Andersen’s Bright Ideas Awards Are Back—and More Brilliant Than Ever

Natural light and fresh air are foundational to healthier, more sustainable living spaces.

Last year, Andersen launched its Bright Ideas Awards–in collaboration with Dwell–to celebrate the luminous, solar-oriented homes that embrace that thinking. And we’re pleased to announce the design competition is back for its second year. 

"Daylight is an essential ingredient in a well-designed home," says William Hanley, Dwell’s editor-in-chief. "And we're excited to be continuing our relationship with Andersen and celebrating projects that demonstrate thoughtful and creative use of natural light."

For more than 115 years, Andersen has been helping homeowners bring the outside in and, like Dwell, championing design that improves people’s lives. The 2022 awards will recognize new, completed residential work submitted in two categories: single family and multifamily. There will be one winner and one runner-up in each category.

Selection of Winners

We’ll announce the winning projects online on October 3, 2022. Winners will also be featured in the print version of Dwell this winter.

Panel of Judges

Winners and runners-up will be determined by our panel of judges, which includes:

Brandon Berg, VP of Research & Development at Andersen

Jonathan Feldman, Feldman Architecture

Max Kuo, Partner at AllThatIsSolid and Lecturer at UCLA Architecture and Urban Design

William Hanley, Editor-in-Chief of Dwell

Delia Kenza, DeliaKenza Interiors

Frederick Tang, Frederick Tang Architecture

Award Criteria

The competition is open to licensed individual architects and firms in the U.S. The winning residential projects will be:   

1. Creative in their approach to fenestration and daylighting.
2. Environmentally responsible with safe, healthy living spaces that incorporate recycled, renewable, or otherwise sustainable materials.
3. Structurally innovative in their use of new materials and/or methods.
4. Contextualized and responsive to their surroundings to ensure they fit into their environment.

How to Submit 

Upload your project between now and July 15, 2022. You may submit multiple projects in each category. Submit your project(s) here. 

We’re excited to see what you’ve been creating.

Learn more about the 2021 winners:

This Striking Addition in Austin Is Defined by Clean, Discrete Geometry

A Net-Zero Building in Silicon Valley Gracefully Encompasses Both Work and Play

Community-Minded Living and Sustainable Design Converge in Phoenix

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN THIS CONTEST. VOID IN PUERTO RICO AND WHERE PROHIBITED. Contest begins at 12:00:01 pm PT on 6/3/22 and ends at 10:00:01 pm PT on 7/15/22. Open to licensed Architects who are current legal residents of the 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia, and who are at least 18 and age of majority at the time of entry. See the Official Rules here for detailed entry instructions, eligibility requirements, judging criteria, and other contest details. Winning entries may be featured in editorial coverage on Dwell.com and in Dwell magazine. Sponsor: Andersen Windows, Inc., 100 Fourth Avenue North, Bayport, MN 55003; Administrator: Dwell Media LLC, 595 Pacific Avenue, 4th Floor, San Francisco, CA 94133. Andersen Windows, Inc. collects certain categories of personal information and uses this information in various ways, including contest fulfillment, order fulfillment and providing product information and services to you. For more information, see: andersenwindows.com/support/privacy/.