1. ArchDaily
  2. Architecture Competitions

Architecture Competitions

In Vivo / MU Architecture + XTU Architects + BPD Marignan

BPD Marignan and XTU Architects, in association with SNI Group and MU Architecture, have won the Réinventer.Paris competition for Paris Rive Gauche site M5A2. The winning project, called In Vivo, seeks to “[promote] social mix and openness between citizens and [integrate] nature into cities, to achieve a fairer, more sustainable, and resilient city,” through three buildings for humans, and one to raise earthworms for vermicomposting of inhabitants’ organic waste.

4 Reasons Architecture Firms Should Engage in Design Competitions

4 Reasons Architecture Firms Should Engage in Design Competitions - Featured Image
This work was for Infosys Nagpur in India, a really interesting invitation-only competition to make a sustainable office development for 30,000 in a desert-like environment. We worked with great collaborative engineers including Atelier Ten, Arup and Andropogon. We didn’t win, but the founder of the company Mr Murtha ("The Bill Gates of India") was so impressed that he promised us we’d work together in the future. Image Courtesy of CannonDesign

For decades, architectural competitions have been recognized as a great way for architecture firms to get their big break, or to make a name for themselves in the types of projects they might not have been considered for before. However, competitions come with a downside: it’s not always easy for firms to build them in to their culture. Design competitions take time, often don’t translate to billable hours, and aren’t always clear pathways to strengthening the firm’s balance sheet, and as a result they have seen something of a backlash in recent years.

Still, as the architecture profession evolves, it’s important we never lose sight of the remarkable value design competitions can bring to architects, firms and design culture. Regardless of their type, scale or structure, design competitions are key creative opportunities that can enrich our efforts personally and professionally, and as design leader of CannonDesign’s New York City office, I’ve worked with my colleagues to embed them into our work. We see numerous ways in which they can add value to our work, our firm and our clients – and they could do the same for you too.

4 Reasons Architecture Firms Should Engage in Design Competitions - Image 1 of 44 Reasons Architecture Firms Should Engage in Design Competitions - Image 2 of 44 Reasons Architecture Firms Should Engage in Design Competitions - Image 3 of 44 Reasons Architecture Firms Should Engage in Design Competitions - Image 4 of 44 Reasons Architecture Firms Should Engage in Design Competitions - More Images+ 6

Konstrukt: Design and Innovation Awards 2016

KONSTRUKT is a competitive assembly that endeavours to recognize and honour niche aesthetic design to simple functional innovation, from student to architect or civil engineer. It is their first ever chance in Eastern India to showcase their skills and get accolades from the stalwarts.

Call for Entries: Museum of London West Smithfield International Design Competition

The Museum of London and Malcolm Reading Consultants have launched an international search for an outstanding architect or team of architects to create a new building for the museum at West Smithfield in the City of London. The project at the heart of the two-stage design competition has a £130-150m construction budget, and is focused on regenerating a nationally-significant landmark and creating new contemporary galleries within a group of historic buildings on the West Smithfield site. The Museum of London is one of the top ten museums and galleries in the UK capital and responsible for the world’s largest archaeological archive, which currently holds six million artefacts.

Open Call: Contribute to Egypt's Venice Pavilion Exhibition, "REFRAMING BACK//IMPERATIVE CONFRONTATIONS"

Alejandro Aravena’s statement “Reporting from the Front” for the 15th Biennale di Architettura di Venezia invites the national pavilions to share experiences about architecture that through intelligence, intuition, or both at the same time, are able to escape the status quo - presenting stories that, despite the world's difficulties, have proven successful. The head of Urban Harmony-Egyptian Ministry of Culture has announced that "REFRAMING BACK//IMPERATIVE CONFRONTATIONS" has been selected to represent Egypt at the Biennale di Venezia 2016. The project team, led by Architect Ahmad Hilal and composed of Eslam Salem, Gabriele Secchi, Luca Borlenghi and Mostafa Salem, is trying to explore various stories of Architecture narrating the difficulties and challenges in the Egyptian built environment.

Vote Now: Staircase Design Competition

UPDATE: The shortlisted entries have been announced and public voting is open until February 15th! Cast your vote here.

International staircase design specialist, EeStairs - has launched the second edition of its Staircase Design Competition. Open to anyone who wishes to participate - the entries will be shortlisted by a panel of expert judges before the winners are decided by public vote in February 2016. In March, two cash prizes of £2,000 each, will be awarded at a prize giving ceremony.

EeStairs is on the hunt for individuals who will look beyond staircases and balustrades as functional components of architecture, but instead combine practicality and artistic imagination to create truly outstanding designs.

