Urban SOS is AECOM’s annual student competition. It was created to engage students in urban planning and design, architecture, landscape architecture, environmental restoration, and engineering with the issues confronting modern cities and to allow them to propose solutions that, if worthy, will be seen by established professionals in their field. 
With more than half of the growing world population living in cities, how we address urban and natural landscapes will determine much about the future of our planet. As a global design and engineering consultancy, AECOM recognizes that cities require broad-based, interdisciplinary thinking and, if properly managed, can become machines for environmental and social progress. Our aspiration for the competition is to foster a cross-disciplinary approach to the complex challenges facing today’s built and natural environments.
The 2012 competition culminates with an event at the end of November in Shanghai. This year, we are addressing the issue of Frontiers as the driving theme of the Urban SOS competition. Our globalizing world is currently undergoing mass migrations, geo-political shifts and new patterns of commerce, enhancing the role of cities as the stage sets for these massive changes. In addition to a cash prize for the winning team, we will arrange a donation to a charitable, humanitarian or community organization to further develop the winning scheme.
PRIZES:Each of the three finalist teams will receive an honorarium to contribute to travel expenses related to visiting Shanghai to present the team’s submission. The finalist honoraria are to contribute to expenses related to attendance and presentation in Shanghai only and cannot be exchanged for other prizes. In addition, each team will receive US$500 to contribute to additional costs. No other costs or fees will be covered by AECOM or the sponsors.
The winning team (or teams) will receive a cash prize. The total prize money is valued at US$15,000, which may be divided amongst one or more winning teams. 
A further US$25,000 in cash and inkind staff hours will be donated by AECOM to a charitable or humanitarian organization or related agency to help further develop the winning proposal.

Register by: 08-31-2012 / Submit by: 08-31-2012

The Next Generation Container Port (NGCP) Challenge aims to raise awareness of the research and development needs and foster innovation within the maritime industry. The Challenge also seeks to encourage greater partnerships between industry and academia to invent new concepts and ideas for the maritime sector.
This competition will challenge international participants to think beyond existing conventions and submit radical new proposals to plan, design and operate a future container port.

Register by: 07-31-2012 / Submit by: 12-31-2012

Reality Cues is about making architecture in digital, interactive, and social media, where ownership is communal and subject matter changes as quickly as users can click the 'share' button. Within this culture of reposting, reblogging, and retweeting is the opportunity to modify and subvert prevailing tendencies. Combine this with the ease with which anyone can alter images to create virtual worlds, and you are left with an increasingly fuzzy area between the so-called virtual and real. The !!!!!!!!! Competition looks to accelerate this process to see just how fuzzy we can get.
The Proposal: Use one of the provided images (see competition page for images) and redefine the architectural content or insert architecture of your own.
1. Prize for Best Overall Image: Hacked version of Hasbro's skill game Operation2. Prize for Best of Each Image Group: Custom Reality Cues Lego Pack

Register by: 05-31-2012 / Submit by: 05-31-2012

PUBLIC SUMMER: The Library of Immediacy
SUPERFRONT is happy to announce that on Sunday, June 10th, 2012 SUPERFRONT will host a 2-hour design charrette for PUBLIC SUMMER: LIBRARY OF IMMEDIACY on Governors Island, in partnership with FIGMENT. SUPERFRONT’s PUBLIC SUMMER program offers young designers the opportunity to produce a temporary installation for public programming. 
PUBLIC SUMMER: LIBRARY OF IMMEDIACY will be open to the public on weekends from July 21st through September 23, 2012. Unlike most competitions, the juried competition for the design of PUBLIC SUMMER: LIBRARY OF IMMEDIACY does not privilege designers who are able to dedicate more time or more resources to their competition entry. Designers only have the 2 hours on site at the charrette to draft their proposal. The goal is to hone in on concept and strategy, and to level the playing field for designers with minimal time to devote to unpaid competitive endeavors or with less sophisticated software or rendering tools. On the day of the competition, participants will be handed a detailed brief for the LIBRARY OF IMMEDIACY, a semi-outdoor space to support a curated set of public activities on Governors Island. The selected team will have the opportunity to construct their design on Governors Island, in collaboration with SUPERFRONT and FIGMENT. Construction will be supported through donated materials from Materials For The Arts, other partners, and novice construction volunteers. 
Winners will be given an honorarium of $500 and a budget of $1500 for materials and construction. The temporary outdoor installation will open on July 21st and will run until September 23rd. The charrette is aimed at (though not limited to) young designers five years or less out of school or under age 35. You may participate as an individual or as a team of up to four people. Please note that on Saturday, June 9, 2012 there will be a Public Summer site visit on Governors Island from 10am-2pm. SUPERFRONT staff will be there to answer any questions. 
All directions and detailed information will be emailed to registrants prior to June 9th.

