Honouring the designs shaping India

India is building at a pace few countries match, and great work is being done at every scale across the country. A practice’s team size and resources influence the scale and complexity of projects it can undertake. Yet most awards set a small studio against firms many times its size, or carry the name of a product brand. The India Architecture Awards were founded to recognise the country’s best work on its merit, alongside practices of a similar size.

Thirty categories in four groups. Most have three winners, a Boutique Practice, a Mid-sized Practice and an Enterprise Practice; a few are open to two practice sizes only.

• Architecture Built: completed buildings in India.
• Architecture Future: concept designs, unbuilt work and buildings under construction.
• Interior Design: completed interiors.
• Firm of the Year: a body of work, with two awards for emerging firms.

An invited jury of recognised architects and design professors evaluates every entry blind, on four criteria: idea, response to place, craft, and value to the people who use it. The jury sees the work, never the firm’s name.

Three plain words that say exactly what a winner has won. The title is not tied to a cement, tile or paint brand, carries no acronym to decode, and means the same to a homeowner as it does to a government department.

Partners support each edition, but no partner sits on the jury, sees an entry before the results or shapes a decision.

The shortlist and winners are announced online, and shortlisted and winning work is published permanently in our archive. With no gala night to fund, entry fees stay within reach of a practice of any size.

1. Submissions open for the 2027 edition1 December 2026
2. Entries close31 March 2027
3. The first shortlist is published30 April 2027
4. The first winners are announced31 May 2027