Jeff Harnar Awards
Jeff Harnar Awards Jury Roundtable, Santa Fe, NMSA - April 11, 5:30 p.m. Join on Zoom
Jeff Harnar Awards Ceremony + Lecture, Benjamin Gilmartin, Diller Scofidio + Renfro - April 12, 5:30 p.m. Join on Zoom
2024 Jeff Harnar Awards Now Accepting Submissions
The Jeff Harnar Awards for Architecture are now accepting submissions for the 2024 awards cycle. The Jeff Harnar Awards program was created by Garrett Thornburg in 2007 to honor the memory of architect Jeff Harnar, known for his groundbreaking design in contemporary architecture in New Mexico. The deadline to apply is Monday, March 11, 2024. For 2024 the program includes the following six categories:
- Contemporary Architecture in the Southwest
- Unbuilt Architecture
- Unbuilt Landscape Architecture
- Social Justice in Architecture (Open category – Jury's selection from all submissions)
- Student Architecture
- Student Landscape Architecture
The Jeff Harnar Awards are made possible by the Thornburg Foundation, who has sponsored this program for the past 17 years. The University of New Mexico’s School of Architecture + Planning organizes the competition and determines both the award process and selection of the jury.
The award presentation and celebration will be held on Friday, April 12, 2024 at 5:30 p.m. at the School of Architecture + Planning’s Garcia Honda Auditorium, located in George Pearl Hall at UNM. The award jury includes Jeff Day (University of Nebraska-Lincoln), Gabriel Diaz Montemayor (University of Arkansas), Ben Gilmartin (Diller Scofidio + Renfro), Claudia Meyer Horn (Design Office), Erin Moore (University of Oregon), and Anya Sirota (University of Michigan). Best of Show submissions will be featured in a digital exhibition following the presentation.
For application details and to submit an entry, please visit https://jeffharnaraward.slideroom.com/ and see the "Preview Full Application” link at the bottom of the page.
To see an archive of past winners, please visit: https://jeffharnaraward.com/. Download a PDF description of the categories here. If you have additional questions, please contact Anthony Fettes at aefettes@unm.edu.
2023 Jeff Harnar Award Winners
The University of New Mexico School of Architecture + Planning and the Thornburg Foundation wish to congratulate the winners of the 2023 Jeff Harnar Awards. The ceremony took place at the School of Architecture + Planning’s George Pearl Hall on April 14, 2023, which included a lecture by renowned landscape architect, Ted Flato of Lake Flato Architects.
The top prize, Contemporary Architecture in the Southwest, was awarded to FORMATIVE architecture PC, for their project, USFWS Valle de Oro National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center located in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Stephen Teeters of FORMATIVE architecture PC described how “the refuge balances healthy natural habitat management with opportunities for education, visitor engagement, youth employment, community involvement and stewardship. Our design team collaborated with refuge staff, community members, tribal members, and local artists to develop a comprehensive visitor experience aligned with the needs of the wildlife, people, and the refuge’s vision”.
The Jeff Harnar Awards initiated a new category this year: the Social & Environmental Justice Award. All projects submitted to the 2023 competition were considered for this award, which recognizes an architecture or landscape architecture project that aspires to utilize design as a vehicle for social justice. The jury selected Emerging Objects: Ronald Rael and Virginia San Fratello for their project, Casa Covida, as the first recipient of this award. Emerging Objects described their design as “a house for co-habitation in the time of COVID, is an experiment in combining 3D printing with indigenous and traditional building materials, methods with employing new and ancient ways of living”.
The award for Unbuilt Architecture was given to assemblageSTUDIO’s design, Parowan, which was “inspired by the deep-rooted resiliency of the native aspen trees, mirrored by the client’s deep-rooted connection to this land, the design builds out from the existing home using circulation spines to connect the new enclosures to the original”.
This year, the First Prize Student Award in the Architecture was given to Thomas Bejcek, representing the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, for their project, Silver City Recreation Center. Andrya Mojena Cutié, a student at the University of Nevada Las Vegas was awarded second prize for their submission, Desert Senses.
Hollis Moore, a student at the University of New Mexico, was selected for the First Prize Student Award in the Landscape Architecture for their project, How to Love a Mesquite. Second place was awarded to Lia Griesser of the University of New Mexico for their design, Valley of the Mills: ReCommoning Land Along the Upper Rio Mora.
Congratulations to this year’s winners of the Jeff Harnar Awards! Applications for the 2024 cycle will open next spring.