Register by: 06-08-2012 / Submit by: 06-10-2012

FUTURE is launching, for second consecutive year, an international ideas competition to identify the best design concepts with the challenge to develop visionary urban proposals with the intention of stimulating contemporary cities, in this case 2 different locations: Chongqing and Seville. The aim of the competition is to offer opportunities, for all architecture students and young architects around the world that are not always available through other selection methods. Significant architects have launched their careers because their designs were selected as the winning schemes.  How do we imagine the links of the future?

Register by: 07-27-2012 / Submit by: 07-27-2012

Did you design a truly memorable space or create a life-changing device? Did your firm create an inspiring tool for tomorrow? Enter Fast Company’s inaugural Innovation By Design Awards, honoring the year's best designs. This award program offers entrants an unmatched opportunity to reach entrepreneurs and executives looking to find fresh talent.
Categories for the Innovation By Design Awards include: Spaces, Consumer Products, Services & Systems, Interactive Experiences, 2-D Designs, Industrial Equipment, Transportation, Concepts, and Student Design Entries will be judged on their business impact, beauty, originality, functionality, social impact, and depth of user insight—six necessary ingredients for any great innovation.
Online submission ends June 1st and finalists will be determined by a stellar line-up of design experts. Together, Fast Company and Co.Design offer a reach and influence that’s unique—Fast Company reaches 2.9 million readers every issue. Co.Design reaches another 1.5 million readers a month, serving over 6 million page views. Finalists will be published in a feature package in Fast Company's October design issue. Winners will be announced at a gala in New York City on Tuesday, October 16 and will then be published and announced on Co.Design.

Register by: 06-01-2012 / Submit by: 06-01-2012

This is an open invitation to any current Northern California student: we would like to show your work at the upcoming Launch festival. Launch provides a platform for emerging artists and designers to share their inspiring work. This music, art, fashion, design and architecture festival will exhibit a selection of student design projects in gallery spaces at the main event at Cesar Chavez Park in downtown Sacramento.
How it works: your initial PDF submittal will be entered into a blind review of judges. Those who make the cut will need to deliver their final submittal to Launch by July 15, 2012. The full event runs July 23-28, 2012. Along with bragging rights, those whose work is selected will receive two complimentary tickets to the 2012 Launch event.
REQUIREMENTS: Initial submittal due May 28, 2012, by 3PM: Format: PDF at 18x24” or 24x36” size, (10MB max) emailed to architecture@launchsacramento.com. Do not include your names on the PDF submission. Acceptable subjects include: architecture, urban design, interior design or product design and entries that include spatial installations or physical models are encouraged (photographs of these are okay). Group or individual work welcome.
Final submittal (for the chosen padawans) due July 15, 2012, by 3PM: Format: 18x24” or 24x36” mounted presentation board, color or black & white with foam core backer board. Include your name/school/instructor and course/semester at 18 point font or smaller on board. You will also need to include your spatial installations or physical models. Launch makes no guarantees that entries will be returned and/or not damaged, however they may be picked up after the event.

Register by: 05-28-2012 / Submit by: 05-28-2012

In July 2012, 72 Hour Urban Action is coming to Stuttgart to work together with local cultural activists. The world's 1st real-time architecture competition will be the kick-off of a series of major urban interventions. All around the site of the largest urban redevelopment in Europe - Stuttgart 21 - the center of a 30 year heated public debate.
The world's first real-time architecture competition offers selected teams only three days & three nights to design and build interventions in public space in response to local needs. The competition is defined by an extreme deadline, a tight budget and limited space and will challenge participants to rapidly leave a lasting impact on the city's urban fabric. They will be battling the clock, the restrictive conditions and each other, to envision and realize projects in response to the spatial and social challenges the sites and missions offer.
The international teams will include of architects, designers, artists, craftspeople and students, and generally nice people. Teams will come to stuttgart armed with a passion for action, and ready to volunteer their time and expertise to help with community needs.We believe change shouldnt take long, and is up to all of us. All participants will live together on site, in an old disused train-repair hanger converted into a sleep/work center, thus enriching the neighborhood with a multi-cultural intense experience. Teams will receive a budget for materials, a central prefabrication camp, a team of 'Angels' (construction and safety engineers) and a truck(!). The missions and sites will be assigned randomly on take off day.
An International jury panel will include prominent leaders, architects and curators. The winning team will gain a prize of US$4,000.

