Artlog

Originally founded as the Society of Beaux-Arts Architects in 1894, the Institute launched the first prestigious Paris Prize design competition in 1904. The organization took the name “Beaux-Arts Institute of Design” in 1916 and continued, for over 60 years, to celebrate design excellence and award emerging talent through the Paris Prize competition process.

Re-established as the “National Institute for Architectural Excellence” in 1956, the Institute’s programming expanded over the next four decades to include the sponsorship of annual competitions and fellowships.

In 1996, the Institute was renamed after William Van Alen, architect of the Chrysler Building, whose endowment ensured the organization’s continued influence as one of New York’s foremost cultural institutions.

Over the course of the past century, Van Alen Institute has consistently cultivated a fellowship of architecture and design practitioners and scholars, awarded excellence in design, and fostered dialogue about architecture as a public practice.

Today, as conventionally defined fields of knowledge give way to new influences and alternative methodologies, Van Alen Institute reclaims its legacy as an architectural institute that is dedicated to critical inquiry surrounding contemporary forms of public space and new configurations of spatial practice.