The Bybee Prize
About the James Daniel Bybee Prize
Since its inception in 2001, in honor of the late James Daniel Bybee – a former president of the Building Stone Institute and then president of Bybee Stone Company – this award is now presented by the Natural Stone Institute to an individual architect or landscape architect for a body of work executed over time and distinguished by outstanding design and use of natural stone. See listing below of past recipients.
The 2026 Bybee Prize will be presented on February 2, 2027 at StonExpo in Las Vegas during the Natural Stone Institute Awards Ceremony. By acceptance of this award, the recipient is expected to prepare a 5-6 minute mp4 video retrospective of their work and attend the ceremony to accept the award.
Nominations must include a concise PDF submission describing why you are nominating this individual and how their life-long body of work has impacted architecture or landscape architecture through the use of natural stone. Career summary and examples of work are encouraged.
NOMINATIONS ARE DUE BY JULY 20, 2026.
Lee Becker, FAIA
2024 Bybee Prize Recipient
Lee Becker is a retired, past Partner with Hartman-Cox Architects, a Washington, DC-based firm established in 1965, that continuously produces award-winning, imaginative and responsible design for institutional, educational and civic clients. Becker joined Hartman-Cox Architects in 1974 and is one of four partners at the firm, including his wife Mary Kay Lanzillotta, FAIA, who have been actively engaged in the design and management of projects in a highly collaborative environment.
Hartman-Cox is particularly noted for its sensitivity and response to site and context, as well as its stylistic flexibility which has consistently created buildings that are appropriate to their surroundings and their function. and is responsible for designing and managing a broad range of project types that include award winning institutional, ecclesiastical, commercial office and mixed use, academic and residential buildings nationwide.
Becker designates natural stone as his design material of choice. For over forty years, he has had the good fortune to design buildings whose exteriors are clad in either Indiana or Alabama limestone and granite. More often than not, their interior walls, floors and furnishings are combinations of marble and French limestones. Limestone is a remarkably workable exterior material, allowing for richness in detail and an exceptional level of craft and design. The success of the stone projects in his Bybee Award winning submission was enabled by incredibly skilled stone artisans and setters, who collaborated on these projects, and provided essential guidance to bring them to reality. Becker states, “I am eternally grateful for the help and knowledge they provided.”
Watch the 2024 Bybee Prize video here.
Past Bybee Prize Recipients:
2022 Bybee Prize Recipient
Tod Williams and Billie Tsien Architects | Partners
2020 Bybee Prize Recipient
FFKR Architects
Salt Lake City, Utah
2018 Bybee Prize Recipient
IBI-CRJA (retired 2016)
Boston, Massachusetts
View more on Carol R. Johnson in the Spring 2018 issue of Building Stone Magazine
2016 Bybee Prize Recipient
Robert A.M. Stern Architects
New York, NY
View more on Robert A.M. Stern in the Fall 2016 issue of Building Stone Magazine
2014 Bybee Prize Recipient
PWP Landscape Architecture
Berkeley, CA
View more on Peter Walker in the Spring 2014 issue of Building Stone Magazine.
2012 Bybee Prize Recipient
Partner-in-Charge of Design
ZGF Architects LLP
2010 Bybee Prize Recipient
RLA, FASLA
OLIN
2008 Bybee Prize Recipient
Pei Cobb Freed Partners
2006 Bybee Prize Recipient
2004 Bybee Prize Recipient
2002 Bybee Prize Recipient
2001 Bybee Prize Recipient
Holzman Moss Bottino Architecture
