The Architecture MasterPrize 2026 jury has named the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library in Medora, North Dakota, Architectural Design of the Year, with winners announced in Los Angeles on October 19, 2026.

According to KFYR, the library was picked from entries representing 92 countries, judged on design excellence, originality, function and sustainability.

The prize recognizes outstanding work across architecture, interior design and landscape architecture, and is intended to advance the appreciation of architecture worldwide. The library was designed by the firm Snøhetta for the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library Foundation.

What makes the result striking is that a presidential library in a small Badlands town outcompeted submissions from nearly a hundred countries, and that its winning strategy was restraint rather than spectacle.

As The Flag (AM 1100) reports, the building sits along the edge of a bluff with a sloping design intended to complement the terrain rather than dominate it, offering sweeping views toward Theodore Roosevelt National Park, the Little Missouri River Valley and Roosevelt's Elkhorn Ranch.

KFYR adds that an article by scandinaviandesign.com credits landscape architects and ecologists with shaping the site and building into one cohesive design drawn from Roosevelt's own reflections on the North Dakota landscape.

Both outlets describe a building meant to be experienced, not just studied. "The landscape defines the presidential library for Theodore Roosevelt," the project's description states, and "visitors don't just learn about the 26th president; they learn from him: to be bold isn't always to be loud."

KFYR reports that Snøhetta began a prairie conservation project in the summer of 2022, collecting seeds from more than 200 local grassland species around Medora, including on Roosevelt's Maltese Cross and Elkhorn Ranch properties.

According to KFYR, North Dakota State University's research center in Hettinger dried, cataloged, germinated and multiplied the seeds before they were planted on the library's roof, connecting it to 3,000 acres of nearby National Grasslands.

The award puts the library among projects honored worldwide for architectural design excellence and positions it, per The Flag (AM 1100), as a major cultural and educational destination in western North Dakota celebrating Roosevelt's conservation legacy.

The winning design team is credited as Craig Dykers, Michelle Delk, Matt McMahon, Aaron Dorf, Kurt Marsh, Daniel Marty and Prince Langley. For now, the recognition gives Medora an international architectural profile heading into the library's public life.