One entry looks halfway around the globe to bring fresh life to the Yamuna River in India’s capital, New Delhi, while the other imagines a new kind of museum in the heart of America’s capital city.

Facing competition with architecture firms around the region, University of Virginia School of Architecture graduate students Joe Brookover and Mohamed Ismail each garnered honors in the 2016 Unbuilt Awards, run by the Washington, D.C. chapter of the American Institute of Architects. The awards recognize design ideas that push conceptual exploration and innovation and generate new discussion in design thinking.  

Brookover was one of two entrants to receive an Honor Award and the only student to earn that distinction. His submission offers a glimpse of the School of Architecture’s long-term research initiative, “Re-Centering Delhi ,” a three-year collaboration developing urban planning solutions for the Indian capital.

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Switzerland’s ambassador to New Delhi, Linus von Castelmur, was so captivated by Re-Centering Delhi he hosted a 15-day exhibit at the Swiss embassy in November of 2014. “It was received much better than expected, with hundreds attending,” Alday said. “There were professionals and academics, members of the public and bureaucrats from different government agencies and members of the diplomatic community. Every day we were asked to give guided visits to several important people in New Delhi,” Alday said, including a private tour for India’s former ambassador to the United States, Meera Shankar.