2025 SARA NY Design Awards

On June 10th, 2025 SARA NY celebrated our 30th Anniversary of our annual Design Awards Gala at The View at the Battery in Manhattan, New York.

275 architects, contractors, and vendors convened to connect with each other to celebrate and to honor design achievements in architecture. Thank you to everyone who participated in the 2025 SARA NY Design Awards. We would also like to thank our keynote speakers for the evening, Angel A. Dizon III (Northwestern University) and Christine Foushee (the CHANGE collective llc). The jurors for this year's awards: Brian Messana (Messana O’Rorke), Davi Weber (BIG), Matthew Stephenson (Woods Bagot), Valerie Costa (MJM+A & SARA NY Council), Sean Pickering (RAMSA & SARA NY Council). Thank you to our sponsors of the 2025 SARA NY Design Awards, which can be found below. Thank you to all of the SARA NY Past Presidents that attended our 30th Design Awards; we wouldn’t be here without you. And finally, thank you to the SARA NY Board of Directors for once again creating a safe and inclusive event to celebrate architecture.

Read on for the full list of winners and their winning designs, and do check out some of the highlights from the evening's event in our gallery, soon to be posted here.

2025 SPECIAL AWARD WINNERS

Outstanding Achievement Award for the Enhancement of the Profession of Architecture

Barry Milowitz

Barry Milowitz received an Outstanding Achievement Award for the Enhancement of the Profession of Architecture. Barry joined SARA in 1971, and being the singular New York member, he was asked to start a SARA NY Council in 1974. Barry was the very first SARA NY Council President and helped build the New York Council up during the mid 1970s. “The concept of the Society was Architect Helping Architect at a time when architects were fiercely competitive and not very collegial. The few members that we had liked the idea of collaborating and helping each other as we would share experiences and fee structures with each other. The idea of asking another architect about designing a project type that was new was not very popular at the time and the few of us quickly became friends and consultants to each other.” said Barry. New York members became active nationally and many of served on the National Board. Barry also served as SARA National’s President in 1998 and 1999, where he helped to shape the national network into a professional “family,” as one member put it, and spent quarterly board meetings around the country meeting other architects and visiting architecturally significant sites. Barry became a member of NCARB in 1971 and I was licensed in 18 states before there was a national building code-every state had its own code. Barry is the original SARA NY Council President and continues to be involved with the organization today in the truest spirit of “Architect Helping Architect.” We are honored to present the Outstanding Achievement Award for the Enhancement of the Profession of Architecture, to Barry Milowitz.

“As I look back on my career of over 50 years, I can happily say that many of my SARA colleagues have been my close friends.” - Barry Milowitz, SARA NY Council’s 1st President

The Innovation in Affordable Housing Award

The Atrium at Sumner houses
brooklyn, New York, USA

by Studio Libeskind with Lettire

Special Award for Innovation in Adaptive Reuse Design

The Domino sugar Refinery
Brooklyn, New York, USA

by PAU

In 2017, Practice for Architecture and Urbanism (PAU) initiated an adaptive reuse project to transform the historic Domino Sugar Refinery into a vibrant connection between the neighborhood and the waterfront. The renovated building now boasts 15 stories of office space, retail areas, communal workspaces, a private club, and event spaces. A new glass structure was integrated into the existing brick façade, creating a 12-foot gap that accommodates an ecosystem with native plants. The vertical garden was designed by Field Operations, and the interiors were crafted by Bonetti/Kozerski and dencityworks. The project also preserved elements of the original refinery, including the iconic 214-foot chimney and historical machinery repurposed in Domino Park. An LED replica of the “Domino Sugar” sign adds a nostalgic touch. The building is designed to be environmentally responsible with all-electric systems and a water reuse system to reduce pollution. Initially established in 1884, the refinery was the world’s largest sugar producer until its closure in 2004. Recognized as a landmark in 2007, its extensive renovation, including the Domino Park master plan, addresses contemporary urban challenges, as discussed by PAU’s Vishaan Chakrabarti. “The transformation of The Refinery entailed three major design moves—inserting a contemporary building in the sleeve of the historic structure similar to the machinery it once housed, creating a glass barrel vault form that pays homage to the American Round Arch style of the original, and opening the ground floor to the park and the surrounding Williamsburg neighborhood. This approach has created an iconic landmark for the 21st century, offering users natural light, luscious greenery, waterfront views, and a contemporary dialogue with history that most new commercial projects lack. - Vishaan Chakrabarti, Founder and Creative Director of PAU

Special Award for Innovation in Civic Design

NYPD 40th Precinct Police Station
Bronx, New York, USA

by BIG

Located in the southern Bronx, the new NYPD 40th Precinct Station replaces a station house on 138th Street and creates a dedicated space for the community, areas for fitness and training for officers. The 40th Precinct features a new piece of city program: the first ever community meeting room in a New York City police precinct. With its own street-level entrance, the multipurpose space aims to promote civic engagement and encourage dialogue with the community, with the ability to hold classes or events. Offices at the NYPD 40th Precinct look out onto green roofs atop each individual volume, which optimize the building’s energy performance. The station expresses the City’s commitment to environmental responsibility, surpassing the requirements necessary for LEED Silver certification. To design something that is open, welcoming and inviting while at the same time has to be secure and resilient is a huge challeng and what BIG came up with is an inspiring building for the community. Congratulations to BIG for the 2024 SARA special award for Innovation in Civic Design.

2024 WINNERS

Design Awards of Excellence

Design Awards of Honor

Design Awards of Merit

2024 STUDENT WINNERS

Kathryn Marie Firneis Memorial Student Award

DESIGN AWARD OF EXCELLENCE

H20 Hysteria
Brooklyn, New York, USA

by Sophy Feldman | Pratt Institute

SARA NY is proud to bestow the 2024 Kathryn Marie Firneis Memorial Student Scholarship Award to Sophy Feldman, Pratt Institute, for her project H20 Hysteria. In the year 2000, an adaptive reuse project was initiated in Red Hook, with the aim of transforming an old warehouse into a unique oyster and algae farming facility. Additionally, the project features a courtyard water park that seamlessly integrates with the surrounding environment. The brilliance of this water park lay in its dual purpose: it not only provided recreational enjoyment for both children and adults but also played a vital role in supplying water to the park itself, using it as a power source. Ultimately, the project is all about creating a captivating visual spectacle and an ephemeral play space that would leave a lasting impression on visitors and residents alike. This project serves a significant community-building function. Upon arrival, the water park greets guests with a vivid display of colors, effectively blurring the lines between signage and the water slides themselves. The visual spectacle of the water park is designed to be visible from a distance, piquing curiosity and enticing people to draw nearer to appreciate its clarity and artistry. One of the intriguing aspects of the project is its ability to generate a sense of ambiguity. It challenges perceptions by blurring the distinction between an amusement park and a water park, creating a distinctive landmark in the existing urban fabric of Red Hook. In fact, the water slides themselves doubled as eye-catching signage, making them an integral part of the park’s identity.

Design Awards of Excellence

Design Awards of Honor

Design Awards of Merit

2024 SARA NY DESIGN AWARD SPONSORS