New architecture and design competitions: Buildner Unbuilt Award, Bauhaus Bathroom, Lyceum Fellowship, and Our Homes: Inclusionary Housing Now

Bustler's curated picks of new architecture and design competitions this week feature four calls seeking thoughtful, inventive designs for a permanent restroom at the Gropius House, visions for inclusionary housing in now underutilized public sites in Cape Town, South Africa, fellows interested in exposing, visualizing, and engaging urban conflict, and bold and imaginative unbuilt projects of all forms and scales.

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

A Bauhaus Bathroom: Design Competition For a Public Restroom at Gropius House
Registration/Submission Deadline: Friday, February 6, 2026

"Utilitarian and mass-produced, the portable toilet at the Gropius House unexpectedly echoes Bauhaus values. But it was always meant to be a stop-gap solution that is clearly inelegant and does not meet contemporary accessibility standards. It fails to adequately welcome visitors to this iconic property. Through this competition, Historic New England is soliciting thoughtful, inventive ideas to solve this problem for future generations of visitors. The competition invites designers to channel the Bauhaus spirit – experiment with materials, push boundaries, and collaborate across disciplines from architecture to landscape to graphics to industrial design – to create a permanent restroom solution and to reimagine the visitor arrival experience at one of Historic New England’s most celebrated museums."

Our Homes: Inclusionary Housing Now
Registration Deadline: Saturday, February 21, 2026
Submission Deadline: Saturday, February 28, 2026

"Calling all architects, urbanists, engineers, artists, and makers to design dignified, affordable, and aspirational inclusionary housing in Cape Town. This competition invites you to reimagine four underutilized public sites, currently government parking lots, as vibrant places to live. You will be challenged to integrate affordability and location, respond to spatial inequality, and develop real-world solutions that could shape Cape Town’s housing future. This is your opportunity to shape the city, reclaim public land, and design homes that bring people closer to opportunity, dignity, and belonging."

2026 Lyceum Fellowship - Spatializing Justice: Building Blocks
Registration/Submission Deadline: Thursday, May 21, 2026

"Critical intervention into the urban field requires first recognizing the contested spatial and institutional power dynamics that drive today’s urban and bio-regional crises. The 2026 Lyceum Fellowship competition asks participants to first expose and visualize a particular conflict—reflecting on the requisite political, economic, social, and spatial processes—then design the conditions to tackle this conflict."

100,000 € Prize / Buildner's Unbuilt Award 2026
Registration Deadline: Wednesday, September 23, 2026
Submission Deadline: Tuesday, October 20, 2026

"Participants are invited to submit their work, offering unrestricted freedom to highlight their creativity and vision. Whether it's designs still on paper, detailed plans awaiting realization, or conceptual ideas seeking acknowledgment, all forms of unbuilt projects are welcome. Submissions are categorized as small, medium, or large, so every project gets the recognition it deserves. Buildner aims to showcase the incredible potential of these unbuilt designs, applauding the imagination and commitment of architects and designers striving for innovation and excellence."

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.