Ankie Barnes Wins the 2025 Design Leadership Award
The DLN Advisory Board Member and Design Leadership Foundation board member accepted the award onstage at the Palacio de Liria in Madrid.
The DLN Advisory Board Member and Design Leadership Foundation board member accepted the award onstage at the Palacio de Liria in Madrid.
There’s a common reaction when you say the name “Ankie Barnes” to any member of the DLN; invariably, faces light up, a smile breaks out, and some version of “he’s just the nicest guy” is exclaimed. So, as Michael emphasized in the presentation of the award at Madrid’s Palacio Liria last November, it was one of the easiest decisions ever to award Ankie the 2025 Design Leadership Award.
Ankie’s congeniality is a frequent introduction to our community: He joins nearly every new member onboarding call, serving as one of the first to greet incoming members, effusing the camaraderie of our organization—and he truly means it. At events and gatherings he’ll greet decades long and brand new friends with the same warmth. He was one of the first and most ardent supporters of the Design Leadership Foundation, enthusiastically sharing his knowledge with hundreds of design students.
Ankie’s frank unpretentiousness and unfailing kindness are noticed by everyone he encounters. “Humility—he has it in spades,” says Ankie’s longtime friend Tom Kligerman, who first met him studying architecture at Yale and reconnected decades later through the DLN. “He is not one to toot his own horn. He's very modest. If things come out about his achievements, it's by accident, but when I finally get the little glimmerings of the kinds of jobs he does and the range that he works in, it's amazing.”
Ankie’s friends and colleagues credit that to a lifelong love of learning and an insatiable curiosity, fed by frequent travel, constant mentorship, and passionate involvement in organizations like the Lutyens Trust for America, Institute for Classical Art and Architecture, and, of course, the DLN.
“His intellect is unstoppable,” says Richard Zantzinger, founder of Zantzinger Built and a frequent collaborator of Ankie’s in the Washington, DC, area. “When he shows up to a meeting, he’s done his research; he knows everything there is to know about the site. And then he leads everybody through his vision and brings the client along in the creative process as he goes, so they're invested from day one in a really special way, and then there's no doubt that he takes that vision all the way through to the last meeting.”
Vision is exactly what Ankie gave longtime clients Katherine and David Bradley, who have trusted him with six homes over the past three decades. “We had a project where I wasn't able to put my thoughts to paper, but I described it to Ankie, and he said, ‘Well, why don't we do it right now,’” recalls David. “And he took out a piece of paper and I watched him create the house I had in mind.”
“He's clearly very accomplished, very brilliant, very capable, but I think that he is approachable, and I think that that helps people to let people's guard down,” says Marmi founder Magd Riad, a frequent travel companion. “Whether they're titans of industry, or they're building their 10th home with him, they're very comfortable with him.”
“When they’re choosing an architect, I tell potential clients, ‘in the end, everything being equal, pick the person you like,’” says Tom. “And I'm just glad I don't come up against Ankie when I'm trying to get a job very often; he is a gentle but fierce competitor, almost in spite of himself.”
During last year’s DLN Community Gathering in our shared home city, Ankie, unsurprisingly, became our unspoken ringleader. The first to volunteer tours of his office and an exceptional job site, he proudly stood back while his partners explained their work and took an engaged interest in that of his peers.
As we drove through the streets of Georgetown between tours, Ankie issued a steady stream of anecdotes on the architecture and history of the buildings passing by, originally meant only for his seatmate; despite his humility, the entire group was soon craning necks to hear the official Ankie tour. While we explored John Russell Pope’s Meridian House, Ankie could be found bouncing between old friends and younger members, pointing out details only his eye would catch, sharing a bit of his genius with those lucky enough to be in his orbit.
Ever curious, ever generous, ever interested: That is Ankie Barnes. What better example of the DLN is there?
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