For the Fall 2026 exhibition Open Access: Exploring 130 Years of American Design, Van Alen invites emerging designers and creatives to delve into the accessible portions of our archive and respond to its material through the lens of open and fair access. We seek proposals that provoke reflection on the progression of design access, and position the archive as living material—something to be questioned, reinterpreted, and held accountable to the present. Projects may respond to specific archival materials or engage more thematically, and may use a wide range of creative approaches and mediums.

We seek projects that encourage us to ask:

• What civic challenges did Van Alen’s community take up and which were overlooked?

• Who was invited into Van Alen’s community to shape space and exchange ideas, and who was left out?

• If communities had always been centered in civic design, what might our cities look like today?

Participants will receive an all-inclusive $3,000 honorarium, curatorial support and mentorship opportunities from Van Alen, access to supplies from Materials for the Arts, and professional documentation of their projects.

For complete information and application instructions, visit https://www.vanalen.org/project/open-access/.

About Van Alen Institute

Van Alen Institute is a driving force behind community-led urban design, which believes that local knowledge and care enrich the design process. 

Since 1894, Van Alen has invested in people with a passion for improving cities through the power of architecture and design. Our public space projects build unconventional coalitions of designers, local stakeholders, and city leaders, and we support their visions through project scoping, hands-on guidance, and seed funding.

From our home in New York City, our work confronts longstanding power imbalances in citymaking, showcases the vanguard of community-led design, and supports the next generation of designers in creating more just cities.

The theme for the Series in this cycle is ‘Migration & Immigration’

Brief

“Migration is an expression of the human aspiration for dignity, safety, and a better future.” — Ban Ki-moon, former UN Secretary-General.

Migration and immigration are among the most defining forces shaping contemporary societies globally. Beyond statistics and policy debates, they involve questions of identity, belonging, borders, labor, and culture. As movement between borders follows haphazard and unplanned motives and routes, it becomes the responsibility of architects, urban planners, and designers to work alongside policymakers and governments around the world to intervene in the built environment and present solutions that not only speak to the convenience of residents but also to the dignity of those immigrating.

Another aspect that has been a defining factor in movement is migration. As economies and populations burgeon around the world, as of mid-2024, the global number of international migrants reached a record 304 million, representing approximately 3.7% of the total world population. This figure has nearly doubled since 1990 (see: https://www.un.org/en/global-issues/migration).

As the world order shifts toward greater fluidity, it becomes increasingly important to design our spaces with these possible scenarios in mind. This competition invites participants to critically examine migration not just as movement across geography, but as a condition that transforms individuals, communities, and the built environment.

This essay writing calls to look at how migration reshapes architecture, cities, territories, labor conditions, and public life. How do borders influence the experience of movement and settlement? How do migrants negotiate questions of memory, belonging, displacement, and identity through space? What kinds of built environments emerge from temporary occupation, informal adaptation, and transitory living? Consider the city from the perspective of those who arrive, settle, wait, work, and survive within unfamiliar environments. The migrant worker, the refugee, the student, the displaced family, and the undocumented resident each experience space differently.

Migration and immigration are deeply entangled with politics, economics, and social systems, often influencing our everyday routines in visible and invisible ways. This competition encourages an experiential and critical approach. Reflect on lived realities, urban encounters, border conditions, camps, transit infrastructures, informal settlements, and collective memories associated with movement. Public spaces, shelters, checkpoints, housing clusters, stations, and neighborhoods become active sites through which systems of inclusion and exclusion are negotiated.

Can migration be understood not merely as a crisis, but also as a productive force that reshapes the cultural and spatial imagination of cities? Through observation, analysis, and reflection, explore how migration and immigration transform the ‘everyday’ life of the built environment.

- Megha Balooni (Curator for 7th and 8th Cycles, AJC Essay Writing)

We welcome entries from Collegians, Professionals, Academicians; Researchers & Design Enthusiasts (Open to All)

Submission Guidelines:

• Submissions are open to all writers in English. International submissions are welcome.

