1. ArchDaily
  2. UIA

UIA: The Latest Architecture and News

UIA 2030 Award Finalists Announced

The International Union of Architects (UIA), in partnership with UN-HABITAT, have announced the Regional Finalists of first stage of the UIA 2030 Award. The biennial award, which is in its inaugural edition, honors the work of architects contributing to the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and New Urban Agenda through built projects that demonstrate design quality and alignment with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

UIA 2030 Award Finalists Announced - Image 1 of 4UIA 2030 Award Finalists Announced - Image 2 of 4UIA 2030 Award Finalists Announced - Image 3 of 4UIA 2030 Award Finalists Announced - Image 4 of 4UIA 2030 Award Finalists Announced - More Images+ 39

Copenhagen named UNESCO World Capital of Architecture for 2023

Following Rio de Janeiro’s inaugural hold of the title, Copenhagen has been named World Capital of Architecture for 2023 by UNESCO and will host the International Union of Architect’s World Congress 2 years from now. At its second edition, the initiative supported by UNESCO in partnership with UIA is meant to highlight the role of architecture and urban planning in shaping a sustainable future and tackling global challenges. Designated triennially, the city World Capital of Architecture will become an international forum for debate around issues related to the urban environment.

Copenhagen named UNESCO World Capital of Architecture for 2023  - Image 1 of 4Copenhagen named UNESCO World Capital of Architecture for 2023  - Image 2 of 4Copenhagen named UNESCO World Capital of Architecture for 2023  - Image 3 of 4Copenhagen named UNESCO World Capital of Architecture for 2023  - Image 4 of 4Copenhagen named UNESCO World Capital of Architecture for 2023  - More Images

Paulo Mendes da Rocha Announced as Winner of UIA Gold Medal for Lifetime Achievement

Paulo Mendes da Rocha Announced as Winner of UIA Gold Medal for Lifetime Achievement - Featured Image
Paulo Mendes da Rocha at Sesc 24 de Maio. Photo: © André Scarpa

The International Union of Architects (UIA) has announced the UIA Gold Medal and Prizes winners. The UIA Gold Medal is awarded to Brazilian architect Paulo Mendes da Rocha, president of the 27th UIA World Congress of Architects — UIA2021RIO Honour Committee. The architect will also participate in a keynote speakers session programmed for July.

Paulo Mendes da Rocha, now 92 years old, has been honored with important awards, such as the Pritzker Prize in 2006, considered to be one of the world's premier architecture prizes, and the Venice Biennale Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement, in 2016. Mendes da Rocha was the first Brazilian to be awarded this prize.

Chinese Architect and Planner Wu Liangyong Explores 70 Years of Design and Teaching

Chinese architect and town planner Wu Liangyong was recently featured in a new interview from the International Union of Architects (UIA) about his life and teaching. As the former Vice-President of the UIA and the Architectural Society of China (ASC), Liangyong won the Jean Tschumi Prize back in 1996. Today, he reflects on his academic career spanning 70 years at the Tsinghua University School of Architecture.

Gold Medalist Tadao Ando Explores Design and the Creative Process

With over 300 architectural designs to his name, Tadao Ando is treated as a national treasure in his home country of Japan. Renowned for his work with concrete and light, his œuvre has received international recognition, including the UIA Gold Medal in 2005 and the Pritzker Prize in 1995. In an interview with the UIA / International Union of Architects, Ando explores design philosophy and creative process.

UIA2020RIO - Call for Design Works

Calling on architects and urban planners to submit a proposal for participation in the 27th edition of the World Congress of Architects - UIA2020RIO - which is being held from 19 to 23 July, 2020.

Participate through submitting your paper by December 10, 2019.

Submissions for Design Works
- 3 DIN A3 Files, Landscape – PDF
- Abstract (no more than 250-words). Conceptual description of the project.
- Submissions shall have no more than eight (8) authors, and may not be authored by a organization or company.
- Submissions shall be in English, Portuguese or Spanish.

UIA and TSEZ Seek to Revive Niemeyer’s Abandoned Tripoli Site through International Competition

As part of Tripoli’s economic revival plan, the International Union of Architects (UIA), in collaboration with the Lebanese Federation of Engineers and Architects (on behalf of the Tripoli Special Economic Zone / TSEZ), the Union of Mediterranean Architects (UMAR), and the Lebanese Government, have launched an international architecture competition to create a Knowledge and Innovation Center in the northern city of Lebanon.

The proposed site is situated on an empty lot within Oscar Niemeyer’s abandoned Rachid Karami International Fair, a modernist exhibition complex that has yet to see the light of restoration. The objective of the competition is to create a technology and business hub which will foster and promote start-up businesses and entrepreneurs, attracting students, young graduates, local and international companies to Tripoli and the neighboring region.

