the building more connected, focussing on its cavernous interior as the foremost element, which then in turn informed the external structure.
Photo by Jason Roehner
Telescope House by Wendell Burnette Architects
Located a two hour drive north of Phoenix is this home nestled in the high-desert town of Sedona, Arizona.
Local studio Wendell Burnette Architects designed the cabin to “recede into the landscape as a dark shadow” within its officially designated Dark Sky community surroundings.
By day, the stepped fireproof corten steel cladding echoes the warm red hues of the surrounding rock formations, while the interior features recycled dark wood panels.
Find out more about Telescope House by Wendell Burnette Architects ›
Photo by Marco Anelli
Robert Olnick Pavilion by MQ Architecture
Square windows and skylights allow natural light to permeate the concrete facade of this sleek concrete monolithic museum partially sunken in a sloping hillside, in Cold Spring, New York.
Spanish architects Alberto Campo Baeza and Miguel Quismondo collaborated to create the Robert Olnick Pavilion for the Magazzino Italian Art, which is dedicated to promoting Italian art and design in the United States.
With windows placed in each corner of the “perfect cube” exhibition space, a sundial effect is created when light from outside enters.
Find out more about Robert Olnick Pavilion by MQ Architecture ›
Photo by Iwan Baan
Google Bay View by Heatherwick Studio and BIG
Sweeping tent-like “dragonscale” roofs made of inward curving panels fitted with solar panels feature in Google’s Silicon Valley campus in Mountain View, California.
Designed by BIG and Heatherwick Studio, the structure is clad with a combined 50,000 silver solar panels across the 102-thousand-square-metre site which generates around 40 per cent of its total energy needs.
Find out more about Google Bay View by Heatherwick Studio and BIG ›
Photo by Aaron Leitz
This unique home office in Carnation, Washington designed by Olson Kundig Architects, is mounted on a railway track.
Based on the design of the “traditional caboose”, the two-storey studio clad in weathering steel can either be a “nested” addition to the client’s home, or move away to become an independent structure.
Find out more about Maxon Studio by Olson Kundig ›
Enter by 25 March!
Have you completed a similar project? Log in or create an account via our entry platform to begin your entries. Take advantage of our discounted early entry fees and submit your projects by 23:59 London time on 25 March to save 20 per cent.
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Dezeen Awards 2026 in partnership with Trimble
Dezeen Awards is the ultimate accolade for architects and designers worldwide. The ninth edition of the annual awards is in partnership with global technology company Trimble. Through connected hardware and software solutions, Trimble helps designers to transform the way they shape spaces and buildings as well as drive productivity in the process. Trimble’s collaboration with Dezeen Awards demonstrates its ongoing commitment to inspiring and supporting creative excellence across the globe.