Announcing the 2025 Jeff Harnar Award Winners
April 15, 2025
The University of New Mexico School of Architecture + Planning (SA+P) and the Thornburg Foundation are pleased to announce the winners of the 2025 Jeff Harnar Awards. These awards, created by Garrett Thornburg in 2007, honor the legacy of the late local architect Jeff Harnar and his groundbreaking work in contemporary design.
The awards ceremony took place at the School of Architecture + Planning’s George Pearl Hall on April 11 and included a lecture by Mónica Ponce de León Professor and dean of the School of Architecture at Princeton University, and founder of Studio MPdL.
SA+P Dean Robert Alexander González stated, “The Jeff Harnar Awards continue to showcase the profound creativity and social commitment of designers across the Southwest. This year’s winners exemplify design excellence that is grounded in place, community, and innovation.”
The top prize, Contemporary Architecture in the Southwest, was awarded to CSR Architects – Tina Reames, Stephen Mora, and team – for their project, Singing Arrow Community Center in Albuquerque, NM. Conceptually linked to the landscape and to an ancient past of movement and change, the design employs a subtractive process to reveal forms that reference earthen strata. With layers of natural and synthetic materials, the building celebrates the intersection of the archaeological, the natural, and the contemporary.
Contemporary Architecture in the Southwest
CSR Architects
Singing Arrow Community Center
Albuquerque, New Mexico
The prize for Unbuilt Architecture was awarded to DUST Architects (Tucson, AZ) for Taos Rancho in Taos, New Mexico. This 2,800-square-foot hillside home, designed in an L-shape around a central courtyard, is constructed with double-wythe adobe compressed earth blocks. With a focus on passive solar design and rainwater harvesting, it blends traditional building methods with contemporary sustainability while offering a timeless sanctuary rooted in the land’s rhythms.
Unbuilt Landscape Architecture
DUST Architects Taos Rancho
Taos, New Mexico
The Jury’s Selection for Innovative Regional Design was awarded to Aranda\Lasch (Tucson, AZ & NYC) for We:sic ‘em ki: (Everybody’s Home), a collaborative design on the Tohono O’odham Nation. Inspired by traditional O’odham forms—a wa:ato (shade structure) and a ki: (earthen enclosure)—this project supports the client's cultural revitalization work, including Native Food Sovereignty and traditional craft. It is a home in resonance with O’odham Himdag, the ancestral life ways of the O’odham people.
Innovative Regional Design
Aranda\Lasch
We:sic ‘em ki: (Everybody’s Home)
Tohono O’odham Nation
The First Prize Student Award in Architecture was given to Jamie Centeno of the University of Nevada – Las Vegas for Redefining Studentscapes: The Future of Outdoor Educational Spaces, Clark County School District, Nevada. The project reimagines existing school properties to support socio-emotional development and universal student support through design interventions across educational environments.
Student Architecture
First Place
Jamie Centeno, University of Nevada – Las Vegas
Redefining Studentscapes: The Future of Outdoor Educational Spaces
Clark County School District, Nevada
The Second Prize Student Award in Architecture was awarded to Diego O’Neill of the University of New Mexico for The Elevated Route. Drawing inspiration from Googie architecture, the project responds to challenges in a historic section of Route 66 by integrating housing, public gathering spaces, and event areas to help revive and reconnect the community.
Second Place
Diego O’Neill, University of New Mexico
The Elevated Route
The First Prize Student Award in Landscape Architecture was awarded to Bailey Guinn of Utah State University for Wakening Water, a conceptual design for North Gateway and Warm Springs Parks in Salt Lake City. The project serves as a pivotal guide for enhancing safety and inclusivity, while honoring the site’s deep cultural histories and hydrological patterns.
Student Landscape Architecture
First Place
Bailey Guinn, Utah State University
Wakening Water
North Gateway and Warm Springs Parks in Salt Lake City, Utah
Congratulations to all this year’s Jeff Harnar Awards winners! Applications for the 2026 awards cycle will open next spring.
