Ambasz–MoMA Annual Prize for Nature-Reconciled Architecture

The Museum of Modern Art has received a new major gift from the Legacy Emilio Ambasz Foundation to establish a first-of-its-kind annual architecture prize. On the occasion of Earth Day, MoMA is pleased to announce the Ambasz–MoMA Annual Prize for Nature-Reconciled Architecture. Launching this year, the Ambasz-MoMA Annual Prize will award a total of 200,000 USD annually to a pathbreaking architectural project completed in the last 30 years that aligns with the stated mission of the Ambasz Institute for the Joint Study of the Built and the Natural Environment: to promote the exploration and study of creative approaches to design at all scales of the built environment—buildings, cities, landscapes, and objects—with an emphasis on understanding their joint relationship to their natural environment. The total value of the Ambasz-MoMA Annual Prize will be the highest for a single project in the domain of architecture, with 100,000 USD going to the architect(s) and 100,000 USD going to a not-for-profit organization to plant trees in honor of the project client’s name. The inaugural prize will be awarded at a special ceremony at the Museum in late 2026.

The Ambasz–MoMA Annual Prize for Nature-Reconciled Architecture will be awarded by a jury composed of three curators from MoMA’s Department of Architecture and Design—including Martino Stierli, MoMA’s Philip Johnson Chief Curator of Architecture and Design, Evangelos Kotsioris, Director of the Ambasz Institute—and two esteemed external experts who will rotate every two to three years. Projects will be reviewed through a research-driven, nomination-based process. Drawing on a global network of invited advisors and Institute research, an initial pool of 20 to 30 projects will be assembled and evaluated through a multistage review. Finalists will be selected based on their work’s alignment with the core principles of the Ambasz Institute. Projects most aligned with the aims of the prize actively contribute to their environments by restoring ecological balance, reinforcing local contexts, and advancing regenerative relationships with natural systems.

“What’s compelling about the Ambasz–MoMA Annual Prize is its potential to extend beyond architecture’s internal discourse,” said Evangelos Kotsioris, Director of the Ambasz Institute. “It is designed to recognize practitioners who invent new prototypes for symbiotic relationships between architecture and its immediate environments, while also supporting the annual planting of trees with direct and lasting benefits for local communities across the world.”

“I am thrilled about and deeply grateful to the Legacy Emilio Ambasz Foundation’s reinforced commitment to MoMA’s initiatives at the intersection of architecture and ecology,” said Martino Stierli. “The establishment of this new, important prize not only makes it one of the most generous in the field, but also promises to shape architectural discourse for years and decades to come.”

In addition, this gift will support a new, annual Ambasz–MoMA lecture series, titled Architecture as Poetry, to commence at MoMA in spring 2028. The series will be organized by MoMA’s Department of Architecture and Design.

For more information on the Ambasz Institute and the Ambasz–MoMA Annual Prize for Nature-Reconciled Architecture, visit moma.org/research/ambasz.