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Mobs and Microbes wins 2026 RAIC Architectural Journalism and Media Award
15th April, 2026 in Latest news
Mobs and Microbes: Global Perspectives on Market Halls, Civic Order and Public Health, edited by Leila Marie Farah and Samantha L. Martin, has been named Lauréat du Prix d’excellence of the 2026 RAIC Architectural Journalism and Media Award, as announced by the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC).
The publication offers a globally informed and historically grounded reexamination of the market hall as a central architectural and civic institution. Drawing on interdisciplinary research across architectural history, urban studies, and public health, the book reveals how market halls have operated not only as sites of commerce but also as instruments of governance, sanitation, crowd management, and civic order.
The 2026 Annual Awards Jury stated:
“The jury selected Mobs and Microbes: Global Perspectives on Market Halls, Civic Order and Public Health for its exceptional scholarly depth and its timely, globally relevant exploration of the market hall as a civic and political instrument. The book reframes a familiar architectural typology through a critical, historical, and public-health lens, revealing the ways in which these spaces have shaped and been shaped by societal forces including disease, control, governance, and public order.
Jurors praised the manuscript’s clarity, accessibility, and compelling visual and written research. Its interdisciplinary perspective and its relevance to contemporary conversations about public space, civic infrastructure, and social equity were regarded as especially impactful.
This work represents a model of architectural scholarship that deepens public understanding of how architecture participates in broader cultural and political systems.”
The RAIC Architectural Journalism and Media Award honours outstanding contributions that advance public understanding of architecture’s cultural, social, and political dimensions, recognizing Mobs and Microbes as a distinguished example of internationally relevant architectural scholarship.
