Competitions

UPDATE: The deadline for submissions for the Burnham Prize has been extended to September 7th, 2015 with the announcement of the winning entries to occur on September 30th, 2015. In addition, student entry fees have been reduced to $25.00.

Affiliated with this year’s Chicago Architecture Biennial, the Chicago Architectural Club has announced the 2015 Burnham Prize Competition: Currencies of Architecture. This year’s Burnham Prize was inspired by the Chicago Architecture Biennial’s title, “The State of the Art of Architecture,” and explores the question: what is the state of the art of architecture today? Entrants are challenged to create a single image that exemplifies a point of view on the current state of architecture – whether it is a celebration, a challenge, a statement or anything else.

Research grants of up to $15,000 will be awarded to one or two mid-career professionals who have an academic background, professional experience and an established identity in one or more of the following fields: historic preservation, architecture, landscape architecture, urban design, environmental planning, architectural history and the decorative arts. The James Marston Fitch Charitable Foundation will consider proposals for the research and/or the execution of the preservation-related projects in any of these fields. Applications for 2016 funding are now being accepted. Applications must be submitted by October 15, 2015, 11PM EST. More information here. 

You have until September 1 to apply for the American Institute of Architect's (AIA) Upjohn Research Initiative. The Upjohn program funds up to six research grants of $15,000-$30,000 per recipient annually for projects completed in a six to 18 month period. Proposals should address the value of design, practice issues, or novel materials and methods of construction. The research should relate to architectural knowledge that can readily be applied/transferred within the discipline. Read on for 2015's preferred themes. 

London-based architects Aukett Swanke, in partnership with the Royal Exchange and Oxford Properties, has announced its new competition for recent graduates to design six new market barrows located at The Royal Exchange in London. The deadline is September 11, so act fast!

The Seoul Metropolitan Government has announced its Sejong-daero Historic Cultural Space Design Competition, which seeks creative designs for the site of the former National Tax Service Building, as well as a greater conceptual blueprint for the central Seoul area.

Sleep, an international hotel design event, is working with Snoozebox to host a competition to design a new portable hotel room. Snoozebox has produced unique, and award-winning portable hotels for major events and festivals worldwide. This competition is an opportunity for designers to lend their ideas, and make a mark in the international hotel design industry. The winning team will work with Snoozebox and contractors to fully realize their idea in time for an exhibition at Sleep in November.

Gallaudet University, the world’s only university for deaf and hard of hearing students, has launched an international competition to re-design its historic Washington DC campus. Participants will be challenged to "create a new campus gateway and redefine the University’s urban edge as a vibrant, mixed-use, creative and cultural district." Design proposals are not required during the competition's first stage; teams will be shortlisted based on their "understanding of the institution and project, team composition and past experience."

Online international competition organizer archasm has launched its “Chandigarh Unbuilt: Completing the Capitol” ideas competition, which seeks designs to finalize and complement Le Corbusier’s Capitol Complex in Chandigarh, India.

Three buildings at the complex have been built according to Le Corbusier’s plans—the Secretariat, Assembly Hall, and High Court—but the fourth and final building, called the Museum of Knowledge, has yet to be conceptualized.

Funded by the Getty Foundation, The Society of Architectural Historians (SAH) is offering between 14-16 grants to attend the SAH 2016 International Conference. Application will be open to professionals in the field of the “built environment,” including heritage conservation specialists, academics and museum professionals who work with the history of the built environment.The conference will be taking place in Pasadena/Los Angeles, California from April 6-10.

BW International is now accepting entries for its Design a Beautiful House competition, an international call offering £25,000 (about $39,000 USD) to winner(s). The competition is open to all designers, students, artists, and others from anywhere across the globe, and requires no registration fee.

Entrants are asked to think about the definition of beauty in order to create a design that considers the ways that beauty and aesthetics can enhance the function of a home and the experiences of its users.

eVolo Magazine has announced the start of their 11th annual Skyscraper Competition. Inviting architects, students, engineers, designers and artists, the competition places no restrictions on site, program or size, leaving participants free to explore the skyscraper as creatively as possible.

Laka Competitions invites designers from around the world to submit their ideas of ‘architecture that reacts’. That means architecture which is able to respond and adjust dynamically to the current needs and circumstances. These circumstances are often unpredictable, but their consequences can be crucial. The architecture that reacts is the architecture that lives as a living organism, since it responds to the external stimuli and it develops because of it.— to react is to live

Now in their 17th year, the AR Emerging Architecture Awards are one of the world's most popular and prestigious prize for up-and-coming architects, giving emerging practices invaluable impetus on their trajectory to wider recognition and success. Previous winners of the Awards have included Sou Fujimoto (Japan), Thomas Heatherwick (UK), Sean Godsell (Australia), Jurgen Mayer H. (Germany) and Li Xiaodong (China).

The AR Emerging Architecture Awards, with a £10,000 prize fund, celebrate excellence in completed work. Entries can be made across a very broad spectrum of project types. Buildings, interiors, landscaping, refurbishment, urban projects, temporary installations, furniture and product designs are all eligible. Jury members, including David Adjaye, OBE, Odile Decq, Peter Cook will review each submitted project. The deadline for entries is September 11. Submit you work, here.