Open Call for Proposals: Spanish Pavilion for the 2016 Venice Architecture Biennale

Alejandro Aravena's proposal for the Architecture Biennale 2016, "Reporting from the front”, invites each country to share experiences and moments of crisis that architecture has experienced in recent years. The proposal calls for a reflection on the mistakes in order to share solutions that may allow other countries to anticipate and avoid similar situations.

During the last period of economic growth in Spain, construction became the main driving force of the economy. Today, reality reveals us the built presence and the unfinished remains of what once was the largest edificatory enterprise in Spanish history, leaving behind a difficult situation in which to deal with partially constructed large volumes which are not consolidated.

Under the title "Unfinished", the exhibition in the Spanish Pavilion for the Venice Biennale 2016 draws attention to these unfinished architectures in order to discover virtues that can become design strategies. "Unfinished" wants to promote creative speculations about how to subvert the past condition into a positive contemporary action. 

Call for Applications: Bauhaus Lab 2016

Bauhaus Lab 2016 follows the travel routes of Walter Gropius’ desk. Designed as part of a cohesive ensemble for the first Bauhaus exhibition in 1923, then in use in the director’s room in the Bauhaus building in Dessau before being temporarily located in the Lawn Road Flats in London. Today the original is found in Lincoln, Massachusetts (USA).

The Bauhaus Lab explores these transatlantic movements and in doing so makes the iconic desk itself a player in a constantly changing set of locations and social environments. The Lab will yield artistic and curatorial ideas about the communication of object-based histories of exile.

4th Earth Architecture Competition: Designing a School for Ghana

Nka Foundation announces a call for entries for its 4th Earth Architecture Competition: Designing a School for Ghana, an international architecture competition open to graduates and advanced students of architecture, design and others from around the world who think earth architecture can be beautiful.

Call for Applications: Summer [IN]STITUTE in Environmental Design

UC Berkeley's College of Environmental Design is now accepting applications from prospective participants in the 2016 Summer [IN]STITUTE in Environmental Design. This six week intensive summer program gives students the opportunity to test their enthusiasm for the material and culture of environmental design.

The Summer [IN]STITUTE consists of [IN]ARCH, [IN]LAND and [IN]CITY, three introductory programs in architecture, landscape architecture and sustainable city planning for post-baccalaureate students and senior-level undergraduates, as well as [IN]ARCH ADV, an advanced studio for post-baccalaureate students who have a degree in architecture or who are senior-level architecture majors.

Genius Loci Weimar Video Mapping and Facade Projection Competition

All interested artists are invited to submit their concept ideas for the Genius Loci Weimar Festival between the opening date of 27 January 2016 up to the deadline of 23 March 2016. Submitted concepts will be displayed ina public exhibition in Weimar in spring 2016. The best projects will chosen, among other means, with the help of an audience vote. The three winning projects will then be completed with the help of prize money totalling €45,000 before being shown in the context of an evening tour of Weimar, itself part of a wider festival to take place from 12 to 14 August 2016.

Call for Concepts: Amsterdam Light Festival 2016-2017

Amsterdam Light Festival invites artists, designers, scientists, engineers and architects to submit ideas for artworks to be staged at the festival's 2016 - 2017 edition. The fifth edition of the Amsterdam Light Festival will take place in the city center of Amsterdam in November 2015 till January 2016. The deadline for submissions is 11th of March 2016.

Open Call: "Fear of Columns" Competition

In light of the 30th anniversary since the reconstruction of the Barcelona Pavilion The Mies van der Rohe Foundation is calling the competition "Fear of Columns." The competition's purpose is the temporary recreation of the eight columns and two pedestals that presided over the Pavilion in 1929, in the framework of the 30-year anniversary since the reconstruction of this iconic work by the German architect.

Call for Entries: Valley of Life International Competition

Beylikdüzü Municipality has announced “Valley of Life International Competition” in Beylikdüzü district in Istanbul. The competition is searching innovative and sustainable ideas for the development of the valley in Beylikdüzü. Competitors are invited to develop visionary concepts that focus on the whole valley and on the focal points determined. These concept descriptions should include an operational idea for the area and a description of the ecological corridor with transportation connections, bicycle routes, services, functionalities etc.

Call for Submissions: Q City Plan International Design Competition

Opposite to the conventional concept and operation mode of urban planning, which is from macro to micro and from top to bottom, Q (the initial of pinyin “qu”, simplified Chinese: 趣, n. fun; adj. interesting) City Plan operates with a human-oriented spirit. The plan approaches the large-scale city by rediscovering its nooks and crannies, amending the sweeping generalizations and supplementing the grand narrative of traditional urban planning.