• Maximum two entries/essays per registrant are allowed.

• The Essay/entry may be accompanied by an Illustration/Photograph (with proper credits and permissions if required).

• Each essay should not exceed 1500–2500 words.

• ajc.competition@gmail.com with the subject line Essay Writing Contest, 7th Cycle - Category (collegians, and Open) in a word document with 12 pt., Arial font, single-line spacing.

• All entrants must mention any of their social media handles with the submission (Instagram, Twitter or Facebook, etc.), We will announce the winners in September 2026.

Jury Panel for the Competition comprises

• Dr. Manu P. Sobti, The University of Queensland, Australia

•   Dr. Giorgia Aquilar, Berlin International University of Applied Sciences, Germany

•   Dr. Shruthi Joshi, Bhanuben Nanavati College of Architecture, India

•   Aliaksandr Shuba, Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, Germany

•   Megha Balooni, Studio Meiso, India

•   Pappal Suneja, Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, Germany

Timeline:

Submissions window for the Series: 1st June 2026 – 31st August 2026 (11:59 pm IST / 8:29 pm CEST)

●      Early Bird Registration till 15th July 2026, (1200 INR for participants from India and 25 Euros for International Participants)

Indian Participants can follow the link to register and International Participants can enter here.

●      Standard Registration till 30th August 2026, (1800 INR for participants from India and 30 Euros for International Participants)

For Queries, contact: plusajc@gmail.com

Winning Prizes for the Competition are

Citation Award

An AJC curated set of books worth 18000 INR/200 USD.

Special Mention

An AJC curated set of books worth 9000 INR/100 USD.

Besides this, we shall send attested E-Certificates of Participation to all the entrants, and the winning entries shall be featured on several web architectural portals. Also, the best entries shall be compiled as an Anthology with ISBN No. after the successful run of all the cycles (6th to 12th) under this Series. For further updates regarding the outreach activities and events, Visit the Instagram and Facebook handle of the Organisation.

Competition Poster by Team AJC+

Via > https://www.ajc-plus.com/post/...

Design faculty running fall 2026 or spring 2027 design studios that explore adaptive solutions to climate change in their rural, urban or mid-sized communities are invited to apply. Studios focused on developing short- and long-term interventions that approach the intersecting issues of housing, materiality, energy, environmental justice and transportation will be prioritized. Successful applications will focus on studios engaging and collaborating with community members to imagine innovative visions for climate futures.

The deadline for applications is Friday, June 19.

Detailed Description

BIGFIELDS 2026 is an international architecture design competition centered on one of the most complex and urgent conditions of the contemporary world: “WAR.” The competition does not define war merely as a military conflict, but approaches it as a complex spatial condition involving the destruction of cities, the rupture of memory, the reconfiguration of borders, refuge and survival, mourning and recovery, reconstruction and coexistence.

Participants are invited to respond to the theme of “WAR” through their own interpretations and architectural languages. The competition does not designate a specific site or program. Therefore, proposals may take various forms and scales, including architecture, landscape, urban strategies, infrastructure, memorials, shelters, research facilities, community spaces, or experimental projects.

BIGFIELDS understands architecture not simply as the production of form, but as a cultural practice that reads social crises and human conditions while imagining new possibilities. BIGFIELDS 2026 is an international student architecture competition created to provide a global platform where architecture students from around the world can critically and creatively explore the relationship between war and architecture.

1. Competition Theme

WAR is not merely an event, but a condition. It is a force that disrupts the order of cities and communities, territories and memories, resources and survival. At the same time, war generates new spatial demands for protection, testimony, remembrance, healing, recovery, and reconstruction.

Participants may freely interpret the expanded concept of war, including actual wars and armed conflicts, refugees and migration, ruins and regeneration, borders and surveillance, memorials and memory, emergency relief and survival infrastructure, information warfare, climate warfare, water conflicts, and food crises.

2. Fields of Submission

Architecture, Urban Design, and Landscape Architecture

3. Eligibility

This competition is an international open competition for students majoring in architecture. Undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in architecture-related programs may participate regardless of nationality or age.

