18 architectural competitions to do in quarantine

The Bee Breeders platform invites participants to design a 25 sqm micro-home, a modular off-grid structure for a young professional couple. The project site is at the discretion of each participant and can be of any size, in any city or part of the world, with a particular eye towards sustainability, or able to solve economic, social and cultural problems through the definition of new architectural methods.

The Ministry for Cultural Heritage and Activities and for Tourism, with the VII Edition of the Landscape Award of the Council of Europe, intends to start, as in previous editions, a survey of the exemplary actions carried out in the Italian territory, in order to identify the Italian candidate for the Award. Local public administrations (Regions, Municipalities and other public bodies, also in the form of aggregates) and private non-profit associations may submit nominations.

#mycityscape asks us to look at our metropolis and map the main features of the urbanscape that makes it ours. Many have mapped the city of the 20th century, but how can we map the city of the 21st century? What tools will we use? This contest invites you to question the definition of the city..

The competition promoted by Manni Group in collaboration with Sterling Group, competes for the design of the future leisure and entertainment heart of the city of Detroit. Here, on the site of the former Joe Luis Arena - next to the place where, according to tradition, the founding fathers of Detroit landed - designers will be able to measure themselves against the design of a complex of buildings that rewrite the skyline, generating superb architectural masterpieces that stand as a symbol of the rediscovery of one of the most iconic and controversial cities in the United States of America.

Arch out loud, research platform, has launched the annual competition that rewards the authors of the most convincing images capable of telling stories of architecture, interiors, cities and worlds. Starting from the assumption that the project needs to be told not with words, we understand how important and creative is the role of those who shape the design visions. You can participate by candidating images of cities, buildings or generic spaces, as long as they do not represent something already built.

The Department of Canadian Heritage, in collaboration with the LGBT Purge Fund and the National Capital Commission, invites teams of professional artists, landscape architects, architects and other urban design professionals to submit their credentials and examples of previous work for the first part of a two-step competition to design a new national monument in Ottawa. This monument will be a place where visitors can learn about historical discrimination against LGBTQ2+ people in Canada, including those who have suffered and continue to suffer from the LGBT purge.

It is an event that aims to reward and get visible to a wide audience the architectural restorations that have been able to interpret the principles of conservation in which the scientific community recognizes itself. The Award is open to individual participants or groups who have discussed a thesis in the last five years, at the end of their studies in Architecture or Engineering-Architecture degree courses, or equivalent training courses. From this edition it has been added to the initiative the Special Award Domus - Digital Technologies BIM, a section dedicated to those paths developed through the use of methodologies, tools, protocols, systems related to BIM and takes place simultaneously in the same edition of the Domus Restoration and Conservation Award.

Life within ruins, Essays on architecture restoration and reuse proposals for Piscina Mirabilis is an upcoming book, published by Save the Heritage Benefit Corporation, which includes essays on architectural restoration by researchers from around the world, and projects on the reuse of ancient Roman Piscina Mirabilis, in Bacoli (Naples, Italy), to be published in 2021. The editorial board currently welcomes abstracts from university researchers, PhD students, professors and any other scholar affiliated with an institution or cultural organization.

Crea Talents is a competition of architectural ideas open to all and free of charge. Participants are invited to propose visionary concepts for a Wine Culture Center. Designers are free to include all functions in a single building or to design separate structures. We do not try to judge proposals on their feasibility, but on the extent to which they have the potential to be a reference point.

The houseboat, as an independent element and together, will function as a tourist accommodation villa and can be part of a complex on land that will complete the services. The houseboat, intended for the Mexican Carribean, must have these characteristics: space for reflection and contemplation, protected space in a natural environment; construction based on sustainable and ecological materials; it must be surrounded by water and can be floating or mounted on stilts; plastic architectural element that provides aesthetics to the natural place, the Isla Holbox, north of the Yucatán peninsula, in the state of Quintana Roo, Mexico. 

The FITT group in collaboration with Young Architects Competitions launches the FITT Future Headquarters competition for the design of its new headquarters in Sandrigo, Vicenza (Italy). Through the competition, designers will have the opportunity to propose their vision of workspace of the future: a place where leadership, progress and corporate identity are materialized in architectural forms that become an international reference point in the field of design at the service of work.

The Municipality of Ravenna, Italy, has launched a competition to start the process of urban planning and construction of the railway station area, to solve the morphological and functional relationship between the historic center and the city dock and expand the modal exchange function of the station itself. The project will have to enhance the existing physical elements and will have to provide new integrative services of the station area and its surroundings, which will cover in an organic way the current station-passenger station and the additional urban functions allowed in this area.

The Metals in Construction magazine 2021 Design Challenge will award a $15,000 prize to the item deemed best suited to creating an affordable housing environment by building the Sunnyside Yard, a critical rail infrastructure complex in New York City. The challenge is to present their idea for a viable and efficient solution for the construction of Phase 1 of the area's Masterplan, which will include terracing, housing rental and the community services it entails.

Mars is the most Earth-like planet in the solar system, and the only one where man has conceived the creation of colonies in the near future. A human mission to Mars has been the subject of science fiction and aerospace engineering since the 20th century. Private companies and government agencies such as SpaceX and NASA, developing this infrastructure, are ready to realize this long-sought human desire, possibly by the end of 2030. In this illustration contest, participants are asked to imagine taking a walk on this futuristic planet.

The mission of the LIV Hospitality Design Awards is to celebrate the quality architectural initiatives and diversity of Interior Design that shape hospitality around the world. LIV is a platform that pursues projects within living and eating spaces, from Co-living to Beach Resort, Fine Dining restaurant to Pop up Bar. Selected by the jury, the annual winners will receive the LIV award, an extensive publicity that will show their designs and projects to an international audience.

Borders must be bridges for humanity and links between our civilizations. However, what we have seen in recent decades is something completely different. Borders around the world have become a symbol of conflict, racism, fear, inequality and division. A single line could divide between opportunity and hope and poverty and oblivion. What if we change this concept through architecture? The main purpose is to design an architectural project capable of transforming a boundary chosen by the participant, to unite cultures, peoples and create a vital place for the economic growth of all parties.

The Diruta Church is a Catholic church built in Grottole (Matera, Italy) in the 15th century, to house the local community of churchmen and become one of the most important churches in the bishopric. It suffered a lot of damage due to earthquakes, fires and building problems and was soon abandoned. Participants in this competition are invited to reuse this space as a concert hall. Is it possible to bring back to life one of the most important religious buildings in Southern Italy?

In times forged by industry, the space race and the roar of shuttles, ports appear to be probably outdated, frequently desolate or heavily industrialized places: in any case, they've been cut off from cities' beating heart and cultural epicenter. So what is the role of ports in the era of the web and the smartphones? It is on this question that Leisure Harbor, the competition of BT and Marina di Loano (Liguria, Italy) wants to write the future of ports through the redesign of one of the ten most important marinas in Europe: an opportunity to rediscover ports as a place of life, a city epicenter overlooking the sea, a privileged place of exchange, culture and meeting.