Awards and Grants

Every year, the Spotlight Award committee, formed by architects, academics, and design practitioners, convenes to consider local, national, and international architects within the first 15 years of their professional practice who have demonstrated design excellence and curiosity through their body of work. The Spotlight Award is by invitation only.

The 2024 Spotlight Award was awarded to Bangkok Tokyo Architecture, an architectural studio founded by Wtanya Chanvitan and Takahiro Kume in 2017. They are fascinated by open-ended structures and the assembly of ordinary elements—blurring the lines between ordinary and exceptional. Their practice explores resilient forms of living, seeking ways to liberate architecture and find models of sustainability. 

Troy Schaum, associate professor at the Rice University School of Architecture, said of Bangkok Tokyo Architecture’s work, “Wtanya and Takahiro are reformulating elemental logics of structure and form in surprising and inventive ways. In every project, they are ceaselessly asking if the architecture can do more.” Assistant Professor Georgina Baronian commented, "The unabashed pragmatism displayed in the work of Bangkok Tokyo Architecture belies its subtle sophistication, displaying a reverence for the everyday while achieving an architecture of enchantment. Modest yet magical, the recent projects of this young firm speak to larger questions of our present moment—of maintenance, tradition, economy, and adaptation."