Both individual and team entries are accepted. Each team may consist of up to five members.

4. Awards

1st Prize: USD 10,000 / 1 team
2nd Prize: USD 1,000 / 1 team
3rd Prize: USD 500 / 1 team
Honorable Mention: USD 100 / 5 teams
Special Recognition: May be selected if necessary / No cash prize

5. Entry Fee

USD 100 per submission

6. Schedule

Competition Announcement: May 22, 2026
Registration Period: June 15 – August 31, 2026
Submission Deadline: August 31, 2026
Online Jury Review: September 1 – September 20, 2026
Announcement of Results: September 25, 2026
Publication of Winners / Online Archive: September 30, 2026

https://www.bigfieldscompetitions.com/

※ For further details, please refer to the attached competition brief.

A commitment to Canadian excellence

The CCC seeks to consolidate and support the companies and studios that make up the Canadian design panorama through international exhibitions that expand opportunities abroad. In 2020, the organization created Fictions. Working with curator Nicolas Bellavance-Lecompte, an exhibition of eight creators was mounted, including Lambert et fils, Atelier Zébulon Perron, Claste Collection, Yannick Pouliot, Loïc Bard, SSSVLL, Pascale Girardin, and David Umemoto. Due to the global pandemic, the exhibition was not shown at the Salone del Mobile as planned, but was instead broadcast via video from Montreal. The exhibition was on the cover of Wallpaper Magazine in the January 2021 issue.

Fostering the emergence of new talent

Since its founding in 2018 by Samuel Lambert, Quinlan Osborne, and Zébulon Perron, the CCC has focused on the professional trajectories of young Canadian designers. The CCC fosters the emergence of new talent by connecting them with prominent professionals from around the world, by disseminating know-how, and by including designers at all stages of practice in international exhibitions. When a critical need for industry-recognized validation for young creators was identified, this new awards program was initiated. Intended to serve as a professional catalyst, the Prix Design Émergent CCC Emerging Design Awards provides winners with the visibility and credentials necessary to access international grants, residencies, and global networks.

High-level international jury

We are pleased to announce the international jury for the 2026 edition of the Awards. The jury is composed of a panel of five influential figures from the industry, including: Anna Caradeuc, a New York-based publicist and creative strategist renowned for her influence on the collectible design market; Spanish designer Manu Bañó, whose work at EWE Studio in Mexico bridges traditional Mexican craftsmanship and contemporary aesthetics; Kwangho Lee, a South Korean designer who combines traditional craftsmanship with modern design, and whose works are part of the permanent collections of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and SFMOMA; Philippe Malouin, a Canadian industrial designer whose London-based studio is internationally recognized for its experimental and minimalist approach to furniture, lighting, and objects, in collaboration with brands such as Flos, Kvadrat, and Umbra; and Laura May Todd, Milan correspondent for Wallpaper* magazine, a leading journalist and editor whose critical perspective shapes the narrative around contemporary architecture and interiors. Together, they bring valuable expertise and a diverse, multidisciplinary perspective to the selection process.

Award categories

Form-giving
Material creations/ objects
Creating tangible objects: building, sculpting, molding, or cutting away. Creating artefacts that populate spaces and the imaginary. Pushing boundaries, imbuing objects with meaning, with values, and improving the human experience through form. No 3D or otherwise non-built objects are accepted in this category.

Spatiality
Spaces/ urban/ interiors
Giving meaning to the world around you, and changing the world through arranging, organizing, and creating. We hope to see projects that push the limits of what is expected and steer the built world toward a more sustainable, more human, and more beautiful direction. 

In the Ether
Virtual/ digital/ immaterial/ service design
Whether we are consciously dematerializing to become more sustainable, or simply innovating in non-material spaces like the internet, virtual reality, and the metaverse, more and more design now takes place in digital spaces. In this category, we want to see projects that leverage new technologies, digital spaces, and the non-built environment (including systems design, reuse strategies, and other approaches to dematerializing objects and reshaping lifestyles).

