AIA Delaware Design Awards Program winners announced

AIA Delaware announces the winners in its 2022 Design Awards Program, a biennial program that recognizes excellence in architectural design by licensed architects and honors the clients and project teams who work with them to create and enhance the built environment.

A five-member jury comprising architects from AIA Chesapeake Bay selected the projects to be recognized under the program. 

“The program’s winning projects include a public restroom, residences, a reimagined structure designed in support of a corporate culture and more, illustrating a wide range of typologies and varied approaches to design,” said jury Chair Barton Ross, AIA, AICP, LEED AP BD+C, Barton Ross & Partners, LLC Architects. “We congratulate each of the project winners on their originality and insight in their design resolutions.”

Each project was evaluated individually, not in comparison with any other, regardless of scope, size, scale, budget, style or building type. The jury was asked to evaluate how well each project met its own unique program, needs and challenges while also considering design excellence, aesthetic quality of the built form, relationship to surroundings, and how the design met one or more of the AIA Framework for Design Excellence principles.

The jury selected the following local projects to be recognized:

Award with Honor and Sustainable Citation: Botanic Bathrooms, Dagsboro; Architect: SEA Studio Architects

. Just a few miles inland from the Southern Delaware beaches, an oasis of tranquility and beauty has been steadily cultivated at the Delaware Botanic Gardens at Pepper Creek. With a focus on native plants, community involvement and environmental stewardship, the DBG team has established an environment that offers an innovative take on the botanical garden experience. These principles now extend to their recently completed restroom facilities. Situated gently at the threshold between the Meadow Garden and the Woodlands, the building combines contemporary forms and a thoughtful material palette in a structure that both enhances the landscape and serves its function as a fully accessible restroom. Undoubtedly, the bathrooms at the DBG are truly part of the unique garden experience.


Award with Honor: 110 4th St., Bethany Beach; Architect: SEA Studio Architects

Award with Merit: Lakefront Home, Rehoboth Beach; Architect: Wiedemann Architects LLC

Award: Pilot Point, Lewes; Architect: SEA Studio Architects


For more information and to see the award-winning projects, go to aiadelaware.org.