We’re honoured to receive the 2026 AZ Awards Emerging Architecture Firm Award from Azure Magazine. This recognition marks a meaningful milestone for our studio, and we’re grateful to the clients, collaborators, consultants, and community members who have been part of our journey. We’re proud to be recognized alongside such talented and inspiring practices.

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EMERGING ARCHITECTURE FIRM

Winner: AAmp Studio, Toronto

Words: Elizabeth Pagliacolo
Posted: May 29, 2026

NO TWO AAMP STUDIO PROJECTS ARE ALIKE. But all share a set of core principles — a “commitment to care,” as the firm describes it. Operating between Toronto and Portland, Maine, and led by its two Yale University–educated co-founders based in those cities (Anne-Marie Armstrong and Andrew Ashey, respectively), AAmp positions architecture “as an act of stewardship, under-stood as the long-term care of buildings, communities and cultural memory.”

This work also takes place across scales and typologies, from single-home residences to multi-unit, mixed-use buildings to hospitality projects. Among its most impressive works are those that celebrate what already exists. While its ground-up projects, like Ell House (with Ravi Handa Architect) in Prince Edward County, Ontario, position care and consideration for evolving living conditions as central, adaptive re-use is particularly fertile ground for the firm. Projects like Municipal Grand in Savannah, Georgia, and Jones Commons in Toronto are exemplary.

The former transformed a mid-century Federal Savings Bank into a boutique hotel; while introducing new interventions, including rich wood millwork and vibrant textiles, the project sensitively preserves the building’s architectural integrity. In Jones Commons, a seemingly nondescript 1950s building is also given new life and purpose as a live–work building that adds gentle density to the site.

The partners’ dedication to a context-informed approach carries into their written work and their teaching. Unoccupied, an in-progress architectural research book, continues the critical gaze of the firm’s AAnotated journal by investigating “the overlooked structures and spatial artifacts that support human life but are rarely designed for direct human habitation.” In Toronto,Armstrong is an assistant professor at the University of Toronto’s John H.Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design; in Maine, Ashey is a studio instructor at the University of Maine at Augusta. A Black-led, woman co-owned practice (Armstrong is also a co-founder of BAIDA, the Black Architects and Interior Designers Association), AAmp embeds equity and inclusion structurally within its leadership and operations. The ethic of care is full circle.

“Their spaces are always beautifully and thoughtfully designed, are always welcoming and contribute to their respective communities. AAmp Studio has shown exceptional promise with its body of built architectural projects to date.”
Brigitte Shim