Currently open for entries up until July 24, Architizer’s Vision Awards program was developed on an easy conviction: that a design idea is frequently most alive not in the completed building, however in the sketch, the model, the making, the movie. The minutes before concrete is poured, before glass is glazed, before the scaffolding comes down– that is where imagination lives. And this fall, we’re celebrating that conviction in the very best possible way: by bringing one of its greatest champions to Paris.
On October 20, distinguished designer and visionary Thomas Heatherwick will take the phase at Release AEC for a keynote talk and live Q&A, as the focal point of Architizer’s inaugural Vision Awards event. At a minute when the occupation is grappling seriously with what it indicates to develop for people– particularly individuals who actually live and move through the areas we make– the Humanise project has given that discussion a name and a sense of seriousness.
The place for Release [AEC] this year is the Cité des Sciences et de l’Industrie in Paris’ verdant Parc de la Villette
Equally pertinent is how the studio enacts that viewpoint in practice: model-making at the center of the process, tactile and material thinking as a type of query, and an authentic openness to AI and brand-new technologies not as replacements for human-centered design, but as tools to extend it. Coal Drops Yard, Little Island, the UK Pavilion at Shanghai World Exposition, the cauldron for the London 2012 Olympics– the work promotes itself. That mix of craft and curiosity, conviction and experimentation, is precisely the spirit the Vision Awards exists to commemorate.
The Vision Awards celebration provides a rare chance to hear the thinking behind that work, and to put your questions straight to among the most distinctive designers practicing today. To be in with a possibility of rubbing shoulders with Thomas Heatherwick and other visionary leaders throughout the AEC industry this fall, submit your best work for the program today:
Start Vision Award Entry
A Full Day of Celebration
UK Pavilion by Heatherwick Studio, Shanghai, China The night keynote is just the heading. October 20 at Release AEC is forming up to be among the most exciting days on the architecture calendar– and Architizer will be at the center of it.
Throughout the day, we’ll be hosting an intimate hair salon within the location, where choose Vision Awards Winners will join our Managing Editor, Hannah Feniak, for honest discussions about their work, their procedure, and what it indicates to make architecture that moves people. Together with the salon, a curated exhibition of Vision Awards Winners’ work will be on screen, showcasing a few of the most striking architectural images of the year.
After Thomas Heatherwick’s keynote and Q&A, we’ll top the night with a Vision Awards event and cocktail reception. Champagne, architecture, terrific business– in Paris, during design week.
Register for Release AEC
A Maker First– and Why That Matters Now
Azabudai Hills by Heatherwick Studio, Tokyo, Japan At Heatherwick Studio’s Kings Cross workshop, physical prototypes sit at the heart of how concepts evolve– building and testing things checks out kind, scale and possibility in manner ins which evaluates simply can not replicate. The studio is so committed to hands-on making that it co-developed the UK’s very first Design Maker Apprenticeship Standard along with Foster + Partners– a degree-level program dedicated to nurturing the next generation of architectural makers.
That craft-centered foundation shapes everything the studio does, including how it approaches digital tools and AI. Instead of dealing with new technologies as a replacement for material thinking, Heatherwick Studio uses them to extend it, placing the visionary practice at the frontier of official creation without ever losing its dedication to the felt, human experience of space.
This is the conviction that led Heatherwick to launch their radical Humanise movement in 2023: a ten-year worldwide campaign calling for an end to boring, soulless buildings and making the case that the developed environment has a measurable effect on public health and wellness. (The majority of readers will be familiar with the book, but the scale of the project extends well beyond the publication.)
Release AEC is developed around digital development and AI in the AEC industry– and Heatherwick’s existence asks an intriguing concern: what is all this technology in fact for?
How to Be Part of It
Maggie’s Leeds by Heatherwick Studio, Xi’An, China
October 20 in Paris is not just any day. It coincides with Paris+ par Art Basel and Style Miami/ Paris, making it among the most focused moments for art, design, and architecture throughout the world. If you are preparing to be in Paris for design week– or have been looking for a reason to go– this is it.
Vision Awards Winners and Honorees will be at the heart of the event, displayed on the day and celebrated on stage in the evening. If you are part of an architecture company, rendering or photography studio, or style practice that imagines architecture in innovative methods, your work should have to be because space.
If you haven’t gone into the Vision Awards yet, there’s no much better moment. Entrants whose work is chosen will have the possibility to exhibit their work and sign up with Hannah Feniak in the beauty salon for a conversation in front of an audience of peers, on one of the greatest days in the design calendar.
Start and finish your submissions before July 24, 2026 to be in the running for global recognition and your moment in Paris:
Start Vision Award Entry
Included image: Little Island by Heatherwick Studio, New York City, New York