Even though we already knew who had won ahead of time, we couldn’t help getting excited about  AIA/LA’s ARCH IS__ awards, crowning “two exceptional young architects” at SCI-Arc on Monday night. The winners: Oyler Wu Collaborative and Tom Wiscombe/ Emergent. Both are pushing the envelope in terms of design, materials, engineering, and program, and are even starting to (slowly) build things. Oyler Wu is known for its multi-functional, angular aluminum tube installations like Pendulum Plane at the LA Forum’s new gallery space in Hollywood, and Density Fields at the M&A Gallery in Silver Lake. But with a new commission to build one of 100 new houses at the wacky but visionary Ordos development in Inner Mongolia, the firm is  creating architecture. The size of their house (like all in the development) is ridiculous at around 10,000 square feet. But the design is quite innovative, featuring folded and faceted concrete geometries and interlocking u-shapes wrapped around a large internal void, lit internally by large light wells. Meanwhile Emergent is way ahead of its time in terms of fusing biology and architecture, with structural and mechanical systems that inter-weave and conduct heat, air, and water, just like natural organisms. Its Garak Fish Market in Korea has a kaleidoscopic roof that features colorful gardens and  double pleats which help form the structure and carve out niches for various pieces of program. To see more on these firms check out our next CA issue at the end of this month.