Announcing the Winners of the Awards for Emerging Excellence in the Classical Tradition

The Institute of Classical Architecture & Art (ICAA) is pleased to announce the winners of the Awards for Emerging Excellence in the Classical Tradition. The Awards for Emerging Excellence are a suite of prizes that recognizes exceptional talent exhibited by young professionals in architecture, landscape, and craftsmanship. The Awards seek to highlight emerging talent that engages with classical design, demonstrating a thoughtful use of precedents from the past in projects that are forward-looking, creative, and holistically demonstrate their talents.

Connor McKell Bingham has been named the winner of the Architect’s Prize For Excellence in Architecture. The Prize, given with The King’s Foundation and INTBAU, is awarded to an emerging architect whose work exhibits a holistic understanding of the principles of classical design, and whose projects show a demonstrable excellence in their design.

Connor McKell Bingham is a principal and co-founder of Pierre McKell Architects with active projects spanning coast to coast.

Prior to starting his own firm with business partner, Jacques Pierre Levet, Connor had a decade-long tenure with Historical Concepts’ president, Andrew Cogar, who accentuated Connor's passion for bespoke design and attuned his business acumen. As an architect with Historical Concepts, Connor designed and managed several award-winning projects which have been published in Architectural Digest, LUXE, Ocean Home Magazine, Atlanta Homes & Lifestyles, and others.

Connor received a Bachelor of Architectural Studies from the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture and was the final undergraduate student to live, work, and study in Frank Lloyd Wright’s homes and studios—Taliesin and Taliesin West. He then obtained a graduate degree from the University of Colorado Denver where he simultaneously earned the Certificate in Classical Architecture offered by the ICAA. His blended educational background aptly prepared him for practice with immersion in both the classical and contemporary traditions.

Now as an owner and principal at Pierre McKell Architects, Connor is committed to supporting the firm’s guiding design philosophy of excellence, which is rooted in referencing historical precedents, collaborating with leading artisans, sourcing natural materials, and sensitively responding to context. Connor McKell Bingham is driven to design buildings that truly enrich the lives and day-to-day experiences of his clients.

Jonathan Hopkins has been named the winner of the Bunny Mellon Prize for Excellence in Garden Design. The Prize is awarded to an emerging designer whose work furthers the ICAA’s commitment to design and craftsmanship as being vital to lasting and meaningful places. Further, the prize honors emerging professionals that demonstrate skilled knowledge of horticulture in a design that holistically considers the symbiosis between outdoor environments and physical structures and is in the spirit of Bunny Mellon’s “ceaseless interest, passion, and pleasure” in gardens, horticulture, and design.

Jonathan Hopkins is a landscape designer based in Connecticut whose work centers on creating enduring residential gardens shaped by craft, atmosphere, and a deep sensitivity to place. Raised on a retired farm in rural South Georgia, he developed an early understanding of the landscape as both setting and experience, an awareness that continues to inform his design approach today. He earned his degree in Landscape Architecture from the University of Georgia's College of Environment and Design and began his career working on civic and institutional projects across the American South.

Over time, Jonathan’s practice evolved toward private landscapes and the intimate scale of domestic life, where gardens become extensions of architecture and daily ritual. His work is characterized by a romantic sensibility grounded in structure: thoughtful spatial sequencing, refined material choices, and planting design that emphasizes fragrance, seasonal progression, and layered detail. He is especially drawn to the idea of time as a design medium, creating landscapes that feel established, storied, and inevitable, even when newly made.

Informed by garden history and the classical tradition, Jonathan’s projects aim to balance clarity and beauty with a sense of discovery and lived-in ease. He is an avid garden traveler and sketcher, and he approaches design as a practice of close observation, believing the most successful landscapes are those that invite return, deepen with familiarity, and offer lasting pleasure through the seasons.

Patrick Lemmon has been named the winner of the Maker’s Prize for Excellence in Craftsmanship. The Prize is awarded to the emerging craftsperson, artist, or tradesperson whose work demonstrates a wealth of knowledge and excellence in a traditional building art, such as ornamental plaster, decorative painting and finishing, furniture design, masonry, blacksmithing, or any other allied art.

Lead builder and architectural designer for Orthodox Masonry, Patrick Lemmon is a traditionally-trained builder specializing in structural masonry and timber frame construction and design. A native of the Carolina Piedmont, Patrick has built all across the Eastern United States. After earning a bachelor’s degree in music and philosophy, Patrick completed a three-year apprenticeship with master builder Clay Chapman and the Hope For Architecture building initiative. Joining HFA as its first full-time apprentice, he played an integral role in shaping the program while focusing on the design and construction of multi-century structures.

Beyond his professional work, Patrick’s additional projects and pursuits include developing hand-stitched leather tool pouches, researching thermal mass performance in structural masonry construction, cataloging lime mortar samples, teaching workshops, and presenting at speaking engagements.

Committed to engaging in the global building conversation on preserving and advancing the craft of traditional building, Patrick is honored to be a member of the INTBAU College of Traditional Young Practitioners, a member of the Stone Trust, and certified through the DSWA.

The prizes were awarded by a jury of distinguished architects, designers, and professionals.

The ICAA is grateful to the Richard Hampton Jenrette Foundation for its generous support of the Awards for Emerging Excellence in the Classical Tradition.

The ICAA is also grateful to the Gerard B. Lambert Foundation for its generous support of The Bunny Mellon Prize for Excellence in Garden Design, along with the Bunny Mellon Premier Sponsor: Janice Parker Landscape Architects, the Bunny Mellon Curricula Lead Sponsor Hollander Design Landscape Architects, and Bunny Mellon Landscape Prize Sponsor Betty and Robert Balentine.

The ICAA is grateful to Sarah Magness for her support of the Maker's Prize for Excellence in Craftsmanship.

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