All too often public buildings can fall short on creativity, but with the launch of the Design + Construction Excellence Program in 2004, the Bloomberg administration has raised the ante and tapped a number of top architecture firms from around the world to work on a slew of new city projects. The New York City Department of Design and Construction (DDC) announced today that they have selected 26 emerging and leading architecture firms out of pool of 264 applicants to participate in the next wave of the program, including the likes of BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group,  nArchitects, and TEN Arquitectos.

“Working in partnership with these talented architects and DDC’s client agencies, we will continue to build New York’s libraries, firehouses, police precincts, EMS stations, cultural institutions, and other projects with creativity, beauty, and an emphasis on community improvement,” said Commissioner David J. Burney in a statement.

From this group of firms, six will be considered for projects costing more than $15 million, and twenty will be assigned to projects of less than $15 million. The DDC selected the following twenty firms for the under $15 million group: Abruzzo Bodziak Architects, Bade Stageberg Cox Architecture, Belmont Freeman Architects, Biber Architects, Cooper Joseph Studio, FR-EE Fernando Romero Enterpris, Gray Organschi Architecture, Hanrahan Meyers Architects, Leroy Street Studio, Levenbetts, Matthew Baird Architects, Monica Ponce de Leon Design and Architecture, Moorehead & Moorehead, nArchitects, Rice + Lipka Architects, Smith-Miller + Hawkinson Architects, Spacesmith, Studio SUMO, WXY, and Yoshihara McKee Architects.

The six firms that will focus on projects of more than $15 million include: Allied Works Architecture, BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group, Ennead, Steven Holl Architects, Studio Gang Architects, and TEN Arquitectos.