Register by: 05-26-2012 / Submit by: 07-11-2012

NEXT LANDMARK looks at how originality and eco-sustainability, combined with creative talent, can help improve the relationship between people, architecture and land.
In this context, the competition acknowledges and showcases new projects exploring the new horizons of contemporary living. 
All architects who graduated after January 1, 2000 may contribute by participating in the two competition categories: Debut Work, open to built architectural and urban planning projects, and Research, for unbuilt urban redevelopment projects, ideal buildings, graduating theses and theoretical reflection.
The two winners selected by a panel of international experts will be offered an exclusive opportunity to travel to Venice for the opening of the 13th Architecture Biennale and see their projects exhibited during an event organised by Floornature on the same dates as the Biennale to present the results of the competition.

Register by: 06-30-2012 / Submit by: 06-30-2012

Amazing Crete, the southernmost part of the EU, cradle of the European civilisation, with a rich modern history, excellent climatic conditions and a particularly fertile soil and motherland of the world’s healthiest diet, is also the headquarters of ENISA. The European Network and Information Security Agency (ENISA) thus contributes -with its’ presence in the city of Heraklion since 2005- to the island's multicultural character. Promoting European education in Crete is a major vision for SBO. A European school section is already operating in Heraklion and serving ENISA. Through this architectural competition this "section" will become a proper European school. The plot has been identified and reserved for that purpose on the premises of the University of Crete in Voutes, Heraklion. Our vision is to build a state of the art innovative school building reflecting the multicultural character of its students, providing the optimum educational environment and last but not least integrating an energy efficient conceptual design and the use of renewable energy sources.

Register by: 05-31-2012 / Submit by: 10-31-2012

The Wilmotte Foundation aims to encourage the exploration of architectural heritage and its relation to the architectural creation. As part of the competition this year, it is planned to revalorize an industrial site in loss of function, to convert existing buildings for new use and to add contemporary buildings, reintegrating the whole back into the urban fabric in one of the most beautiful cities in the world.
For its biannual competition for students, the Wilmotte Foundation chose the site of the former Piazza d'Armi on the island of St. Elena in Venice, an industrial site of the twentieth century, used as a shipyard for the ACTV, the operator of the famous Vaporetto”, the naval public transportation company of Venice.
The competition provides an opportunity to reinvent the typical building on water of Venice as modern housing, social and accessible. The project aims to establish a program consisting of quality housing (70%), and artists' studios with workshop and exhibition spaces (30%). Density and volume are left to the discretion of participants.
According to the idea of the city of Venice, a portion of approximately 20% of units should be to design as social co-housing, which means the participative construction accessible to the handicapped with a mix of generations, containing common elements (places of meeting, leisure, services, outdoor spaces, nursery...). The co-housing is an initiative born in the 60s in Denmark. In its current form, particular attention is given to aspects of sustainable buildings. Residents are involved in the design process and in the funding. The daily management is also provided by them. It concerns an architectural and urban redevelopment; think the Venice of the XXI Century.
The competition is open to students and young architects of architecture schools from the European Union and Switzerland, who graduated after December 31st, 2008. They will have to justify their current or past inscription in a school. For the session of 2012 an architect interior designer is allowed to participate but only in an association with an architect or student in architecture.

Register by: 05-15-2012 / Submit by: 06-15-2012

This competition seeks to encourage suggestions and solutions to the elusive combination between the creation of an architectural-spatial experience in the space of the architecture gallery, a predefined space with clear characteristics, combined with the contents of an exhibition containing architectural and/or design work by the planners. This exhibition must combine two seemingly disparate themes – the presentation of a pre-selected body of work in the gallery space; the creation of an architectural and spatial experience examining the purpose and abilities of the gallery of architecture, a dedicated physical space, and its continuing purposeful role in contemporary times.
Submissions to the competition must provide a planned design for an exhibition at the ZEZEZE ARCHITECTURE GALLERY, located at hangar 21 at the Tel Aviv Port. The proposed design should refer both to the contents of the exhibition – its subject and presented architectural or other works – as well as the creation of an exhibition and experience in the gallery space.
Prizes:One winner will be selected and invited to create the winning proposal in the gallery. The winner will be given use of the gallery for a 6 weeks exhibition period, a budget of approx. USD5,000, and the gallery will also produce a catalogue to accompany the exhibition (1,000 copies print run).

