Four SmithGroup Projects Receive National AIA Awards
On June 10, the American Institute of Architects (AIA) announced the winners of its AIA Awards 2026 during a celebratory gala held in San Diego. SmithGroup proudly took home four awards from the event.
Continuing its impressive run of award recognition, Sunnyvale City Hall received an AIA Interior Architecture Award. The Pima County Office of the Medical Examiner earned an AIA Justice Facilities Award, underscoring SmithGroup’s leadership in forensic facility design. The University of California, San Francisco Joan & Sanford I. Weill Neurosciences Building won an AIA Healthcare Design Award for its compassionate and cutting-edge approach to brain health. And the Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s Philip Merrill Environmental Center received the prestigious AIA Twenty-Five Year Award for its enduring legacy as the world’s first LEED Platinum-certified building.
Sunnyvale City Hall – Sunnyvale, CA
Sunnyvale’s City Hall and its award-winning interior design embody the city’s commitment to transparent governance, environmental sustainability and the well-being of future generations. Every material for this Net Zero Energy and LEED Platinum project was carefully selected for its performance, longevity and minimal chemical content, ensuring a healthy environment for occupants and visitors. From the lobby's sculptural central stairway to its fully accessible Council Chamber, its calm, light-filled spaces and exterior terraces embracing its natural surroundings, the design elevates the community-connecting potential of civic architecture.
Pima County Office of the Medical Examiner – Tucson, AZ
PCOME exemplifies justice facility excellence by integrating operational efficiency, civic engagement and respect for human dignity. Designed to replace an inadequately sized predecessor, this new facility can serve 11 counties effectively with a design that safeguards and supports families and individuals during vulnerable times. PCOME addresses the complexities of medicolegal death investigations in southern Arizona, transforming a critical public service into a resilient and sustainable model that establishes a new benchmark in justice-driven architecture.
UCSF Joan & Sanford I. Weill Neurosciences Building – San Francisco, CA
Designed in collaboration with Mark Cavagnero Associates, this building serves as the headquarters for the UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences. It unites the neurology, psychiatry and behavioral sciences departments along with neurological surgery to solve the most complex challenges in brain health. Its fusion of multi-departmental clinics and clinical research centers will drive advances aimed at new treatments for disorders of the brain and nervous system while providing expert, compassionate care for patients.
Philip Merrill Environmental Center – Annapolis, MD
Joining an impressive list of previous 25-Year Award winners that includes the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in DC, the Philip Merrill Environmental Center is a pioneering example of sustainable architecture. Setting the global bar for achieving LEED Platinum certification, it demonstrated that sustainable design is feasible, cost effective and beautiful while helping to transform how the profession defines design excellence.
As home to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, the Center continues to provide significant sustainable performance and environmental impact as well as living proof of what it means to design a better future.
The full list of AIA Award 2026 winners can be found here.