The winners of the 2024 Moira Gemmill and MJ Long Prizes at the W Awards announced

Nguyễn Hà, founder of ARB Architects, has been declared the winner of the Moira Gemmill Prize for Emerging Architecture at the W Awards, while Noelia Monteiro, co-founder of Estúdio Flume, has been highly commended. Jennifer Frewen of Takero Shimazaki Architects has won the MJ Long Prize for Excellence in Practice.

Moira Gemmill Prize for Emerging Architecture 2024

Nguyễn Hà, founder of ARB Architects based in Vietnam, has won the Moira Gemmill Prize 2024. The Moira Gemmill Prize for Emerging Architecture recognises a bright future for designers under the age of 45 who are leading their own practices.

Nguyễn founded ARB Architects in 2009, after working in Switzerland; since then, her body of work has been firmly grounded in Vietnam. The Đạo Mẫu Museum and Temple, dedicated to the folk religion of Đạo Mẫu, includes brick towers built along a brick wall in a lychee orchard, as well as the conversion of a former weekend home into a temple.

Đạo Mẫu Museum and Temple by ARB Architects

Credit: Triệu Chiến

‘Nguyễn sees what isn’t visible and finds a project that isn’t a project,’ the judges commented. ‘You can feel the hours of work.’ They praised the way Nguyễn’s work ‘preserves important practices of craftsmanship, achieved through resilience and persistence.’

Nguyễn is joined by Noelia Monteiro who has been highly commended by the judges. Monteiro founded Estúdio Flume with Christian Teshirogi in São Paulo in 2015. The practice’s work can be found in remote villages around Brazil, such as the babassu nut facility in Sumaúma in the state of Maranhão and a boathouse on the island of Jaguanum, located off the coast near Rio de Janeiro.

Babussu nut facility by Estúdio Flume

Credit: Maíra Acayaba

The judges commended the way that Estúdio Flume’s projects ‘enable the community to build itself’,  working ‘holistically and at different scales’.  ‘Monteiro has a personal commitment to architecture that is very tangible,’ the judges concluded.

As well as Nguyễn and Monteiro, the Moira Gemmill Prize shortlist 2024 includes Kim Courrèges, partner of Plan Común, and Joana Dabaj, co-founder of Catalytic Action.

Previous winners of the Moira Gemmill Prize include: Viviana Pozzoli, co-founder of Equipo de Arquitectura, winner, and Loreta Castro Reguera, co-founder of Taller Capital, highly commended (2023); Swati Janu, founder of Social Design Collaborative (2022); Ariadna Artigas, Anna Clemente, Eulàlia Daví, Cristina Gamboa, Laura Lluch and Núria Vila, members of Lacol (2021); Francesca Torzo, winner, and Mariam Kamara, highly commended (2020); Xu Tiantian, founder of DnA (2019); Gloria Cabral, partner at Gabinete de Arquitectura (2018); Rozana Montiel (2017); Gabriela Etchegaray, co-founder of Ambrosi Etchegaray (2016); vPPR founders Tatiana von Preussen, Catherine Pease and Jessica Reynolds (2015); sole practitioner Julia King (2014); Spanish architect Olga Felip (2013); and John McAslan + Partners’ Hannah Lawson (2012).

MJ Long Prize for Excellence in Practice 2024

Jennifer Frewen of Takero Shimazaki Architects has won the MJ Long Prize for Excellence in Practice for her work leading the project for the new global headquarters of the Royal Academy of Dance (RAD) in London. The MJ Long Prize for Excellence in Practice – named in memory of inspirational architect MJ Long – awards an architect excelling in practice in the United Kingdom.

Working within an existing envelope, Frewen and her team reimagined the building’s footprint as a continuation of the surrounding city, with studios and learning spaces connected by a network of indoor ‘streets’ and ‘urban plazas’, and large internal windows providing views into studios ensuring that dance animates the whole building.

Royal Academy of Dance by Takero Shimazaki Architects

Credit: David Grandorge

The judges were impressed by ‘how rounded and impressive’ Frewen’s practice is, and noted that ‘she was clearly in total control, with a deep understanding of everything she touched.’ They recognised that Frewen is ‘an individual so busy doing their job, they don’t get a chance to step back and see what they have achieved.’

Also on the shortlist for the MJ Long Prize 2024 is Laura O’Brien of James Gorst Architects, Sela-Jaymes Taylor of Gort Scott, and Michelle Wong of vPPR Architects.

Previous winners of the MJ Long Prize include: Kirsten Gabriëls Webb of Sergison Bates, for De Korenbloem sheltered housing in Kortrijk, Belgium (2023); Fiona Monkman of Islington Architects, for Centurion Close in London (2022); Alice Brownfield of Peter Barber Architects, for Kiln Place in London (2021); and Tracy Meller of Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners, for Centre Building at the LSE, London (2020).

The jury for the Moira Gemmill and MJ Long Prizes comprised:

• Stephen Bates, co‑founder of Sergison Bates
• Giovanna Borasi, director of the Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA)
• Shumi Bose, educator and editor of KoozArch
• Gloria Cabral, architect and previous Moira Gemmill Prize winner
• Eva Jiřičná, architect
• Karen Livingstone, Deputy Director for Masterplan, Exhibitions and Major Display Projects at the Fitzwilliam Museum
• Tracy Meller, senior partner at RSHP and previous MJ Long Prize winner
• Manijeh Verghese, Head of Public Engagement at the Architectural Association
• Sal Wilson, sustainability consultant and educator

The winners were announced at the Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA) in Montreal. The event was a chance to hear from Ada Louise Huxtable Prize winner Angela Davis and Jane Drew Prize winner Iwona Buczkowska, and to celebrate the winners of this year’s W Awards. Winners received a trophy created by Inuk artist asinnajaq, commissioned by last year’s Ada Louise Huxtable Prize winner Phyllis Lambert.