Centerbrook wins 2026 AIA Architecture Award for Yale Peabody Museum renovation and expansion

New Haven, CT Centerbrook Architects and Planners has received a 2026 Architecture Award from the American Institute of Architects for the comprehensive renovation and expansion of the Yale Peabody Museum. The award, which celebrates excellence in contemporary architecture, was announced June 10 during the AIA Awards Gala at AIA26 in San Diego.

The Yale Peabody Museum project marks the institution’s first major renovation and expansion since it opened in 1925. Based on more than a decade of master planning, the LEED Gold-certified transformation increases teaching, exhibit, and collection space while improving wayfinding, advancing sustainability goals, and preserving the museum’s historic character.

The 172,355 s/f project includes extensive renovations and a new 57,631 s/f, four-story infill addition between the Peabody and the neighboring Environmental Science Center. A new glass entrance tower and skylit central gathering space strengthen campus connections and create a more welcoming public experience. 

Throughout the museum, exhibitions and learning environments were reimagined, with remounted fossils, expanded anthropological galleries, restored dioramas, refurbished natural history exhibits, and digitally interactive interpretive systems integrated throughout.

Lower-level collections and research spaces were upgraded with state-of-the-art climate control, restoration labs, and storage systems, while new classrooms, labs, and a K–12 learning center support the museum’s educational mission. The project also incorporates advanced sustainability strategies, including bird-safe glazing, stormwater mitigation, water conservation measures, and high-efficiency mechanical systems projected to reduce energy use despite the museum’s expanded footprint.

The AIA Architecture Award is among the profession’s highest honors, recognizing exemplary design achievement and architectural excellence. The recognition marks Centerbrook’s first national AIA Architecture Award since 1998 and represents the firm’s fourteenth award for the Yale Peabody Museum project.

“It was an honor to do the project and it is an honor to win this award. Hundreds of people worked together to bring the new Peabody into being and they share in this recognition,” said Mark Simon, principal at Centerbrook Architects and Planners.

“From our very first meeting, Mark Simon and his team worked tirelessly to understand what we were trying to accomplish within a complex and challenging project. The new museum functions better than I could have dreamed, and the spectacular design has already inspired hundreds of thousands of visitors. This award is richly deserved,” said David Skelly, director of the Yale Peabody Museum.