Future-building
Research projects/ new materials/ speculative design/ new technologies/ ideas
This category is for the designers of the future. Here is where we want to hear about all the ways design can be speculative, transformative, and exploratory. Tell us about your weirdly specific research, development of new materials, and new processes. We want to hear your insights on where the world is going and how design could/will/should develop to meet that future.

Eligibility and winners

The Award is open to designers, studios, and collectives based in Canada whose professional practice does not exceed six (6) years.

The overall winner, the Emerging Designer (or Designers, in the case of a design team or studio) of the Year, will be recognized as the county’s most exceptional new talent of 2026. A student will also be recognized as the Student Designer of the Year. Beyond the prestige of the title, winners will receive significant promotional support through the CCC’s national media partners and the v2com newswire. The winner of the Form-Giving category will be awarded a dedicated booth at Studio North during IDS 2027 in Toronto and given the chance to showcase their work at the most important design trade show in Canada.

Award details

The Valli Wine Tasting Room competition invites architects and designers to propose a contemporary tasting space for Valli Unite, an agricultural cooperative located in the rural hills of Piedmont, northern Italy. The competition explores how architecture can create meaningful connections between wine, landscape, hospitality, and sustainable rural life through a modest and carefully integrated architectural intervention.

Located near the small village of Costa Vescovato in the Colli Tortonesi wine region, the site is surrounded by vineyards, cultivated fields, forests, and rolling valleys. Known for its natural beauty and strong agricultural traditions, the region has become internationally recognized for natural and organic wine production, particularly the revival of the native Timorasso grape variety. The quiet and deeply rural character of the landscape plays a central role in the identity of the competition.

Valli Unite itself is one of Italy’s pioneering agricultural cooperatives dedicated to organic farming and natural wine production. Founded in the early 1980s as a collective response to rural abandonment, the cooperative has grown into a community-oriented agricultural and cultural landmark. Today, Valli Unite manages vineyards, farmland, agritourism facilities, and communal spaces while promoting values of sustainability, collective work, environmental responsibility, and close connection to the land.

The competition asks participants to design a wine tasting room extension connected to the existing wine storage facility. The challenge encourages sensitive and sustainable proposals that respond carefully to the surrounding landscape and the philosophy of Valli Unite. Participants are invited to explore how architecture can shape intimate visitor experiences while strengthening the relationship between wine culture, agriculture, and the rural environment.

PRIZES

3 winning proposals, 2 special award recipients and 6 honourable mentions will be selected. Buildner will award a total of 10,000 € in prize money to competition winners as follows:

1st Prize - 5,000 €
2nd Prize - 2,500 €
3rd Prize - 1,000 €
+ 6 honourable mentions

Buildner Student Award - 1,000 €
Buildner Sustainability Award - 500 €

COMPETITION SCHEDULE

Early Bird Registration: MAY 25 – JULY 30
Advance Registration: JULY 31 – OCTOBER 8
Last Minute Registration: OCTOBER 9 – JANUARY 14

Final registration deadline: JANUARY 14, 2027
Closing date for submission: FEBRUARY 15, 2027 (23:59 London Time)
Announcement of the winners: MARCH 30, 2027

Though fleeting, Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s projects left iconic afterimages in dozens of natural and urban landscapes, creating, as they themselves put it, “gentle disturbances.” Their art was a celebration of freedom, beauty, and courage. Christo and Jeanne-Claude not only dreamed of things considered impossible, but they also made them a reality. They negotiated with parliaments, municipalities, and private landowners. They enlisted architects, engineers, environmentalists, filmmakers, photographers, collectors, and hundreds of volunteers as their collaborators. Their projects cost millions, yet remained free and accessible to millions of visitors. Simultaneously monumental and intimate, they were infinitely different from other art created up to that point. 

The center named after them, in Christo’s hometown, is a place not only for presenting art but also for creating it – a place where the spirit of Christo and Jeanne-Claude inspires both artists and the wider public. The architecture of this space requires a bold vision, sensitivity, and deep understanding.

