Mayfield Wins at the Architizer Vision Awards 2026

Editor's Choice Winner — Drawing: Hand-Drawn

This digitally hand-drawn piece translates Studio Egret West's detailed designs for Mayfield's Chapelfield Gardens into an engaging, visitor-centric story. Rather than presenting a dry, technical plan, the artwork offers a vibrant glimpse into the neighbourhood's future, visualising the new buildings planned around Mayfield Park.

Inspired by the dense, exploratory aesthetic of a 'Where’s Wally?' illustration, the piece replaces traditional architectural formality with playfulness and wonder. This intricate style invites the public to pause and look closer, rewarding careful observers with playful 'easter eggs' that reveal the personality, rigour, and design logic underpinning the proposals.

To emphasise the project’s core priorities, the drawing deliberately distorts scale. Oversized wildlife champions a landscape-led approach, whilst exaggerated human figures animate the dynamic relationship between the new architecture and the adjacent park.

The highly approachable artwork served as a centrepiece for a series of public consultations, successfully engaging the community and helping secure planning approval for Chapelfield Gardens in 2026.

Finalist — Photograph: Environment

A photograph of Mayfield Park—Manchester’s first new city-centre park in over a century, also designed by Studio Egret West—was recognised at this year's Vision Awards.

Captured by SEW's photographer Jarrell Goh, the image celebrates the liberation of the River Medlock, which had been a hidden, culverted relic for over 50 years. The shot is framed around the park's boldest feature: a stainless steel slide spanning the newly revealed water.

By catching the moment excited children discovered the slide on opening day, the image conveys a profound sense of wonder. It crystallises the moment a design on paper became a living, breathing space occupied by joy and celebrating ecological rebirth.

Discussing Architectural Storytelling in Paris

The 2026 Vision Awards were held in Paris at the Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie, where Jarrell Goh was invited to speak on a panel chaired by Architizer's Executive Editor, Hannah Feniak.

Titled 'Where Documentation Ends and Story Begins', the session explored the nuanced boundary between representation and interpretation within architectural media.