College of DuPage architecture alumni win AIA NEI Design Awards

Two College of DuPage architecture alumni were honored by the American Institute of Architects Northeast Illinois Chapter (AIA NEI) at the recent 2025 Design Awards ceremony.

The only student recipients among a group of honorees that included professional architects and firms, Zach Gustafson and Emiliano Sanchez-Magana, were recognized for their second-year studio work at COD.

Gustafson was awarded for his Environmental Education Center project, which featured the design of an innovative and thoughtfully conceived prairie education center on campus.

Sanchez-Magana was recognized for his Urban Infill project, which involved the design of a sustainable community arts center that included galleries, studio workspace and a small residential unit to accommodate visiting artists in Chicago.

Both students completed COD’s Pre-Architecture program last spring and are now third year students at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where they are pursuing degrees in architecture.

The College of DuPage Architecture and Construction Management programs provides students with the artistic, technical, technological and theoretical skills they need to succeed in the field.

The program is offered in three different paths: pre-architecture, construction management and architectural technology.

Learn more about COD’s Architecture and Construction Management programs at cod.edu/academics/programs/architecture/index.html

AIA NEI hosts the Design Awards ceremony to recognize excellence in architecture throughout the western suburbs.

The organization includes more than 550 architects and associate architects in the northern and western suburbs of Chicago and is one of more than 200 local and state chapters that are part of the American Institute of Architects.