For the sixth annual AZ Awards, our intrepid jury narrowed the field from over 800 submissions, received from dozens of countries, to select just 48 finalists that stood above the rest. In addition to presenting the AZ Award winners, Azure recognized these projects, products and concepts with Awards of Merit.

When it opens in 2017, the memorial by Allied Works Architecture will appear to rise from the parkland of the Scioto Peninsula in Columbus, Ohio. The site will include a café, gallery spaces and a two-storey cyclorama outlining the history of military service in the state. But the centrepiece will be the circular rooftop sanctuary, three storeys above ground, where rings of thick concrete will both uphold the structure and envelop it like ribbons on a package. Although the project commemorates a history of turmoil, the architecture tells a story of cohesion and mutual support.

Location: Columbus, U.S.

Firm: Allied Works Architecture, U.S.

Team: Brad Cloepfil, Chelsea Grassinger, Nathan Hamilton and Kyle Lommen, with Jared Abraham, Chris Brown, Kyle Caldwell, Alexis Kurland, Rachel Schopmeyer and Luciana Varkulja