MacEwen Award 2025 Longlist: 30 projects epitomising architecture for the common good.

The longlisted entries for the 2025 MacEwen Award are proof that architectural projects of any shape or form can bring significant benefits to communities.

The Riba Journal will be announcing the shortlist on 14 January, and the winning projects on 27 and 28 January, so keep an eye out across our social channels for more news.

The Welcome Arch was created in a collaborative process involving residents, and reflects a sense of place, drawing on the historic textile industry as well as personal insights. A place to sit and converse, as well as enjoy workshops, the arch fulfilled a ceremonial function at the festival’s opening and is now used at a community hub in Nelson.

The Welcome Arch provided a place of gathering at the National Festival of Making – a place to sit with others, have a moment of reflection in the busy festival environment, and enjoy the changing colour reflections as the sun came out. Accompanied by workshops using offcuts from the making process, participants were able to take a piece of the Festival home with them. Working with Dual Works, This is Nelson and members of the community on this commission resulted in a collaborative, high quality and unifying piece of work one that embodies the qualities of making we continuously aim to celebrate.

 

For us, it was a joy to work with the whole Dual Works team whose passion for considered, contemporary design and engagement runs through their work. We were so pleased they played such a significant part of this year’s Festival of Making programme and look forward to working collaboratively again in the future.

–  Elena Jackson, Festival Director

Read the full MacEwen Award 2025 Longlist here.