Anne Lacaton, who co-founded French firm Lacaton & Vassal with Jean-Philippe Vassal in 1987, has been instrumental in defining what it means to build responsibly in the 21st century with a series of exceptionally inventive retrofit projects.The Jane Drew Prize for Architecture recognises an architectural designer who, through their work and commitment to design excellence, has raised the profile of women in architecture.Lacaton & Vassals key projects include its bare-bones renovation of Pariss Palais de Tokyo, and its wrapping of existing housing slab blocks with a layer of winter gardens such as with its Grand-Parc scheme in Bordeaux both improving the thermal performance of homes while extending them.Advertisement Source:Philippe RuaultGrand Parc housing estate, Bordeaux by Lacaton & VassalThe prize is named in honour of Jane Drew, an advocate for women in a male-dominated profession, who graduated from the AA in 1929 and started her own practice after the Second World War. Her work played a significant role in introducing the Modern Movement into the UK.Previous winners include: Iwona Buczkowska (2024), Kazuyo Sejima (2023), Farshid Moussavi (2022), Kate Macintosh (2021), Yasmeen Lari (2020), Elizabeth Diller (2019), Amanda Levete (2018), Denise Scott Brown (2017), Odile Decq (2016), Grafton Architects founders Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara (2015), Zaha Hadid (2014), Kathryn Findlay of Ushida Findlay (2013) and Eva Jiin (2012). Source:Columbia GSAPP / Wikimedia CommonsSuad AmiryAuthor and architect Suad Amiry has, meanwhile, been named the winner of the W Awards 2025 Ada Louise Huxtable Prize for Contribution to Architecture which recognises individuals from fields adjacent to or intersecting with architecture, who have made a significant contribution to architecture and the built environment.Amiry is the founder of Riwaq, an organisation specialising in the preservation and reuse of historical buildings in Palestine. In addition to leading Riwaqs conservation work, she is a prolific writer, having authored award-winning books such as Sharon and My Mother-in-Law (2003) and, most recently, Mother of Strangers (2022).The prize is named after architecture critic Ada Louise Huxtable the first full-time architecture critic at a US newspaper when she joined the New York Times who was later awarded the first Pulitzer Prize for Criticism in 1970.AdvertisementPrevious winners include: political activist, philosopher and writer Angela Davis (2024), Canadian architect and patron Phyllis Lambert (2023), British-Palestinian sculptor and artist Mona Hatoum (2022), educator and writer Lesley Lokko (2021), academic and writer Beatriz Colomina (2020), photographer Hlne Binet (2019), Dutch artist Madelon Vriesendorp (2018), British sculptor Rachel Whiteread (2017), former director of the Serpentine Galleries Julia Peyton-Jones (2016) and architecture patron Jane Priestman (2015). Source:ArkDesDesigning Motherhood by ArkDesSeparately, this years Prize for Research in Gender and Architecture has gone to the Designing Motherhood project. This research project was launched in 2017 by US design historians Michelle Millar Fisher and Amber Winick, who noticed a gap in classrooms, exhibitions and writing on design for the arc of human reproduction.Its work has included a book published in 2021 by MIT Press; a touring exhibition currently at both ArkDes in Stockholm, Sweden and the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft (curated with Juliana Rowen Barton and Zo Greggs) and a series of local partnerships with maternal and infant health specialists, policy makers and activists.The Prize for Research in Gender and Architecture celebrates projects that investigate the complex relations between gender and the built environment, and challenge patriarchal spatial systems.All three prizes form part of the AJ and ARs W Awards, formerly known as Women in Architecture, which celebrate exemplary work of all kinds, from the design of the worlds most significant new buildings to contributions to wider architectural culture, from lifetimes of achievement to the work of women with bright futures ahead.