New architecture and design competitions: Reimagine The Elbphilharmonie, Warming Huts, iF DESIGN AWARD, and UIA International Student Competition

If you're in search of new, exciting architecture and design competitions, take a look at the latest curated picks of challenges listed on Bustler. Featured below are four briefs seeking bold architectural drawings that reimagine Hamburg's iconic Elbphilharmonie, proposals for a warming hut or art installation in Winnipeg, Manitoba, outstanding design across nine disciplines and 93 categories, and student-led concepts for spatial interventions that enable resistance and adaptation to threats related to political shifts, social transformations, and climate change.

For the complete directory of newly listed competitions, click here.

Reimagine The Elbphilharmonie
Registration/Submission Deadline: Sunday, August 31, 2025

"Sometimes, one drawing is enough to spark a revolution — not through detail or precision, but through imagination. A single image can challenge what architecture is, question what it serves, and propose what it could become. In this challenge, we invite you to reimagine the Elbphilharmonie through one powerful architectural drawing — a section, a perspective, a collage, or even a hybrid of all three. The aim is not technical perfection or realism. Instead, we’re looking for a bold concept, an emotional idea, a question made visible. What if this iconic building responded to climate instead of style?
What if it evolved with the city?
What if it was built from light, from earth, from memory?"

Warming Huts V.2026: An Arts & Architecture Competition on Ice
Registration/Submission Deadline: Tuesday, October 7, 2025

"Three teams will be selected as winners of the WARMING HUTS COMPETITION: Arts + Architecture Competition on Ice from submissions of designs for a warming hut or an art installation. Winning entries will be placed along the Nestaweya River Trail located on the Assiniboine and Red rivers in Winnipeg, Manitoba. A jury will select the winning designs based on their creativity in use of materials, providing shelter, poetics of assembly and form, integration with the landscape, and ease of construction."

iF DESIGN AWARD 2026
Registration/Submission Deadline: Wednesday, November 5, 2025

"With around 11,000 submissions from almost 70 countries, the iF DESIGN AWARD is one of the largest and most prestigious design competitions in the world. Since 1954, the iF label has served as a reliable sign of excellent design for both consumers and the design community. An international jury of more than 130 independent design and sustainability experts presents the award in a transparent and fair jury process."

UIA International Student Competition 'Catalysts of Resilience'
Registration/Submission Deadline: Friday, November 7, 2025

"The UIA World Congress of Architects 2026 Barcelona (UIA2026BCN) announces the UIA International Student Competition, an invitation for students from around the world to engage with the Congress’s core theme Becoming. Architectures for a planet in transition. Participants are challenged to design spatial interventions that enable resistance and adaptation to predictable threats related to political shifts, social transformations and climate change, among other concerns. This competition asks students to think beyond conventional design methods, using time as a design strategy to catalyse resilient future."

Would you like to contribute competitions, award programs, or calls for submissions that aren't listed on Bustler yet? Send them directly to our team to review. We may include them in our next roundup.