Register by: 06-03-2012 / Submit by: 06-21-2012

The architectural design of the Cultural Coast of the port of Piraeus is part of the strategy for the design of a new landmark for the city and the port of Piraeus, with main reference to the culture, quality tourism and sustainability as well. 
The competition task is:
-The design of a unique, for Greece, Museum of Underwater Antiquities.
-The design of an urban open public space with identity, in the center of the port, a core of education, art and recreation. A space connected with the urban fabric and its citizens.
1. The competition for the SILO aims to fill the absence of such a kind of thematic museum, for the country; a country with a unique, in quantity and in time, maritime life. Aims also to present to the public, parts of its history by exhibiting a multitude of important findings that are either scattered in various museums or stored devoid of potential exposure.
The premises of the new museum will be housed in an emblematic industrial building, for the port and Piraeus of 30s. Until recently, the building complex operated as a transit cereal stock house (SILO).
The building’s proximity to the sea, its history and its role for the port, its distinctive architectural characteristics make this space ideal for its conversion into a Museum of Underwater Antiquities.
2. The aims of the competition for the regeneration of Coastal Environmental Area of Ietinoia Coast are as follows:To give a new quality in the public space and to upgrade the outdoor activities of residence by creating innovative spaces and cultural and entertainment facilities that are currently missing from the waterfront of the city.
To change the current perception for the port area  -isolated from everyday life- with its transformation into an attractive and unique space, bringing culture in everyday life, not only for near around residents but for a numerous visitors (tourists, cruise tourists, residents of further surrounding areas).
To promote the implementation of modern and pioneering way by creating sustainable conditions throughout the Cultural Coast and to promote the port of Piraeus as a model of sustainable design.
The under study area includes all outdoor, public, coastal area of the Cultural Coast, south of Kekropos Avenue. Developing in two distinct successive phases having in mind the restrictions and data, for the parallel and without obstacles function of the port, which will be presented by the candidates in two corresponding proposals.
3. The importance of the Museum as one of the few worldwide monothematic museums and its unique-specialized character, the neighboring and direct building with the wider open space of the Cultural Coast of P.P.A., as well as the will for upgrading all of this public space lead to a common response Designing of the Museum and of the surrounding open space- and to tender a uniform Architectural Competition (Outlline Design).
4. Upon completion of the tender and the final selection of the most imaginative architectural solution through the participation of an important, we believe, number of architects, the new Museum of Underwater Antiquities, along with the surrounding area of the Cultural Coast, will become the new landmark of the area and will place Piraeus in the list with the most important and meaningful visit ports of the world.

Register by: 08-06-2012 / Submit by: 09-20-2012

The international competition best private plots – Die besten Gärten 2012 is the fifth in the series. The award honors exceptional achievements in the design of sustainable private outdoor spaces and gardens.
The competition highlights gardens as a contemporary dialogue between architecture, ecology and landscape, as places of inspiration and creation, as habitats that tell stories. The award criteria include artistic and conceptual quality, ecological use of plants and materials, delimitation and organization of outdoor space. A focus lies on variety of uses and sustainability. 
The outdoor spaces must be clearly identifiable as intended for private residence and use, and must have been created no more than ten years ago. Awards are given in recognition of newly designed gardens or of redesign of existing gardens.
The competition is open and international. Landscape architects, architects, artists, gardeners, garden owners and combinations thereof from all countries are eligible.

Register by: 06-04-2012 / Submit by: 06-04-2012

In 2012, ParticiPlace’s challengers will design an off-grid living-culture center for the Pinoleville Pomo Nation (PPN), a Native American nation in Northern California. The emphasis will be on a zero-energy building which is sensitive to the local culture and place.
The community is in the final process of re-purchasing ancestors lands where they hope to build the Living Culture Center to become a place to practice, preserve, and revive their culture for generations to come.
ParticiPlace is an annual design challenge, organized at UC Berkeley, which fosters collaboration between designers and underserved communities and promotes sustainable and socially responsive building designs. 
The combination of both social and technical challenges in design project calls for multidisciplinary teams of designers, architects and engineers working closely with community members.

Register by: 06-10-2012 / Submit by: 06-10-2012

We would like to cordially invite you to compete in the third annual Iron Designer Challenge III: Design On the Go! This year, we hope to raise $50,000 to help expand the design field components offered here at SDC, but we need your help! A $1,000 donation will allow you to enter 4 professionals in the Iron Designer Challenge competition. You will also receive listings in all our publicity efforts as well as 4 free tickets to the event.
This year the Iron Designer Challenge will take place on Thursday, June 7th at the School of Design and Construction. Your firm will be partnered with 3 students from the school, thus providing them a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to work side by side with the professionals of your company. Further details on the challenge, i.e. materials, rules and requirements will be released at the team meeting taking place on Thursday, May 10th. Please let us know if you would like to compete for the title of Iron Designer Champion.
For further information on this year’s Challenge, and to revisit the great memories from last year’s event, visit www.UASDC.com. The following firms are confirmed for the competition: Gensler, Cerami & Associates, Turner Construction, Thornton Tomasetti, Robert Silman Associates, Omni Architects and SOM.

