Bustler's Top 10 Competitions of 2015

It's been another busy year on Bustler. A year full of exciting architectural competitions and events from around the world: from landmark projects like the Guggenheim Helsinki and the St. Petersburg Pier; historically prestigious competitions like the Buckminster Fuller Challenge and the RIBA Awards; to the vast array of creative ideas competitions that address real-world topics and issues — from skyscrapers, architectural fairy tales, 24-hour-long competitions, to design solutions in response to major environmental crises.

We put together a round-up of the top 10 most-visited competitions from the past year. Check out our 2015 list below.

1. eVolo 2016 Skyscraper Competition

The 2016 edition of eVolo's widely popular Skyscraper Competition launched in July, and it has already attracted plenty of interest from our readers. If you plan on participating in the 2016 competition, register by January 19 and submit your entry by January 26! Check out the 2015 winners here.

2. Laka Competition 2015: Architecture that Reacts - Winners

Launched back in June by public arts initiative Laka Architektura, nearly 200 designers representing more than 30 countries submitted their interpretations of the 2015 theme "Architecture that Reacts". The theme intends to spark more interest in the investigation of adaptive socially engaged architecture, for now and the future.

3. Eleven / / / Cambodia 2015: Protect Respect Empower - Winners

UK-based Eleven Magazine launched their first ideas competition, which sought architectural solutions to aid the Floating Village communities of Tonlé Sap Lake in Cambodia, a UNESCO site that is now severely threatened by increasing levels of pollution and disease.

4. Dencity Competition 2015 - Winners

Shelter's Dencity Competition invited architects, designers, planners, and organizations worldwide to submit their ideas on how to handle and alleviate urban density of unplanned cities. As many of us are already aware of, the world's cities are grappling to adapt to rapid urbanization and population growth, which is forcing too many inhabitants to deal with substandard living conditions.

5. Archinect's DRY FUTURES: An Ideas Competition Seeking Future-Focused Design Responses to California’s Drought - Winners

Bustler's sister site Archinect launched Dry Futures, an ideas competition that invited architects worldwide to submit design solutions in response to California's drought crisis — from practical and idealistic to speculative and maybe even dystopic.

6. Axis Civitas - Winners

For their third annual competition, Gowanus by Design organized Axis Civitas to explore the potential development of the Gowanus neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York, and to address the lack of a sustainable urban strategy that would restore and preserve the area.

7. London Public Library - Winners

Highlighting the value of literature in English society, Archmedium created the London Public Library competition, which proposed a new 21st-century public library for London that would also serve as a city node where culture, history, and technology intertwine. In designing their proposals, entrants also had to consider today's definitions of a library. 

8. CHANDIGARH UNBUILT: Completing the Capitol - Winners

Participants in Archasm's Chandigarh Unbuilt competition shared their own visions of the Museum of Knowledge (MoK), a component of Le Corbusier's proposed Capitol Complex in Chandigarh, India. The single-stage ideas competition sought the most outstanding interpretations for the iconic Le Corbu monument that were most suitable for 21st-century Chandigarh.

9. Amsterdam Floating Toy Museum - Winners

Competition organizers Arquitectum had participants design a contemporary Floating Toy Museum for the banks in central Amsterdam. The museum also had to include a Science Center Nemo Centre, Arcam, VOC-ship (18 Century Cargo Ship) and National Maritime Museum to display a collection of up to 3,000 contemporary toys and provide space for temporary exhibitions.

10. HAMBURG Hybrid Housing COMPETITION - Winners

CTRL+SPACE launched the Hamburg Hybrid Housing competition to explore the ongoing search for feasible housing solutions. Participants worldwide proposed housing concepts that can produce tangible improvements in Hamburg's neighborhoods and eventually be applied in other cities, too.