It has been my task to photograph the winners of The Test of Time Awards each year for a special issue of Architecture Today magazine, we are currently putting the finishing touches to the 2025 winners issue.
Revisiting these projects long after completion is always illuminating, humbling, inspiring. Time reveals things no jury visit ever can.
If you have a project that has stood its ground, adapted to change, and continued to matter, I encourage you to consider entering.
Why these awards exist
“We launched these awards as a direct riposte to the prevailing awards culture.
Instead of focusing on what is new, fresh, perfect, or pristine, we look at what has endured—what is flexible, adaptable, resilient; what works, what performs, what continues to serve.
Submitting an entry is not an exercise in salesmanship or showmanship. It is an act of engagement: revisiting projects with the benefit of hindsight, reflecting honestly on lessons learned, and acknowledging how buildings behave once architecture meets reality.
The aim is not to stage an annual beauty parade, but to establish a canon—an archive of projects that represent best practice and have demonstrably earned their place over time.
Crucially, these awards exist to make the long-term value of architecture visible: to show that responsibility, longevity, and performance are not secondary virtues, but the very measure of success.”
Isabel Allen
Editor
What the profession says:
These are the only awards that matter.
Paul Monaghan, AHMM
These awards have real integrity.
Robert prewett, Prewett Bizley Architects
I found the process of these awards far more useful and satisfying than any other. It genuinely made me reflect—which, in this industry, is no small thing.
Glenn Howells, Howells
In some ways, it’s more exciting to win an award for something that’s been there for over 20 years. It proves that it works—not just that it looked good on the day of handover.
Dav Bansal, Howells
For me, the greatest reward an architect can receive is history itself—and these awards capture exactly that. They celebrate the enduring relationships we build with our clients long after a project is complete.
Peter Bishop
This is a critically important award, particularly in the era we live in, where responsibility is increasingly central to architectural practice. This is not about designing something wonderful and then disappearing; it’s about standing by your decisions. Judging projects three, five, ten—and in one case, sixty—years on is a powerful way of reflecting on those responsibilities, and reminding ourselves what they really mean.
To say we are overjoyed with the award is an understatement. These are exceptional awards that recognise architecture with genuine impact and lasting legacy.
