Architecture & Design Collection Awards: a glass and aluminium prism, two materials in a single piece

Since 2022, the Architecture & Design Collection Awards (ADCA) have recognised architecture and design projects from around the world. They are run by Architecture & Design Community from Kraków.

The trophy completes the digital recognition that projects receive—a certificate, a personalised logo and a dedicated page—with a physical object made of glass and aluminium.

This article looks at how the ADCA trophy is built and what design lessons it offers brands that want to create one of their own.

Contents

• ADCA trophy design and materials: engraved glass and aluminium
• From Platinum to Bronze: what ADCA winners receive
• An ADCA winner in the design press
• How to combine two materials without letting them compete
• ADCA 2026: key dates
• A trophy that draws volumes on glass
• Frequently asked questions

ADCA trophy design and materials: engraved glass and aluminium

The organisers describe the ADCA trophy as a deliberate union of cold metal and deeply carved glass. That union becomes a contrast of materials: the transparency of the glass against the opacity of the aluminium. Together they form a single vertical prism.

The glass sits at the top. Its lower edge draws a V that descends to the front edge of the aluminium, and the metal rises on either side of that V. The join is therefore diagonal rather than a horizontal cut. The top piece has a polygonal outline with chamfered corners and is engraved with the award’s logo.

The faces of the glass are covered with a pattern of cubes in isometric perspective. Each face of each cube is filled with parallel lines running in a different direction, and this variation in angles creates a sense of volume on a flat surface. Isometric perspective is a device of architectural drawing, the field the award recognises.

The glass is faceted and translucent. The brushed aluminium leaves a fine-textured matt surface in contrast to the transparency of the glass.

With these features, the trophy reads as a prism of two materials joined on the diagonal. The aluminium takes the lower part and the glass carries the motif, drawn with the same parallel stroke used to build the letters of the award’s logo.

From Platinum to Bronze: what ADCA winners receive

An international jury scores each project on three criteria: innovation and originality, design and aesthetic quality, and functionality and spatial integration. The average of the scores determines one of four levels—Platinum, Gold, Silver and Bronze—so that each level sums up the jury’s assessment in a comparable result.

Each recognised project receives digital assets and the option of a physical object, so winners can showcase their result on their website, in client proposals and on a desk. The main ones are:

• Certificate of achievement: a digital document the studio can attach to proposals and portfolios as proof of the recognition.
• Personalised logo: a badge of its own for the website and social media, which takes the recognition to the studio’s channels.
• Dedicated page and homepage feature: it exposes the project to visitors of the Architecture Collection platform.
• Post on the award’s Instagram and Facebook: it spreads the project among the audience of the organisation’s channels.
• Physical trophy: winners can order it separately with their project details, and it turns the recognition into an object the studio can display.

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An ADCA winner in the design press

The Manila-based digital magazine Kanto published a feature on the five awards won by the Cebu-based architecture studio Zubu Design Associates in the 2023 edition. Two of them were Platinum, and the studio was among that year’s 156 winners.

Kanto is aimed at creative professionals, among whom may be the studio’s future clients and collaborators. A piece of this kind, produced by an outlet independent of the award, is what is known as earned media: the visibility a project earns on its own merit.

The feature remains published on the magazine’s website, where it links the studio’s name with that of the award.

How to combine two materials without letting them compete

When a brand combines two materials in its trophy, it helps to give each one a different role. At the ADCA, the glass carries the graphic motif and the brushed aluminium makes up the rest of the body, so each material can be told apart at a glance. If the join is also resolved with a clean cut, like the ADCA’s V, the seam becomes a design feature.

In turn, carrying a graphic device from the logo onto the surface, such as its stroke, strengthens consistency with the brand without copying its silhouette. The parallel hatching of the glass repeats the stroke used to build the letters of the ADCA logo. Any brand can draw out an equivalent feature, such as an angle, a module or a line weight.

A glass that carries the pattern, an aluminium that cradles it in a V and a stroke taken from the logo all follow a single decision: that the materials and the graphics reinforce one another.

ADCA 2026: key dates

The fifth edition brings together twelve disciplines and is currently under evaluation, with registration and project submission closed. The official calendar of the edition sets these dates:

• Registration: until 16 October 2026; the deadline is extended until 12:00 (UTC+2) the following day.
• Project submission: 19 October 2026.
• Winners announced: 18 November 2026.
• Trophy order: within 30 days of the announcement.
• Trophy production and delivery: between 7 and 14 weeks.

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A trophy that draws volumes on glass

The ADCA trophy turns isometric perspective into an engraved motif: cubes of parallel lines fill the glass, the brushed aluminium cradles it in a V and the stroke of the logo is repeated in the hatching. In this way, the isometric drawing of architectural plans becomes an object with real volume.

At Sustain Awards, we design and handcraft custom trophies that carry the stroke of your brand’s logo onto the surface of the piece.

Frequently asked questions