Architecture Fifth Year Receives 2026 President’s Award

A young woman with long brown hair, wearing a navy blue textured blouse, smiles while sitting at a white table in a bright, modern indoor setting.

Fifth-year architecture student Layla Harbison is the College of Architecture, Design and Construction’s (CADC) 2026 recipient of the prestigious Auburn University President’s Award.

The President’s Award recognizes one student in each Auburn University school or college who has completed at least three semesters with a minimum grade-point average of 3.40 and who possesses outstanding qualities of leadership, citizenship, character and promise of professional ability. Nominated for the award by faculty in the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture (APLA), Harbison will graduate in May with a Bachelor of Architecture and a Bachelor of Interior Architecture.

Two smiling people pose with the Auburn University tiger mascot outdoors, all standing close together in front of trees and a building.
As President of CADC Ambassadors since fall 2025, Harbison played an active role in representing the college at student events throughout the academic year.

Originally from Hayden, Alabama, Harbison has been recognized with numerous accolades—including the Faculty Book Award for the Spring 2023 Barcelona Study Abroad Studio and the 2021–2022 Foundation Unit Studio—and has been consistently named to the Dean’s List. She has participated in the Associated School of Construction Design-Build Competition team, winning first place four times and being awarded the Best Presenter Award in the February 2025 competition in Dallas.

A woman stands at a booth with architectural models and talks to a man at an indoor event or career fair.
Harbison made the most of her time at Auburn, attending the APLA Career and Internship Fair each year to connect architecture and design firms.

Harbison is currently conducting research on missing middle housing for Birmingham, Alabama—working to design medium density, stigma-free multi-family housing in single-family neighborhoods as part of her architecture thesis. She recently completed her interior architecture thesis about creating spatial ownership for a restaurant within a collective retail space.

She has been a member of the CADC Ambassadors since 2022, serving as Vice President of External Affairs in 2024–2025 and President in 2025–2026. Additionally, she has held leadership roles in CADC Student Council, Honor’s Congress and Auburn’s chapters of the Design-Build Institute of America and American Institute of Architecture Students.

After graduation, Harbison hopes to work in the hospitality sector or on branded environments and plans to seek licensure in both architecture and interior design.

A group of people are having a discussion in front of architectural drawings and plans displayed on a wall in a modern studio setting.
Harbison, pictured here in an Interior Architecture review, will graduate will both a Bachelor of Architecture and a Bachelor of Interior Architecture this spring, marking the culmination of her work across disciplines and scales.

“Architects are often overtly serious and self-important. Layla provides an instructive counterexample,” said Associate Professor Kevin Moore. “While conscientious, inquisitive and quietly studious, her geniality is wholly disarming. Instead of brooding and rubbing her chin, Layla meets important moments with a thoughtful and beaming smile.”

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Student Experience, Student Recognition

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Kevin Moore