We had the first Lloyd Dorfman Architecture Awards yesterday afternoon. The Benjamin West lecture theatre was used to good effect for presentations by five architectural practices from around the world: Go Hasegawa from Japan; Rahel Shawl from Ethiopia; Architectura Expandida from Colombia; Alireza Taghaboni from Iran; and Anne Holtrop, who was stuck on Eurostar, so his work was presented by someone else. They were admirably thoughtful presentations of work grappling with very different political and ideological circumstances. However beautiful and intelligent Go Hasegawa’s work was in its use of materials and stretching of small-scale architectural space, it could not quite match the impressive dignity with which Alireza Taghaboni presented the work he has designed in the difficult political circumstances of Iran. He was a deserving winner for the first year of these new architectural awards.