UIA and TSEZ Seek to Revive Niemeyer’s Abandoned Tripoli Site through International Competition - Image 1 of 4UIA and TSEZ Seek to Revive Niemeyer’s Abandoned Tripoli Site through International Competition - Image 2 of 4UIA and TSEZ Seek to Revive Niemeyer’s Abandoned Tripoli Site through International Competition - Image 3 of 4UIA and TSEZ Seek to Revive Niemeyer’s Abandoned Tripoli Site through International Competition - Image 4 of 4UIA and TSEZ Seek to Revive Niemeyer’s Abandoned Tripoli Site through International Competition - More Images+ 7

Open Call: 2019 UIA-CBC International Colleges and Universities Competitive Construction Workshop

Open Call: 2019 UIA-CBC International Colleges and Universities Competitive Construction Workshop

2019 UIA-CBC International Colleges and Universities Competitive Construction Workshop is now calling for participants from all around the world! Started in 2016 International Colleges and Universities Construction Competition initiated by CBC (China Building Centre), this annual event has been successfully hosted in different places of China and acquired a wide recognition at home and abroad. This year, International Union of Architects (UIA) joined as the international supporter of this event and make it the first China-based International construction competition on such level. 

UNESCO and UIA to begin Designating Cities as "World Capitals of Architecture"

UNESCO and the International Union of Architects (UIA) have announced the launch of a “World Capitals of Architecture” initiative, seeking to create a “synergy between culture and architecture in an increasingly urbanized world.”

Cities designated as World Capitals of Architecture will become a global forum for discussion on the world’s most pressing challenges “through the prism of culture, heritage, urban planning, and architecture.” UNESCO and UIA will collaborate with local city organizations to organize activities and events promoting buildings, architects, planners, and related sectors.

Toyo Ito Announced as Winner of UIA Gold Medal for Lifetime Achievement

The UIA (International Union of Architects) has announced the winners of the 2017 UIA Gold Medal and Prizes. Established in 1961, the UIA Prizes are awarded every 3 years to “honour professionals whose qualities, talents, and actions have had an international impact on the diverse sectors of architectural practice.” This year, a total of 46 nominations were considered by the Secretariat.

Open Call for a Swiss Room in Seoul

A Swiss Room to Showcase Lausanne’s Candidature to organize the 28th UIA Congress.

The challenge posed by this competition is to design a place object which encapsulates the ideas behind the topic of “Architecture and Water”. It involves creating a place to showcase Lausanne’s Candidature which offers an intuitive approach to the multiple ramifications of this topic. It should, effectively, act as a laboratory of ideas. This place-object must be able to house a table and 4 chairs for discussions, presentation of the candidature, etc. It will be located in the hall of the Convention center in Seoul.

UIA 2017 Seoul World Architects Congress

The UIA (International Union of Architects) world congresses are a premier forum for professionals and future leaders in the field of architecture to exchange the best and latest practices, visions and first-hand experience. The UIA 2017 Seoul, in particular, will promote various innovative architectural techniques and technologies among member sections and global citizens. In doing so, academic programs, exhibitions, competitions, student activities, and public outreach programs will simultaneously take place.

 

International Competitions Conference

The Sixth International Conference on Competitions launches, looking at the concept of experimentation within architectural competitions.

The Sixth International Conference on Competitions (ICC) has launched with support from the RIBA and the UIA and will take place at Leeds Beckett University from 27 to 29 October 2016. This year will be the first time that the ICC is to be held in the UK.

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.

Studio Origin Represents Seoul in the UIA 2014 World Congress

This year’s UIA World Congress was held in Durban, South Africa, and saw the participation of many well-respected firms. Representing South Korea were Kang Jun Lee and Yung A Kim of Studio Origin, whose pavilion highlighted the city of Seoul. Meant to herald the city as the host for the 2017 World Congress, their carefully arranged design offers space for a number of different promotional displays. See the details on this unique structure, after the break.

UIA World Congress Reveals Architecture's Other Side

With the International Union of Architects (UIA)'s World Congress taking place last month, the eyes of the architecture world were on South Africa where - according to Phineas Harper of the Architectural Review - the conference was full of architects of all backgrounds with "irrepressible energy," sharing ideas on how architecture can be used for social good with an urgency that is somewhat unfamiliar in the Western world. "Whoever said architecture was stale, male and pale should have been in Durban," says Harper. You can read the full review of the event here.

UIA Commits to Zero Carbon Emissions with "2050 Imperative"

At its World Congress event in Durban last week, the International Union of Architects (UIA)'s 124 member organizations declared their commitment to sustainable architecture by unanimously adopting the 2050 Imperative, a plan to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from the built environment to zero by mid-century.

The adoption of the 2050 Imperative was planned to coincide with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) conference that will reconvene in Paris in 2015, and has as one of its aims a plan to phase out CO2 emissions from the power and industrial sectors by 2050. The UIA stated their aim to "send a strong message to the Parties of the UNFCCC, and to the world, that we are committed to a truly sustainable and equitable future."

Read on after the break for more detail from the 2050 Imperative, including 5 key objectives

Joseph Rykwert among the Winners of the 2014 UIA Prizes

At the UIA World Congress last week, Joseph Rykwert was awarded the Jean Tschumi Prize for his work in architectural criticism and teaching over the past six decades. The prize adds to a fantastic year for Rykwert in which he received the RIBA Gold Medal and was awarded a CBE by the Queen. Read on after the break for all the winners of the 2014 UIA Prizes.