League Prize 2021: Housekeeping

Established in 1981 to recognize visionary work by young practitioners, the Architectural League Prize is an annual competition, lecture series, and exhibition organized by The Architectural League and its Young Architects + Designers Committee.

Stay-at-home orders have prompted many of us to see our domestic settings anew, and to consider the various ways in which we “keep house.” The term “housekeeping” involves restoring the home to its ideal state by scrubbing, disinfecting, and decluttering its surfaces. It evokes the comfort of the familiar, the excitement of the new. For some people, layers of dust went unnoticed until their living rooms had to double as workplaces. In other cases, household chores have provided respite from digital devices that require their own form of upkeep to optimize performance. Housekeeping implies oversight and control, maintenance and responsibility. It is as much a necessity as it is a ritual: An act of labor, but also an act of care. That said, it is impossible to think about housekeeping without considering its constitutive role in systemic oppression on the basis of gender, race, and class.

The theme was developed by the 2021 Young Architects + Designers Committee, which included recent League Prize winners Ivi Diamantopoulou, Cyrus Peñarroyo, and Alison Von Glinow. 

The jury included the committee in addition to Tatiana Bilbao, Peggy Deamer, Fritz Haeg, and Victor J. Jones.

The competition is organized by The Architectural League’s program director Anne Rieselbach and program manager Catarina Flaksman.

For more details about the theme, download the Call for Entries poster.

This year’s League Prize programming and exhibition will follow a hybrid onsite and online model. The lecture series will be held on Tuesday evenings starting June 15 on Zoom. Each lecture will feature prerecorded presentations from two of the winners followed by a live discussion and Q&A session. Winners will create installations of their work either onsite in their respective locations or in entirely digital formats, all of which will be presented in an online exhibition on archleague.org.

DIGITAL EXHIBITION AND ONLINE LECTURE SERIES

Digital Exhibition
The exhibition will feature original material created by each of the winners for archleague.org

Online Lecture Series
Lectures begin at 6:00 p.m. EDT. Admission is free and advance registration via Zoom is required. Each evening will consist of an introduction, lectures by two winning firms, and a moderated q&a.

6/15/2021
Liz Gálvez | Office e.g.
Germane David Barnes | Studio Barnes

Moderated by Ivi Diamantopoulou

6/22/2021
Tei Carpenter | Agency—Agency
Rodrigo Escandón Cesarman, Ricardo Roxo Matias | APRDELESP
Moderated by Cyrus Peñarroyo

6/29/2021
Lindsey May | Studio Mayd
Ilse Cárdenas, Regina de Hoyos, Diego Escamilla, Juan Luis Rivera | Palma
Moderated by Alison Von Glinow

Support

The Architectural League Prize is made possible by Tischler und Sohn, JUDLOWE, and Luminaire.


League programs are made possible, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council, and the New York State Council on the Arts, with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. Support is also provided by the Next Generation Fund, an alumni fund of The Architectural League’s Emerging Voices and Architectural League Prize programs, and the J. Clawson Mills Fund of The Architectural League.

Exhibition

Events

Lecture Videos

League Prize 2021: Night 2

Lectures by Tei Carpenter of Agency–Agency and Rodrigo Escandón Cesarman and Ricardo Roxo Matias of APRDELESP.

October 12, 2021

League Prize 2021: Night 3

Lectures by Lindsay May of Studio Mayd and Ilse Cárdenas, Regina de Hoyos, and Diego Escamilla of Palma.

September 21, 2021

Interviews

Setting the Stage

Tei Carpenter's designs seek a balance between flexibility and specificity, allowing for different uses over time.

October 5, 2021

The Menu of the Day

For APRDELESP, running a network of commercial and cultural spaces in Mexico City offers the chance to rethink design practice.

September 28, 2021

The Seen and the Unseen

Liz Gálvez calls attention to systems normally hidden from view, questioning assumptions about architecture and infrastructure.

October 4, 2021

A Piece of the Ensemble

Palma designed a home for a young boy as part of an ambitious social program focused on a small Mexican city.

September 21, 2021

Nothing Spectacular

With an ambitious project in southern Florida, Germane Barnes is helping a neighborhood envision a better future.

October 26, 2021

House Proud

Many young firms depend on residential work, but aren't necessarily proud of it. Lindsey May thinks they should be.

September 21, 2021

El menú del día

Para APRDELESP, operar una red de espacios comerciales y culturales en Ciudad de México es una oportunidad para repensar sus prácticas como diseñadores.

October 12, 2021

Una pieza en el conjunto

Como parte de un ambicioso programa social, enfocado en un municipio en el estado de México, Palma diseño una casa para Axel, un niño de ocho años.

October 12, 2021