Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum (New York, USA) announces the winners of the 2026 National Design Awards. The National Design Award winners are selected by a multidisciplinary jury of design practitioners, educators, and leaders. Nominations are open to all and are also solicited from experts from a wide range of design and related fields. Jurors join from diverse locations to review submissions, resulting in a final selection of 10 category awardees.
The 2026 National Design Award recipients are:
- Landscape Architecture: Ten Eyck Landscape Architects
- Architecture: Frida Escobedo Studio
- Design Visionary: Robert Earl Paige
- Climate Action: UCSD Community Stations by Estudio Teddy Cruz + Fonna Forman
- Emerging Designer: Mattaforma
- Communication Design: Thought Matter
- Digital Design: Laura Kurgan
- Fashion Design: Josh Tafoya
- Interior Design: Charlap Hyman & Herrero
- Product Design: Berea College Student Craft
Ten Eyck Landscape Architects (TELA) has spent nearly three decades creating ecologically restorative outdoor spaces that foster community healing. Based in Austin, Texas, with origins in Phoenix, Arizona, founder Christine Ten Eyck, FASLA and her fourteen-person studio take a regional approach to the landscapes of the American Southwest, sparking conversations around pressing ecological issues through people- and place-based design.
Established in 2000, the National Design Awards honor innovation, impact, and leadership across design disciplines, from architecture and landscape architecture to digital, fashion, and climate action. Award recipients are selected by a multidisciplinary jury of practitioners, educators and leaders from a wide range of design fields and will be honored at the Smithsonian National Design Awards Gala, May 19 in New York City. The 2026 jury was chaired by Aric Chen, director of the Zaha Hadid Foundation.
Public programming featuring the contributions and voices of the winners has been a hallmark of the National Design Awards program since its inception. A new series of public conversations between the winners and Nicanor, kicking off this spring, will expand the awards’ reach and the public’s access to the expertise of winners across all categories.
Find out more at the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
Image: Ten Eyck Landscape Architects, The Capri. (Marfa, Texas, 2010). Project partners: Scott Williams General Contractor; Tom’s Tree Place; Lake | Flato Architects. Photo: Caitlin Atkinson