Register by: 05-07-2012 / Submit by: 06-07-2012

RIBA Competitions is delighted to announce the launch of a new Invited Design Competition on behalf of King’s College London.  Expressions of Interest are sought from architects or architectural practices for the redevelopment of the Quadrangle and its associated buildings at the College’s historic Strand Campus in London WC2.
Currently the Strand Campus accommodates some 9,200 students and more than 1,500 staff.  Over the next five years the College plans to add a further 2,600 students at this campus, and the redevelopment of the Quad site will therefore form a crucial part of King’s plans to provide high quality facilities and infrastructure for teaching and research at this campus, and to nurture its connections with the surrounding area.
This £20 million project to design and redevelop the Quad site will provide an additional 3,700 square metres of teaching space and student facilities.
King’s is committed to appointing an architect based on their ability to bring innovative thinking to a significant historical site in order to revitalise a learning community.  
Following the pre-qualification phase it is intended that up to five architects/practices will be invited to develop concept designs for the project.  Each of the short-listed will receive an honorarium payment of £5,000 (+VAT) and be invited to present their proposals to a Jury Panel at a final assessment.  The Jury Panel will include Niall McLaughlin acting as the RIBA Architect Advisor.

Register by: 06-01-2012 / Submit by: 06-01-2012

This 2012 POSCO Desing Festa's theme is a question about Steel for the Homo Hundred era.  Homo Hundred is a pharse used by the UN in its 2009 World Population Aging Report to describe humans whose lifespans will reach 100 years on average in the future.  In this new era, how can steel contribute to rest and leisure while creating a new type of production?  The answer can be a structure or place or it can be a piece of equipment or a device.  To find the answer we need a joyful and persuasive imagination.  What does this new world look like?

Register by: 05-28-2012 / Submit by: 05-28-2012

Aalto University Properties Ltd is organising an open international competition for the design of the Otaniemi central campus area. The competition is divided into two phases.
Phase 1 Competition assignment consists of designing a lively central campus area for the use of Aalto University and the whole Otaniemi science and research community.
A competition jury will select approximately six best proposals for Phase 2, in which the competitors will design the new building(s) to be constructed in the area. The second phase is scheduled to start in November 2012.
The competition can be entered by persons who have the right to practice architect's profession in the country where they qualified or in the country where they practice the profession. It is recommended to have competing teams of experts with versatile qualifications in urban planning and building design, landscape design, traffic design and ecologically sustainable solutions.

Register by: 08-10-2012 / Submit by: 08-10-2012

This new competition from anonymous.d wishes to challenge architects, Designers and Engineers from around the world to re-imagine the design of a spiritual space in the 21st century.
The design of a religious/spiritual building is a highly complex task. Different eras symbolize different architectural manifestations based on their spiritual affiliation. A Japanese temple and a Gothic Cathedral are both structures designed and built for man in service to his spiritual philosophy. But one is humanly scaled and harmoniously integrated in oceans of nature; the other is richly ornamented and heroically scaled structure showcasing power and technical genius. Along history, religious spaces were always a place for architectural and structural investigations. A place where new aesthetics were born and new technologies were introduced. Some are known for their extraordinary structural performances , some showcase the balance between mass and void and others express their spiritual philosophy by a minimalistic use of light and shadows. Some of the world's most renowned structures are places of worship. The task is to examine social, cultural, economical and historical aspects related to different faiths and societies and propose an architectural response that takes into consideration the effects of globalization, advances in technology and sustainability and other architectural and urban strategies. The proposed work should investigate ideas related to the technical complexity of the building, the symbolic expression of the space and the role of spiritual places in our society and implement them to current and future experiences, spatial organizations, functionalities and aesthetics. Spiritual spaces - Where should we integrate them in our cities if at all? In what configuration? Should they be part of our homes or public infrastructures? should they be a vacation destination?... The purpose of spiritual.(d) annual competition is to encourage creative individuals and teams from around the world to participate in an open architectural and philosophical debate, to nurture the architectural evolution of our environment and to redefine the role of the spiritual space in the contemporary world.

Register by: 08-05-2012 / Submit by: 08-15-2012