Awards
2020
AIA Next LA Design Honor Award
for the Dark ChaletAIA Next LA Merit Award
for Orange Barrel Media Headquarters2017
AIA Next LA Design Honor Award
for the Sunset SpectacularLos Angeles Business Council Design Award
for Main Museum of Los Angeles ArtChicago Athenaeum American Architecture Award
for Main Museum of Los Angeles Art2016
Nominated for the USA Artists Award
Winner of the West Hollywood Sunset Spectacular Competition
2015
AIA Next LA Design Award
for The Main Museum of Los Angeles Art2014
AIA Next LA Design Honor Award
for Kinmen Passenger Service CenterSecond Prize, Stage II, Kinmen Passenger Service Center Competition
Open International competition2013
Winner, MoCA Pavilion for The New Sculpturalism Competition
Invited competition2011
First Prize, Shenyang Civic Sports Center Competition
Invited competitionFirst Prize, Shenyang National Games Judo Arena Competition
Invited competition2010
AIA Award winner, ARCH_IS ‘Young Architectural Talent’ Award
2009
‘Best and Brightest’, Esquire Magazine
ICON Magazine’s ‘20 Architects Who Will Shape the Future’
2008
Selected as one of ICON Magazine‘s ‘50 Most Influential Design Practices’
2007
Second Prize in Novosibirsk Pavilion Competition
Open international competitionFinalist, Stage II, Czech National Library Competition
Open international competition2005
Second Prize in Seoul Performing Arts Center Competition
Open international competition2004
Architectural League Young Architect’s Prize
2003
2004 NY Engineering Awards - Platinum Award for P.S.1
MoMA/ P.S.1 Young Architect Award
Accolades
"This project [The Dark Chalet] is unanimously recognized for its aggressive rigor, control over gravity, and materiality, adding grace to complexity. We should all sleep better at night knowing that beneath the nerve-wracking gymnastics, there is an underlying performance rationale. Undeniably, it is a dastardly, indivisible fusion of tectonics and stereotomy. Grotesque yet inexplicably attractive, it is a strange, mesmerizing new realm where familiar associations weirdly unfold and unravel."
- Michael Fox, David Hertz, Kunlé Adeyemi, Mohamed Sharif AIA LA Next LA Jury
"This project [OBM HQ] exudes great vim, vigor, and intoxicating character. The project adopts a convincing strategy for spacemaking and a commitment to performalism. Everyone who works there will be completely and pleasantly surprised their building is so rationalized beneath the surface."
- Michael Fox, David Hertz, Kunlé Adeyemi, Mohamed Sharif AIA LA Next LA Jury
“Tom is one of the most inspiring and engaging architects I have ever worked with. His work is beautiful, relentless, and technologically innovative. As a leader in the solar industry, I am particularly impressed with the 364% energy positive solar system that Tom designed for my project -- an audacious achievement perfectly integrated into the architectural form. Tom is also a true leader: attentive and responsive to me as his client and to the other stakeholders involved, and yet always surefootedly committed to the integrity of the design vision and to ensuring its execution in the world without compromise. I consider him to be a world class talent."
- Tom Buttgenbach, Co-founder and CEO of 8Minute Energy Developer of the largest solar fields in the U.S. 6,092,826,119 kWh of solar energy produced to date...and counting.
“I am convinced that Tom is one of the most important young architects working in the United States today. I admire his work for its formal and conceptual inventiveness, but also for its deep-rooted constructability. His design for The Main Museum is premised on the idea of weaving existing historical features together with bold, contemporary architecture, creating an incredible resonance."
- Tom Gilmore, Developer Responsible for the renaissance of downtown Los Angeles, client for the Main Museum.