Twenty-five Year Award

The Twenty-five Year Award is an architectural prize awarded each year by the American Institute of Architects (AIA) to "a building that has set a precedent for the last 25 to 35 years and continues to set standards of excellence for its architectural design and significance" and which was designed by an architect licensed in the United States. The Twenty-five Year Award was first presented in 1969, and has been handed out every year from 1971 onward, with the exceptions of 2018 and 2025. In 2026, the prize was awarded to the Philip Merrill Environmental Center in Annapolis, Maryland by SmithGroup.

Five buildings in New York City have received the award, the most of any city. Washington, D.C., is second with three, while Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, and New Haven each have two. Only seven buildings outside of the United States have received the award: two in London, England, and one each in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; Barcelona, Spain; Bilbao, Spain; Paris, France; and Tokyo, Japan.

Finnish American architect Eero Saarinen designed or contributed to six buildings so honored, tied with the architectural firm of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. Louis I. Kahn and Frank Lloyd Wright each have five buildings that have been honored that were designed or contributed to by them; Frank Lloyd Wright has 4, and there are three apiece by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and the firm Pei Cobb Freed & Partners. Of the 53 projects that received this award through 2022, only three had women as contributing architects: the Eames House, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, and the Sainsbury Wing at the National Gallery.