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Since its launch in 2020, the ArchDaily Next Practices Awards have spotlighted forward-thinking architecture practices that are redefining the boundaries of the discipline. Over five editions, the initiative has recognized 105 practices from 44 countries, amplifying voices from around the world and fostering a global conversation about architecture's evolving role in society. Across the winning practices, recurring values emerge: contextual sensitivity, sustainable material use, co-creation with communities, experimental and interdisciplinary approaches, memory and heritage, social responsibility, and human-scale interventions.
The program reflects what is next: the ideas, practices, and projects that should be brought forward. 'Next' embodies practices that find solutions to today's urgent challenges while anticipating the needs of tomorrow. By spotlighting these practices, we hope to illuminate the paths that can lead to a more meaningful and resilient future for architecture and beyond.
As we move into the 6th edition, we are proud to introduce the jury that will help shape this year's selection. Bringing together voices from Latin America, Southwest Asia, North America, Africa, and Europe, this year's panel includes architects, landscape practitioners, preservation specialists, and institutional leaders whose work is deeply engaged with the questions Next Practices seeks to address. We sincerely thank each of them for their time, expertise, and commitment to the future of architecture.
Jury of the ArchDaily Next Practices Awards 2026
Sumayya Vally
Sumayya Vally is the principal of Counterspace, an architecture and research practice exploring hybrid identities and spatial relationships, with a particular interest in the complex relationships between territories and places. A WEF Young Global Leader, TIME100 honoree, and Art Basel Medallist, she is the youngest architect ever commissioned to design the Serpentine Pavilion in London. Vally is also Resident Architect at Ibraaz, which she conceived as a living, evolving space shaped by the artists, collaborators, and communities that gather there. Her practice is in constant conversation with her teaching at leading institutions, including Columbia's Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (GSAPP) and UCL's Bartlett School of Architecture.
Susana Rojas Saviñón
Susana Rojas Saviñón is co-founder of Estudio Ome, an award-winning landscape architecture practice based in Mexico City and London — and a Next Practices winner herself, recognized in a previous edition of this very initiative. She holds an MPhil in Architecture and Urban Design from the Architectural Association and a professional degree in Architecture from Universidad Iberoamericana, and completed the Wood Program in Architecture and Design at Aalto University. A registered architect in Mexico, she has lectured across Latin America, the United States, Canada, and Europe, and taught architecture at Universidad Iberoamericana from 2019 to 2024. In 2020, she was awarded the Young Creators Scholarship from Mexico's National Fund for Culture and the Arts.
Oanh Nguyen Henriksen
Oanh Nguyen Henriksen is Partner and Director of Business Development & Communications at Dorte Mandrup, bringing nearly two decades of experience cultivating new markets and developing strategies for some of the world's most recognized architecture firms, including BIG and 3XN. Her background in urban design informs a deep understanding of the synergy between architecture, business, and societal issues. Beyond her role at Dorte Mandrup, she serves as a board member and mentor for the Dreyers Foundation and the Danish Architectural Association's Grant Program for start-up architecture firms.
Nicolas Fayad and Charles Kettaneh
Nicolas Fayad and Charles Kettaneh are the founders of EAST Architecture Studio, a collective practice working across housing, cultural buildings, exhibitions, master planning, and research. The studio integrates history, traditional culture, and contemporary life through a collaborative, tactile approach that brings together artisanal techniques, innovative design, and expertise from artists, engineers, and environmental specialists. In 2022, EAST received the Aga Khan Award for Architecture, becoming one of the youngest practices to earn this globally recognized distinction; in 2024, the studio won the AlMusalla Prize for a space of prayer and contemplation unveiled at the Islamic Arts Biennale in Jeddah. Their built work and research have been exhibited at the 17th and 19th Venice Architecture Biennales and featured in leading publications including Wallpaper, The Architectural Review, Architectural Record, and Domus.
Javier Ors Ausín
Javier Ors Ausín is an architect and preservation specialist serving as Director of Thematic Programs at the World Monuments Fund, where he oversees a global portfolio spanning three strategic programs: Modernist architecture with a focus on the Global South, Jewish Heritage, and Crisis Response — dedicated to protecting cultural heritage threatened by conflict and natural disasters. His work integrates architecture, international project management, and community-based conservation across Africa, Asia, and Europe. He has lectured at Harvard, Columbia, the University of Toronto, and the University of Miami. He holds a Master in Architecture from the Universidad Politécnica de Valencia and a Master in Design Studies from Harvard University's Graduate School of Design.
The winners of the 6th edition of the ArchDaily Next Practices Awards will be announced in mid-September.
This article is presented by Buildner. As sponsor of the ArchDaily Next Practices Awards 2026, Buildner—the world's leading architecture competition organizer—helps architects get what they enter competitions for: recognition, opportunity, and progress.
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