Design a memorial to what we would hope will be the last ever nuclear weapons: The Last Nuclear Bomb Memorial / Edition #3 is launched!

With the future in such a state of uncertainty and political relationships more strained than ever, there is one silent threat that could end up being more deadly and dangerous to humanity than a hundred pandemics: nuclear weapons.

In 1945, the US bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki, effectively ending World War II and killing well over 100,000 people, the majority of whom were civilians. The bombing of Nagasaki was the second and final time a country deployed a nuclear weapon in combat. However, it wasn’t the last nuclear explosion, as testing of controlled explosions continued for years.

On the 75th anniversary of the bombing, Nagasaki Mayor Tomihisa Taue called on Japanese President Shinzo Abe and the central government to sign and ratify the 2017 United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. However, there has been little if any official progress towards an international ban on nuclear weapons since then.

We support the call for a ban on nuclear weapons and as the threat of nuclear bombs is ever present, we are continuing our annual architecture competition to create “The Last Nuclear Bomb Memorial”.

The Last Nuclear Bomb Memorial / Edition #3 is the third annual competition in which participants are tasked with creating a memorial located within a decommissioned nuclear weapon testing site. In response to the global silence surrounding the issue of nuclear weapons, participants in The Last Nuclear Bomb Memorial / Edition #3 competition must submit their designs with NO DESCRIPTION TEXT. The architecture ideas must be communicated strictly with visuals. We are asking participants to design a building or structure in which the architecture would do all the talking.

PRIZES

3 winning proposals, 2 special award recipients and 6 honourable mentions will be selected. Buildner will award a total of 7,000 € in prize money to competition winners as follows:

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

Buildner Student Award - 1,000 € + 50 € gift card at ARCHHIVE BOOKS
Buildner Sustainable Award - 500 €

[left] The Trinity explosion; [right] Wrecked framework of the Museum of Science and Industry in Hiroshima, Japan 1945 © Everett Collection

Data from: Arms Control Association Source: Hans M. Kristensen, Matt Kordas, U.S. Department of State, and Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

The Last Nuclear Bomb Memorial / Edition #3 competition must submit their designs with NO DESCRIPTION TEXT; Choose a site from the list (available for download below) of top testing sites for the world’s strongest nuclear weapons.

COMPETITION SCHEDULE

Early Bird Registration: APRIL 24 – JUNE 26
Advance Registration: JUNE 27 – SEPTEMBER 3
Last Minute Registration: SEPTEMBER 4 – NOVEMBER 5

Final registration deadline: NOVEMBER 5, 2023 
Closing date for submission: DECEMBER 6, 2023 (11:59 p.m. LONDON TIME)  Announcement of the winners: JANUARY 26, 2024

More: https://architecturecompetitions.com/nuclearbombmemorial3/