2022 Jeff Harnar Award Winners
The University of New Mexico School of Architecture and the Thornburg Foundation wish to congratulate the 2022 Jeff Harnar Award winners. The top prize of Contemporary Architecture in the Southwest was awarded to McClain + Yu Architecture & Design, for their Sky Room in Rio Rancho, New Mexico. Congratulations Raimund McClain and Kristina Yu. Learn more about Sky Room.
In the Unbuilt Architecture category, the award was given to Jon Anderson Arrchitecture, for the Kewa Child Care & Family Emergency Center. Learn more about this project.
In the Unbuilt Landscape Architecture category, the award was given to Superbloom, for the project entitled, 1881 Farm Park, Aurora, CO. Congratulations to Co-Founders/Principals Diane Lipovsky and Stacy Passmore. Learn more about the 1881 Farm Park.
This year, the First Prize Student Award in the Architecture category was given to Gina Frenette of the University of Colorado, Denver, for her project: Chatfield Reservoir Nature Center:
The Second Prize Student Award in the Architecture category was given to Brittney Sawyer of the University of New Mexico for her project: Placed Play.
The First Prize Student Award in the Landscape Architecture category was given to Kristina Naber of the University of New Mexico for her project: A New Deal for Urban Stormwater: Decarbonization, Decelerate, Decontaminate, Deliver.
The Second Prize Student Award in the Landscape Architecture category was given to Alex Bullock of the University of Colorado, Denver, for his project: Wasted Spaces to Carbon Sinks: Restoring the Prairie.
The JEFF HARNAR AWARDS program was created by Garrett Thornburg in 2007 to honor the memory of Jeff Harnar and help continue his groundbreaking work in the area of contemporary design. In 2018, the award program was expanded to include Unbuilt Work and Landscape Architecture. In 2020-21, the program was further expanded to include the following six categories:
- Contemporary Architecture in the Southwest
- An Outstanding New Mexico Designer
- Unbuilt Architecture
- Unbuilt Landscape Architecture
- Student Architecture Award
- Student Landscape Architecture Award
Five of the six JEFF HARNAR AWARDS are open to submissions for work designed for the Four Corners states (AZ, CO, NM, UT). The Outstanding New Mexico Designer is reserved for firms of architecture and landscape architecture in New Mexico.
To submit an entry (and preview the submission requirements), please visit the 2022 Jeff Harnar Awards SlideRoom website.
The Jeff Harnar Awards are sponsored by the UNM School of Architecture & Planning and the Thornburg Foundation.
For more information, please contact Anthony Fettes at aefettes@unm.edu.
Submissions are now open through March 18, 2022
2021 Jeff Harnar Award Winners
The University of New Mexico School of Architecture and the Thornburg Foundation wish to congratulate this year’s Jeff Harnar Award winners. The top prize of Contemporary Architecture in the Southwest was awarded to Dust Architects, of Phoenix, Arizona, for their Casa Caldera. Congratulations Cade Manning Hayes and Jesús Edmundo Robles, Jr. To learn more about Casa Caldera, please visit https://www.dustdb.com/Casa-Caldera. In this category, the firm G. Donald Dudley Architects, Ltd, Albuquerque, NM, received an Honorable Mention for their Montessori of the Rio Grande Charter School.
In the Unbuilt Architecture category, the award was given to Ke Vaugn Harding of Falmouth, Trelawny, Jamaica, for the Agave Sanctuary / La Perla del Desierto. An Honorable Mention was given to Jon Anderson Architects, Elliot Hield, Albuquerque, NM, for the Arroyo Del Oso Elementary School.
In the Unbuilt Landscape Architecture category, the award was given to Rafael Montoya, Los Angeles, California, for the project entitled, Acequias: Building Social Resilience in Española, New Mexico. An Honorable Mention was given to Kartika Rachmawati, Lone Tree, CO, for the project ECO2 Venture.
This year, the Student Award in the Architecture category was given to Nathan McNeilly (Arizona State University) for his Fire Station 62 in Ahwatukee, Arizona. The Honorable Mention in this category was given to Trevor Orgill (University of New Mexico) for his Opera House in Talinin, Estonia. In the Landscape Architecture category, the Student Award was given to Isabelle Ghabash (University of Utah) for her Memorial to Women and Girls Lost to Climate Change, Rozel Bay, Utah.
2021 Jeff Harnar Award Honorable Mentions
