New architecture and design competitions: AIA|LA Residential Architecture Awards, AIASF Design Awards, Claude Parent Prize for Transgressive Architecture, and Council on Vertical Urbanism Awards

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 the best residential designs by Los Angeles-based firms, new architecture and interior designs in the San Francisco Bay Area, innovative tall building projects prioritizing sustainability and human well-being, and architects who push boundaries and reimagine the future of architecture and urban design.

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

AIA|LA Residential Architecture Awards 2026
Registration Deadline: Sunday, February 8, 2026
Submission Deadline: Tuesday, March 17, 2026

"Residential Design is the purview of a wide array of practices. From young offices developing their own design language to established firms refining a sensibility or investigating new ideas. Celebrating these firms and projects are the AIA|LA Residential Architecture Awards (RAA’s). This inclusive awards program invites work at all scales from firms of all sizes. Projects remain in the category they were submitted in and are compared to work of like scale."

Council on Vertical Urbanism (CVU) 2026 Awards Program
Registration/Submission Deadline: Friday, February 13, 2026

"The CVU Awards Program recognizes projects, practices, and individuals that have made extraordinary contributions to the advancement of tall buildings and the urban environment, and that achieve sustainability and human well-being at the highest and broadest level. Award-winning projects are recognized at the VU Summit, where Award of Excellence Winners in each category present their projects to an international audience and live juries."

2026 AIASF Design Awards
Registration/Submission Deadline: Wednesday, March 4, 2026

"The AIA San Francisco (AIASF) Design Awards program honors transformative achievements in architecture, interiors, and unbuilt work. This program celebrates the power of design to shape a better world by fostering innovation, championing sustainability, and advancing social responsibility. Through this recognition, AIASF aims to inspire architects, designers, and visionaries to push boundaries, elevate communities, and create spaces that resonate with beauty, purpose, and impact."

Claude Parent Prize for Transgressive Architecture 2026
Registration/Submission Deadline: Tuesday, March 31, 2026

"The Claude Parent Prize aims to reward bold architects who are aware of the current impasse and determined to break new ground. Their transgressive, pioneering or visionary approach is helping to reinvent the discipline and rethink the way we inhabit the world. This prize does not seek to find clones or imitators, something Claude Parent himself never wanted, but to champion the freedom to experiment, to break boundaries, and to reinvent architecture."

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.