The Architectural League of New York announced today this year’s winners of the Architectural League Prize for Young Architects and Designers, now in its 44th iteration. Plot was the theme to guide this year’s competition, which asked entrants to interrogate how architecture engages with “plot,” whether as “land, drawing, or scheme,” the League said in a statement. The 2025 winners were: Juan Manuel Balsa, Rocio Crosetto Brizzio, and Leandro Piazzi of BALSA CROSETTO PIAZZI; Karina Caballero and Camila Ulloa Vásquez of Otros Entregables; David Costanza; Deborah Garcia of DEBORA.STUDIO; Mahsa Malek and Alex Yueyan Li of 11 x 17; Laura Salazar, Pablo Sequero, and Juan Medina of salazarsequeromedina. “Every building has its lore, and plots are known to thicken,” the League said. “Which dramas are shaping architecture’s arc today? The truth may be stranger than fiction. Despite the best-laid plans, design so often deals in circumstance. That is, while architects may endeavor to write their own stories, projects always present twists. […] We invite young designers to chronicle that which bookends their practices and to demonstrate plot’s persistent role as main character.” The jury included Rayshad Dorsey, Liz Gálvez, Miles Gertler, Behnaz Assadi, Mario Gooden, Jia Yi Gu, and William O’Brien Jr. together with the League’s programs and membership director Anne Rieselbach and program manager Zoe Fruchter. Beginning June 10, winners will showcase their work through an online lecture series and exhibition. Below are images of projects by 2025 League Prize winners, accompanied by short practice profiles as provided by the League, and further information about the 2025 League Prize Lecture series. Quincho & House, Bialet Masse, Córdoba, Argentina, 2024, by BALSA CROSETTO PIAZZI, and Diego Avendaño (Marcos Guiponi) Juan Manuel Balsa, Rocio Crosetto Brizzio, and Leandro Piazzi | BALSA CROSETTO PIAZZI (Boston and Troy, New York) BALSA CROSETTO PIAZZI is an architecture firm based in the United States and Argentina. Founded in 2014, the practice is led by Juan Manuel Balsa, Rocio Crosetto Brizzio, and Leandro Piazzi. Grounded in thoughtful attention to materiality and building methods, BALSA CROSETTO PIAZZI describes their design approach as inclusive of “the networks and cycles of materials, people, ecologies, knowledge, and resources that are part of the construction of architecture,” in their own words. The firm works across multiple scales in both urban and rural contexts, from public installations to houses, gathering spaces, and other commissions. Consecuencias event in Zyanya, Mexico City, 2024, by Otros Entregables, and Adriana Rodríguez (Laura Méndez) Karina Caballero and Camila Ulloa Vásquez | Otros Entregables (Mexico City) Karina Caballero and Camila Ulloa Vásquez founded Mexico City–based platform Otros Entregables (Other Deliverables) in 2023. Through their podcast, live events, and curatorial initiatives, Otros Entregables aims to challenge the boundaries of traditional architectural deliverables and expand architectural discourse to include a variety of artistic-spatial practices. The platform’s work is generated from exchanges with collaborators including academic institutions and students, designers and design organizations, and “like-minded unconventional makers,” in their own words. Rocker, Houston, Texas, 2017 (Courtesy David Costanza) David Costanza (Ithaca, New York) David Costanza is the principal of David Costanza Studio, a design-build practice based in Ithaca, New York, and director of the Building Construction Lab at Cornell University AAP, which he founded in 2020. Through his practice, research, and teaching, Costanza aims to “question how architects can operate as engaged participants in the act of making,” in his own words. Costanza’s portfolio engages with a broad spectrum of design processes, from computational design tools, to tectonically experimental public installations, to sustainability-oriented residential work. SUPA Soundsystem, Harvard ArtLab, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2024, by DEBORA.STUDIO, and Joseph Zeal-Henry (Malakhai Pearson) Deborah Garcia | DEBORA.STUDIO (New York City) Deborah Garcia is an architectural designer and researcher whose work focuses on reimagining everyday structures through multisensory activation. Throughout her often site-specific installations, curatorial work, and research projects, Garcia aims to “investigate the crossed wires of what we hear, the stories we are a part of, and the things we feed back into the system,” in her own words. Her recent research developed strategies for using sound as an architectural medium and historical record. 3/8” (Three Eighths of an Inch), Louise Hopkins Underwood Center for the Arts, Texas, United States, 2023-34 (Courtesy 11 x 17 & Nero He) Mahsa Malek and Alex Yueyan Li | 11 x 17 (Toronto and Denver) 11 x 17 is a research-driven design practice with offices in Denver and Toronto. Founded in 2022 by Mahsa Malek and Alex Yueyan Li, the firm creates built and speculative works across multiple scales, including exhibitions, furniture, interiors, books, and buildings, united by a critical examination of materiality. 11 x 17 approaches building construction as “a conceptual device to engage larger issues around resources, labor, and form,” in the firm’s own words, resulting in a portfolio of lean yet multifaceted projects that challenge divisions between architectural products and processes. Sobremesas, 13th Ibero-American Biennial of Architecture and Urbanism, Lima, Peru, 2024, by salazarsequeromedina, Leggett & Cahuas (Ivan Salinero) Laura Salazar, Pablo Sequero, and Juan Medina | salazarsequeromedina (New York City and New Orleans) Laura Salazar, Pablo Sequero, and Juan Medina founded design studio salazarsequeromedina in 2020. The collaborative practice focuses on civic work that engages creatively with both building processes and the contemporary built environment. Often constructed with repurposed materials, salazarsequeromedina’s “open-ended structures,” as the firm describes their projects, are realized through dialogue with environmental context in concert with community programming and use. The firm has produced architectural installations, speculative interventions, and built work for sites and platforms in Peru, South Korea, Spain, and the United States. The 2025 League Prize Virtual Lecture Series June 11: Mahsa Malek and Alex Yueyan Li of 11 x 17 Laura Salazar, Pablo Sequero, and Juan Medina of salazarsequeromedina Moderated by Miles GertlerJune 18: Karina Caballero and Camila Ulloa Vásquez of Otros Entregables Deborah Garcia of DEBORA.STUDIO Moderated by Rayshad DorseyJune 25: Juan Manuel Balsa, Rocio Crosetto Brizzio, and Leandro Piazzi of BALSA CROSETTO PIAZZI David Costanza Moderated by Liz Gálvez