Sony World Photography Awards 2026 Architecture & Design Category Winners Announced

The 2026 edition of the Sony World Photography Awards has announced the overall winners, recognizing contributions across the Professional, Open, Student and Youth competitions. Now in its 19th year, the program continues to establish itself as an important platform for both emerging and established practitioners, attracting more than 430,000 applications from more than 200 countries and territories. The program recognizes work across 10 professional categories, including architecture and design, alongside open, student and youth competitions, and is accompanied by an annual exhibition at Somerset House, London.

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The “Architecture & Design” section of the professional competition focuses on photographic approaches that engage with the built environment through formal, social and spatial narratives. This year, Bangladeshi photographer Joy Saha won first place for “Haor House,” while Andre Tezza and Chen Liang won second and third place, respectively. The winning and shortlisted works will be displayed alongside over 300 prints and digital exhibitions providing a broad overview of contemporary photographic practice as part of an exhibition at Somerset House, London from 17 April to 4 May 2026.

Check out the winning and shortlisted photos from the Professional Competition 2026, along with short descriptions from the photographers.

1st place

Haor house in Joy Saha, Bangladesh

Haor House records the vernacular architecture of Kishoreganj, Ashtagram in the Haor region of Bangladesh. Here, houses are built on naturally raised hills, becoming islands during the monsoons, surrounded by seasonal floods, and the main means of transportation is boats. Seen from the air, the settlements form a distinct pattern shaped by elevation, water area, and function. Elevated roads, dense housing, and carefully located livestock spaces reveal how rural areas design and adapt their built environments to landscapes defined by water.

2nd place

“The Structure of Everyday Life” by Andre Tezza, Brazil

This ongoing project documents a small neighborhood grocery store on the outskirts of Curitiba in southern Brazil. These modest structures form an architecture of resistance that persists even as large retail chains reshape the city. Many family-run stores are connected to the home space, combining work, memories, and home in one building. Although the city center is gentrifying, the periphery remains culturally dense and visually vibrant. This series reflects the belief that architectural beauty exists in everyday places that are often overlooked.

3rd place

Chinese Watchtower by Chen Liang (China)

Many of the watchtowers in Jiangmen City, Guangdong Province, China, were built during the Republic of China period (1912-1949) as public shelters and defensive fortifications. Most of them were built by Chinese people living abroad who returned to their hometowns or pooled funds to build them in the countryside, resulting in a unique architectural form that combines both Chinese and Western influences. In 2007, Kaiping Diaolou and Village in Guangdong Province was officially designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

candidate list

“Ad Astra” by Christopher Rogel Blanque Chavez and Daniel Ochoa de Orza, Mexico

During the day, the border wall that separates Mexico and the United States stands tall, giving an impression of its size, but at night, under the starry sky, the wall changes completely.

Historical buildings in Iran: Durability and sustainability through time by Farshid Rahimi Kalahroudi, Iran

Located in the ancient city of Shush (Susa) in southwestern Iran, this place attracts pilgrims, historians, and travelers alike. Believed to be the resting place of the Biblical prophet Daniel, the tomb’s architecture is a blend of Islamic and local Persian styles, featuring a domed structure with intricate brickwork and decorative details.

Hotel Florio by Jean-Marc Caimi & Valentina Piccini (Italy)

A hall overlooking the pine forest surrounding Hotel Florio. Such rooms were used during the 1979 Mafia Summit, providing a fully serviced meeting space within the hotel’s guest and meeting layout.

Night Shift by Mathieu Moindron, France

View from above of the service district. In the foreground, a deserted street is lined with warehouses and offices, with factory chimneys and a half-hidden moon marking the horizon. The entire urban system appears to keep moving without any visible people.

The Northeast Wall by Peter Lipton (Netherlands)

Kabe (meaning “wall” in Japanese) explores the changing landscape of Japan’s northeast coast after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. After a devastating wave crashed over Taro’s historic 10-metre-tall “Great Wall,” the Japanese government began a 10-year project to build a reinforced barrier with giant automatic gates and integrated viewing windows – a “tsunami shield” designed to withstand the immense pressure of floodwaters.

Used houses by Stephan Zirwes (Germany)

Recycling old building materials is a sustainable way to build a small holiday home. Timber, brick and window frames from demolished buildings will be given new life, reducing construction waste and the need for new resources. This reuse not only creates unique and attractive buildings, but also contributes to environmental protection.

Poland, Polish village martyrdom mausoleum in Mishniv by Tomasz Kawecki

The Polish Village Martyr’s Mausoleum in Michniew was built in 2009 by a team led by Mirosław Nizio. This sculptural mausoleum is an architectural monument commemorating the pacification of Michniv and other Polish villages in 1943 during World War II. The monolithic body of the structure is open to nature, sky and landscape, and changes (sometimes suddenly) depending on the weather as light reaches the interior through the gaps between the segments.