We’re proud to announce this year’s Indigenous – Social Environmental and Economic Design (I-SEED) Award recipients → projects that center Indigenous leadership, cultural sovereignty, and community-driven design in the built and natural environment.
Congratulations to every team and Nation behind this year’s submissions; your work continues to show what Indigenous-led design makes possible!
This year’s jury reviewed an exceptional field of submissions spanning architecture, landscape architecture, housing, education, justice, and policy, grounded in communities from the Diné Nation to Winnebago, Nebraska; from rural Senegal to urban Minneapolis; from Aboriginal Country in New South Wales to Alaska Native villages along the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta.
Winners will present at the Structures for Inclusion (SFI) Conference, October 8–10, 2026.
2026 Indigenous SEED Award-Winning Projects
Projects will be judged by their relation to an Indigenous community. The participation of the Indigenous community throughout the project will be an important factor, as well as the community’s verification that the intended impact will be of benefit to that community.
Diné Agroecology Resilience
A community-led framework restoring land, food sovereignty, and regenerative economies across the Black Mesa region
MLCV Ventura Urban Housing Project
Affordable, culturally grounded housing for urban Indigenous communities in Minneapolis
Community Ground
A new education platform built by and for a rural Senegalese community
Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska Law and Justice Center
A restorative-justice campus rooted in tribal sovereignty and cultural continuity
Government Architect Connecting with Country Framework
A statewide planning framework centering Aboriginal knowledge systems
Honorable Mentions
Award Criteria
This year, the criteria of the Awards are the mission and principles determined by the I-SEED Advisory Committee of seven Indigenous Leaders. Winning projects will best exemplify these.
The I-SEED Mission
Indigenous People have the right to live in socially, economically, and environmentally healthy communities grounded in cultural heritage and the sacred lands we called or call home.
The I-SEED Principles
PROTECT our culture, language, ceremonies, and thus, our inherent rights – across many generations of our continued existence.
PRESERVE and enhance systems for inclusion and representation, so our communities strongly embody who we are as indigenous peoples around the world.
PROMOTE social cohesiveness and cultural continuity through discourse that reflects our range of values and social identities.
SEEK and make community-driven decisions to grow our capacity to plan, design and build in a way that promotes self-sufficiency and robust, living systems of sovereignty.
TAKE CARE to be good and respectful relatives interconnected to all living things – seen and unseen / known and unknown – who are mindful stewards of our sacred Grandmother Earth.
Projects were judged by their relation to an Indigenous community. The participation of the Indigenous community throughout the project was an important factor, as well as the community’s verification that the intended impact will be of benefit to that community.
Organizers
The award program was organized by Design Corps, the Social Economic Environmental Design (SEED) Network, the Center for Public Interest Design (CPID), and the Indigenous Traditional Ecological & Cultural Knowledge program (ITECK).