To find the best architectural solution for the Christo and Jeanne-Claude Center for Contemporary Art, the Municipality of Gabrovo is inviting architects to participate in a two-stage competition for adaptive reuse of a former textile technical school building.

The first phase is an open, anonymous competition to develop a conceptual design. The top five finalists will each receive a cash prize of EUR 20,000, excluding VAT. The application deadline is 20 July 2026.

The second phase requires design development and will be conducted through a negotiated procedure without prior publication with the five finalists from the preceding phase. The timeframe for developing the designs is two months. The winner will enter into a design contract worth up to EUR 1,000,000, excluding VAT.

The building of the former Textile Technical School in Gabrovo is located on the left bank of Yantra River. It was chosen to house the new Center for contemporary art both because of its spacious workshops with high ceilings, which can be transformed into excellent exhibition halls and production spaces, and because of the connection between the main subject of the school – textiles – and the art of Christo and Jeanne-Claude. The built-up area is 2737 m², the total gross floor area is 13,300 m² and the courtyard is 9000 m²

The brief for this competition was formulated following an extensive process of discussions and focus groups with artists and curators, cultural and educational institutions, and businesses. 

The architectural design of the building is expected to place its users at the center. The architectural design must:

1. create a welcoming environment for diverse experiences, behaviours, and modes of presence within the building and courtyard, corresponding to the planned activities and programs: permanent and temporary exhibitions, educational programs, artists’ studios, workshops for various materials and media, studios for artist residencies, Institute for Art in Public Space, book library, textile material library, coworking space, restaurant and café, gift shop, and courtyard.

2. embody the spirit of Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s art

3. preserve the memory of the school building

4. connect the building functionally and visually to the river and the adjacent public spaces

5. create a smart and green building.

The competition’s jury members and Vladimir Yavachev, Director of Projects of the Christo and Jeanne-Claude Foundation give a better perspective to the scope of the art center and the design task:

“Christo and Jeanne-Claude were constantly giving lectures to young artists and students. In Abu Dhabi, where I hope the Mastaba will be one day, they established – in collaboration with NYU Abu Dhabi and ADMAF – a public art award for young artists in their name. They often said that the work of an artist requires much hard work and total dedication. The Christo and Jeanne-Claude Center in Gabrovo is a place where art will be created, where young artists will work, live, and debate. That is the recipe for it to evolve naturally into a living organism. I am convinced that this will happen, and it is wonderful that it will bear the names of Christo and Jeanne-Claude.” — Vladimir Yavachev, Christo’s nephew and Director of Projects of the Christo and Jeanne-Claude Foundation

“Making a Center named after Christo and Jeanne-Claude seems like an oxymoron, since their work seems to defy the very notion of a center. Their work was always eccentric, consisting of projects created for different places all over the world and always for a limited time-span. But it is precisely because of the fleeting nature of their work that such a center is so necessary today, in order to make sure that its ingenious spirit can continue to impregnate the minds of artists, architects, and the general public. Tasked to reuse the former Textile School of Christo’s native city of Gabrovo for the needs of the new Center, the participating architecture firms will be facing a similar artistic challenge as the celebrated artists did in their many projects: to transform a specific extant condition into something universal, remarkable, surprising, and

memorable, with the only difference being that in the Christo and Jeanne-Claude Center in Gabrovo, the work and ideas of Christo and Jeanne-Claude will finally get a permanent residency. I am looking forward to seeing the creative spark of Christo and Jeanne-Claude fire up the imagination of contemporary architects once again and create a vital place of cultural memory and creativity.” — Andreas Ruby, jury member

 “Having met Christo and Jeanne-Claude on numerous occasions since 2000, I came to recognize their deep appreciation for their community of friends, collaborators, and artists. The teams they worked with embodied the extended family of Christo and Jeanne-Claude. A substantial part of Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s work lay in the process of materializing their art installations with all the approvals, engineering, trials, logistics, etc. These efforts were made possible only through a tightly knit and deeply committed team. Observing this family of people around Christo working together made clear to me that fostering and supporting communities of artists and creative people was an essential and valued aspect of Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s work. 

