Creative Brief

This piece is Quinn Evans’ written submission for the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Architecture Firm Award, the highest honor the AIA bestows on an architectural practice. In addition to a firm’s design portfolio, the Firm Award takes into consideration its impact on the architectural profession.  

Our goal was to convince the selection committee that Quinn Evans embodies the AIA’s highest values – that our philosophy, body of work, and management practices provide a model to which other firms should aspire.

Our main message for this award submission is that we’re advancing climate action and social equity through the transformation of the built environment. This message speaks to two of AIA’s current priorities.

We also wanted to showcase our collaborative approach to design, which we feel makes us stand out from other architecture firms. Because our narratives focus on equity and collaboration, we chose to display quotes and headshots of individual team members throughout the document.

Beyond presenting a beautiful portfolio, we wanted to show the selection committee that we work and think differently from other firms. Putting our firm ethos into action, our Firm Award team spent dozens of hours interviewing Quinn Evans staff to deeply understand the work they do and the way they do it. These conversations form the backbone of the Practice and Profession sections that bookend the Portfolio.