The physical design of our neighborhoods and centers within Montgomery County will help guide the quality and shared use of our communities for generations.  When done right, architecture and landscape define these places in a way that fosters their use, their beauty, and their overall prosperity. When incorrectly done, formless architecture that caters to the automobile and is self-referential can be socially isolating and environmentally and economically draining to the entire county.

One of the primary tenants of the new Thrive Montgomery 2050 General Plan is the importance of arts, culture, and design within Complete Communities that support all facets of our daily lives. It is through design that the best aspects of our society and the most positive vision for our future can be realized. Quality design supports equity, contributes to our physical and mental health, creates value, and reinforces environmental resilience. Through design excellence, the designer ensures that public spaces are lined with building entrances, storefronts retail frontages, and the windows of rooms so that the interdependency between the private life of buildings and the collective life of our towns, cities, and neighborhoods can truly animate and promote civic life.

In Montgomery County, we celebrate the architecture and landscapes that make the mundane more interesting and create spaces that enhance human interaction through the Design Excellence program and the biennial Design Excellence Awards. The 2025 Design Excellence Awards will be presented with the Potomac Valley Chapter of the AIA’s Celebrate Design Awards on Thursday, October 16, at the Marriott International Headquarters at 7750 Wisconsin Avenue, Bethesda, MD.

Submissions for awards will be accepted starting May 21, 2025. The deadline is July 21, 2025, at 11:59 p.m.

A 2016 Design Excellence Award winner, the Silver Spring Library by Lukemire Partnership with Montgomery County integrates a dramatic architectural design with future transit and a civic space. It has become a catalyst for pedestrian-friendly streets supported by a wide mix of uses.

In architecture, design excellence requires balancing the functional goals and artistic vision of a building to serve and inspire people. The physical design of buildings and landscapes not only supports a great public realm, but also has the power to attract and inspire people in a way that can sustain our environmental, social, and economic vitality. Architecture, urban, or landscape design at all scales of development has the power to make our world resilient, equitable, and better.

Montgomery Planning’s 2025 Design Excellence Awards will be held Thursday, October 16, 2025, at the Marriot International Headquarters & Hotel in downtown Bethesda, MD. The building was a 2023 Design Excellence Award winner.

Montgomery Planning is accepting submissions for this year’s top honor – the newly named Gwen Marcus Wright Design Excellence Award in architectural, urban design and/or landscape design. We will also honor an exceptional residential design for multi-family projects built in the county during the past ten years.

An independent jury of developers, planners, and architects will choose our county’s best work. This five-member jury is highly acclaimed and extremely well respected within the regional and national public, academic, and development circles. This year’s jury includes:

• Duncan Lyons, RIBA – Principal, Design Director – Gensler
• Michael Watkins, FAIA, FAICP – Principal, Michael Watkins Architects
• Colleen Healey, AIA – Principal, Colleen Healey Architecture
• Kate Ries, ASLA – President, Clinton+Ries Landscape Architects
• Uwe Brandes – Director, Georgetown University Urban and Regional Planning Program

About the author
Paul Mortensen is the Senior Urban Designer in the Director’s Office at the Montgomery County Planning Department and leads the Design Excellence program. He is a registered architect in California, Washington, and Maryland, is a LEED-Accredited Professional, and is a member of the Congress for New Urbanism.