To honor this legacy through a contemporary art center in Gabrovo will be a particularly meaningful and fitting tribute.” — Erich Schoenenberger, jury member

Envisioned as a dynamic home for artists, thinkers, and the public, the future Christo and Jeanne-Claude Center for Contemporary Art in Gabrovo will continue the artists’ legacy of courageously reimagining space and experience. The international architectural competition is now open, with all details available at competition.cjcenter.gabrovo.bg

Christo and Jeanne-Claude Art Center website: www.cjcenter.gabrovo.bg 

Instagram: www.instagram.com/cjc_center_gabrovo

The TITAN Innovation Awards is open to designers, agencies, organizations, SMEs, teams, individuals, and visionary minds worldwide. 

Categories:
The TITAN Innovation Awards categories include Innovation in Design, Innovation in Technology, Innovation in Campaign, Innovation in Services and Solutions, and Innovation in Organizational Excellence.

Eligibility:
The TITAN Innovation Awards is open to designers, agencies, organizations, SMEs, teams, individuals, and visionary minds worldwide. Submit your entries online and seize the opportunity to showcase your brilliance.

Submission Requirement:
Eligible entries must have been produced after January 1, 2022. Regardless of your location, the TITAN Innovation Awards celebrate creativity on a global scale, embracing submissions from any country.

All entries must be submitted for judging exactly as published or implemented and may not be modified for the competition. The awards reserve the right to re-categorise incorrectly classified entries.

Judges reserve the right to withhold an award in a category if submissions do not meet their expectations.

Entry Brief:
We recommend each synopsis to be kept within 350 words. Use this section to elaborate on the piece as well as providing the jury with a better understanding of your subject. A written translation or adaptation must accompany non-English entries.

Image Submission:
Submissions should be saved in a flattened JPEG or JPG format. (keep them under 4MB, 1,200px wide is preferable, 300dpi, RGB).

Audio/Video Submission:
Upload video/audio to Vimeo/YouTube/Youku or any other related platforms.
Paste the URL link into the URL field.

Entries with audio/videos must be submitted with a direct URL that will take judges directly to the work. If it is password-protected, you must provide a username and password for judging purposes. Web Videos entered are judged solely on the content provided. Upload a PDF brief if explanation is required before evaluations of the work.

2026 S2 Entry Deadline & Fees:
Early Bird: May 15 - Jun 17, 2026 ($265)
Regular: Jun 18 - Jul 15, 2026 ($325)
Final: Jul 16 - Aug 19, 2026 ($365)
Final Extension: Aug 20 - Sep 16, 2026 ($385)

Results: Nov 6, 2026

There are FIVE (5) levels of achievement in the competition:

• Category Winners of the Year
• Platinum (85-100 points)
• Gold (70-84 points)
• Silver (60 – 69 points)
• Honorable Mention (59 - 50 points)

Judging:
Judging is blind. All incoming information is removed from entries to prevent bias/conflict of interest.

Evaluation Criteria:
Individual criteria differ by category, but the emphasis is on the overall quality of the entry: the merits of the entry, relative to the judges' experience and the claims in other entries, as well as the quality of the entry's narrative itself.

Judges score on a scale of 1-100, based on the following criteria:

Innovative Categories Criteria

• Uniqueness and Innovation
• Implementation and Execution
• Impact Towards the Industry
• Overall Experience / Memorability

Organization Excellence Category

• Plan / Idea / Strategy / Innovation
• Execution / Content
• Performance / Achievement
• Overall Impression / Memorability

Prizes:
➡ Dedicated Social Media Post
➡ Winner’s Interview
➡ Dedicated Winner’s Profile / Page
➡ Press Release Template
➡ Exclusive Physical & Digital Certificates
➡ Winner Badge
➡ Life-time marketing materials for use

Full Benefits: https://titaninnovationawards.com/innovation-awards.php#thebenefits