What does great design look like? Find out from this year’s National Design Award winners, announced last week by the Smithsonian Institute’s Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum.

The winner in Architecture Design was Kieran Timberlake, whose entries demonstrate “excellence, innovation, and enhancement of the quality of life,” according to the judging panel. Two other firms also received architectural accolades.

Winner: Kieran Timberlake Loblolly House, Taylors Island, MD, 2006. Photo: Peter Aaron/ESTO

Finalist: Design CorpsGulf Coast raised-house typology, Biloxi, MS, 2007. Rendering: James Sweeney/Design Corps

Finalist: Lake Flato ArchitectsAgudas Achim Synagogue, Austin, TX, 2001. Photo: Paul Rocheleau

National Design Award winners will be recognized at a dinner gala in New York City in October during National Design Week. For more details about the winners, check out this article we found on Archinect.