The Harry F. Cunningham Gold Medal

The Harry F. Cunningham Gold Medal is the highest honor AIA Nebraska can bestow upon an individual and is awarded in recognition of the most distinguished achievement in architecture or service to the profession of Architecture.

The Gold Medal commemorates the achievements of Harry Francis Cunningham who came to Nebraska as lead architect for Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue’s office during completion of the tower phase of construction for the State Capitol following Goodhue’s death in 1924. It was Goodhue’s revolutionary building design which won the nationwide competition in 1920 for the creation of the state house in Lincoln. Cunningham subsequently established the first school of architecture at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Below is a list of past recipients.

2025 Harry F. Cunningham Gold Medal Recipient

Upon earning his Master’s Degree in Architecture from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Doug Wignall, FAIA, made the deliberate choice to remain in Nebraska, turning down opportunities with well-known East Coast firms. His early work on Omaha projects such as the Joslyn Art Museum addition and the Western Heritage Museum renovation (now the Durham Museum) sparked a deep passion for design excellence-one that has guided every stage of his career.

In 2012, Doug became President of HDR Architecture, and embarked on redefining what a 21st-century global architecture practice could be. He expanded HDR’s reach by opening offices in New York, Los Angeles, Vancouver, Sydney, and London, ensuring that global expertise would strengthen local studios. At the same time, he emphasized that architectural success depends on context-designing buildings appropriate to their cultural, social, political, and environmental settings. Under Doug’s leadership, HDR has won four national Honor Awards, produced three national Young Architect Award recipients, and elevated five architects to Fellowship, all while headquartered in Nebraska.

Doug has been a strong advocate for elevating design culture locally and nationally. For more than a decade, he has served as a founding patron and sponsor of daOMA (Design Alliance OMAha, Inc.) and supported Unicameral Design Magazine. He also championed HDR’s sponsorship of the U.S. Pavilion at the Venice Biennale in both 2021 and 2023, reinforcing the importance of design on the global stage. Closer to home, he led HDR’s gift to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s College of Architecture, resulting in the new HDR Pavilion addition to the iconic Architecture Hall, a project that underscores the firm’s and Doug’s enduring ties to Nebraska.

“Doug’s advocacy of design excellence has guided the firm’s constant transformation, evolving it from a practice focused on technical and planning expertise to a design-driven, 21st-century architecture practice,” said nominator Thomas J. Trenolone, FAIA, LEED AP, NCARB . His strategy of combining organic growth with acquisitions has grown HDR’s non-U.S. business from 11% to nearly 35% of revenues. Under Doug’s leadership, the firm’s practitioners are empowered to challenge conventional practices and innovate across disciplines and geographies. Their diversity-architects, engineers, interior designers, planners, social scientists, clinicians, strategists, researchers, economists and data geeks-speaks to the design culture that Doug has fostered and to his willingness to invest in development, testing and implementation.

Today, he remains an ardent advocate for the power of design, a champion of the idea that architects bring value to the world by applying critical thinking and problem-solving to address pressing social, environmental and economic challenges.