Open Call: HYP Cup 2016 International Student Competition in Architectural Design

2016 marks the fifth edition of UIA-HYP Cup International Student Competition in Architectural Design, the sole annual international architecture competition for students in Mainland China that receives the support of Union International des Architects (UIA). It is a platform for global architecture students to approach the theme “Architecture in Transformation”, and for the rest of the world to check out the latest trend of Chinese architectural education. The jury members include the leading architects, deans and directors from top architecture schools. With its challenging topics, prestigious jury panel as well as professional operation, UIA-HYP Cup competition has grown to become a major student competition in China and its global profile continues to rise.

Open Call: Digital Design Methods Competition

A very exciting opportunity is presented to architects and students worldwide for your work to be showcased in an international documentary film, alongside some of the greatest living architects of our current time.

We are seeking examples of architectural projects which exemplify the use of advanced and dynamic digital techniques in the process of analysis, design exploration and final outcome of a design work.

One or a combination of several computer-based tools must have been implemented in the processes of data collection/ information processing, simulation and development about the project and be evident in early stages of the design as well as the final work. We are looking for contemporary, cutting edge uses of computer technology from pre-existing or new design projects.

Call for Submissions: Best Office Awards 2016

OfficeNext announced the launch of its 7th annual international competition for best corporate interior projects.

Open Call: Summer School in Curatorial Studies During the Venice Biennale

The School for Curatorial Studies is an ambitious and challenging project promoted since 2004 and conceived as a school committed to experimentation and interdisciplinary thinking. The main goals are to spread the knowledge in the field of visual arts and to introduce the students to the professions related to the art world, focusing on contemporary curatorial theory and practice and contemporary museology. The School’s activities are meant for all those interested and passionate in art, graduated students or professionals who want to deepen their knowledge and improve their practical skills. The School’s teaching staff is formed by Italian and international professionals, scholars, historians and art critics of recognized experience.

Request for Applications: Director, Alvar Aalto Academy

The Alvar Aalto Foundation is seeking a Director for the Alvar Aalto Academy. The post is for the term 1.4.2016–30.8.2018 (or by agreement). The Director works in Helsinki.

San Francisco 2016: Tenderloin System Update

Following on from the success of ‘Cambodia 2015’ (awarded 3rd Top Competition of 2015 by Bustler), Eleven is excited to announce their latest architecture and idea challenge: ‘San Francisco 2016 - Tenderloin System Update’.

For this challenge, we move to California, in the beautiful city of San Francisco. The city is the USA’s most sought after real estate location and its Bay Area is today leading the way for innovative technologies and new urban models for the future. However, San Francisco is also home to the Tenderloin, one of the most distressed and dangerous neighborhoods of the USA. 

Call for Entries: A’ Design Award

The A’ Design Award is an international award whose aim is to provide designers, architects and innovators from all architecture and design fields with a competitive platform to showcase their work and products to a global audience. The 2014-2015 competition awarded 836 winners from 83 countries in 89 different design, product and architecture disciplines. The sheer number of represented countries and tremendous breadth of design disciplines marks the A’ Design Award as the World’s largest design accolade bringing together enterprises, architects, and designers from across the globe. The award winning designs are granted the coveted A’ Design Prize, which not only includes the beautiful award trophy but also an unmatched publicity package to promote the selected designs. Discover the full A’ Design Prize here.

Open Call: Co-Machines - Mobile Disruptive Architectures

The modernist movement looked to industrial processes – factories, warehouses and silos - to enhance their designs. Their dream was to create rationalized machines for living. They thought the functional glass box could modernize everyday life. By bringing efficiency into every aspect of the city, home, and schools we would become liberated creatives and thinkers. Since then, there have been many iterations of machine-methods applied to the physical and cultural environment.

Open Call: AIM Bamboo Architecture Competition for the Village of Rural Makers

The countryside carries so much emotional weight and nostalgia through thousands of years of time. Currently, more than 100 villages disappear every day in China. On the other hand, the rise of city living standards and GDP require a more suitable tourist experience in the surviving villages. How can we combine the inheritance and preservation of villages with a countryside tourism business model? To provide a better ecosystem for lodge and inn, farm, organic agriculture and handmade crafts is the challenge that we are facing now!

You've started following your first account!

Did you know?

You'll now receive updates based on what you follow! Personalize your stream and start following your favorite authors, offices and users.