Competitions

The Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona (CCCB) announces the 13th edition of the European Prize for Urban Public Space. Since 2000, this biennial honorary competition recognizes the best interventions to create, transform and recover public spaces in European cities. For the first time, in this edition the time limit for works submitted is extended to 5 years (completed between the months of January 2021 and December 2025). The call for entries will be open for two and a half months, from 10 December to 26 February.

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The acceleration of climate change has amplified the scientific urgency to study Earth’s polar regions. Traditional research stations are often permanent, carbon-intensive structures with significant logistical and environmental footprints. This competition challenges architects and designers to envision the next generation of scientific outposts. We seek a paradigm shift towards a mobile, modular, and sustainable architecture that can be deployed, reconfigured, and removed with minimal impact on the fragile Arctic ecosystem. This new model must prioritize energy self-sufficiency, operational resilience in extreme conditions, and the psychological well-being of researchers living in prolonged isolation, thereby enabling more agile and responsible scientific exploration.

The Commonwealth Association of Architects (CAA) is pleased to launch its 2026 Awards Programme, inviting architects from across the Commonwealth to submit work that demonstrates significant contributions to addressing contemporary global challenges including climate change, rapid urbanisation, biodiversity loss, and social inequality. Aligned with the CAA's charter objectives to maximise the contribution by architects to the well-being of society, the awards programme recognises projects and individuals whose work advances the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) while demonstrating exceptional design quality and measurable impact.

The Commonwealth Association of Architects (CAA) has launched its 2026 Awards Programme, with the Education Categories inviting students across the Commonwealth to submit work that demonstrates significant contributions to addressing contemporary global challenges including climate change, rapid urbanisation, biodiversity loss, and social inequality. Aligned with the CAA's charter objectives to maximise the contribution by architects to the well-being of society, the awards programme recognises projects and individuals whose work advances the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) while demonstrating exceptional design quality and measurable impact.

"Kodaňská 1441" is the international competition launched by the developer Daramis for Vršovice, a vibrant district located in the centre of Prague. Leading architectural firms are invited to apply and propose innovative solutions to transform an existing administrative building plot into a new contemporary urban block. Registration runs until 12 January 2026.

The Master in Collective Housing (MCH), in collaboration with TC Cuadernos, a renowned architecture magazine, has announced the second annual call for research grants. This grant, aimed at supporting architecture thesis or research projects, offers up to €6,000 to help transform the work into a published book.

When I recently found myself flooded, during the ever-expanding shopping frenzy of the so-called Black Friday season, with offers branded as Singles' Day deals, it struck me: singles have become a remarkably powerful force in our societies. The prominence and intensity of Singles' Day—a celebration that began among students at a Chinese university in the early 1990s and has since grown into one of the largest global shopping festivals—underscores that singles are no longer just a demographic statistic, but a transformative presence reshaping cities and economies worldwide. That is why we aim to investigate, with this new issue of MONU entitled "Singles Urbanism", how singles transform cities and to understand the spatial consequences of life lived alone, and the growing prevalence of living outside the traditional structures of coupledom and family, and its urban influence.

One of the last large brownfields in Bratislava has been awaiting its transformation for years. Today, a new phase is beginning for the area known as "Zváračák," located on Račianska Street near the Bratislava's city center.

1. Overview:

THE HOUSE OF RETICENCE
A HOUSE FOR SIGURD LEWERENTZ

The House of Death and Life

The 6TH biennale svizzera del territorio, organised by the Istituto Internazionale d’Architettura in Lugano, is launching a call for action on the theme “handle with care”. The call is open to professionals of all ages and from all over the world.
Building, demolishing, building again... that is easy. But caring for things, making them last, keeping them alive, repairing them. That is a difficult task. You have to observe, listen, pay attention. Study, understand. Recognise what exists, even if it’s fragile, even if it’s not perfect. You need allies. It’s a task for those who know from experience the consequences of destruction, who know the price of maintenance, who know a thing of beauty is a joy forever. If you can handle it, caring is power.
Proposals can be of many kinds, ranging from installations, constructed or transformative interventions, to performances, artistic works, or architectural visions.

The Institute for Public Architecture (IPA) welcomes applications for the 2026 Independent Project Residency based at the historic Block House on Governors Island.

About Competition
A Sports Park will be designed as a sustainable space with courts, pedestrian walkways, and spaces suitable for holding outdoor festivals and concerts. Its prime location could serve as a fan fest for World Cups.

IAAC Advanced Architecture Barcelona launches its 11th Advanced Architecture Contest as part of the official program of Barcelona World Capital of Architecture 2026.

The Arcause Social Internships Program, a one of a kind initiative by Ethos Foundation | Arcause emerges from this understanding that the future of architecture depends on how deeply it listens, learns, and responds to the world it serves. The program seeks to bridge the long-standing gap between design education and the realities of community development, sustainability, and social
impact. Through this initiative, students and early-career professionals will be placed at NGOs, community projects, and social design studios across India. Here, young and budding architects and designers will be encouraged to see beyond plans and elevations while discovering how spaces can become tools for change.

The Kingspan MICROHOME 2026 invites architects and designers to pause and reconsider what is truly essential. In a world of constant expansion — of cities, technologies, and ambitions — this competition asks a simple question: Can less be more?

Buildner’s Unbuilt Award 2026, celebrating its third edition, honors the boundless creativity and visionary spirit of architecture. The competition shines a spotlight on the significance of unrealized designs, celebrating bold ideas and imaginative visions that, even without being built, capture the essence of innovation and exploration. It offers a global stage for architects and designers to showcase their most daring concepts, challenge conventional thinking, and inspire the future of the built environment.