The Yale Peabody Museum expansion project in New Haven, Conn., recently won the 2026 AIA Architecture Award. Designed by Centerbrook Architects and Planners, the project marked the museum’s first major renovation and expansion since it opened in 1925. (Check out the 10 AIA Architecture Award honorees for 2026.)

Based on more than a decade of master planning, the LEED Gold-certified transformation increases teaching, exhibit, and collection space while improving wayfinding, advancing sustainability goals, and preserving the museum’s historic character.

The 172,355-sf project includes extensive renovations and a new 57,631 sf, four-story infill addition between the Peabody and the neighboring Environmental Science Center. 

A new glass entrance tower and skylit central gathering space strengthen campus connections and create a more welcoming public experience.

Throughout the museum, exhibitions and learning environments were reimagined, with remounted fossils, expanded anthropological galleries, restored dioramas, refurbished natural history exhibits, and digitally interactive interpretive systems integrated throughout.

Lower-level collections and research spaces were upgraded with state-of-the-art climate control, restoration labs, and storage systems, while new classrooms, labs, and a K–12 learning center support the museum’s educational mission.

The project also incorporates advanced sustainability strategies including bird-safe glazing, stormwater mitigation, water conservation measures, and high-efficiency mechanical systems projected to reduce energy use despite the museum’s expanded footprint.

The AIA Architecture Award is among the profession’s highest honors, recognizing exemplary design achievement and architectural excellence. The recognition marks Centerbrook’s first national AIA Architecture Award since 1998 and is the firm’s 14th award for the Yale Peabody Museum project.

On the project team:
Owner and/or developer: Yale University
Design architect: Centerbrook Architects and Planners
Architect of record: Centerbrook Architects and Planners
MEP engineer: Arup
Structural engineer: Gilsanz Murray Steficek
General contractor/construction manager: Turner Construction