AR Future Projects awards 2027
Brief
AR Future Projects awards 2027 is an international awards programme for architecture in progress: commissioned projects on the drawing board or at an early stage of construction, plus three prizes for student work, unsuccessful competition entries and sustainable research. The programme is organised by The Architectural Review and has run since 2002.
Scope and eligibility
| Route | Published eligibility |
|---|---|
| Fourteen future-project categories | Projects with an identified client, on the drawing board or in early construction, with expected completion after 1 June 2027. Architects, developers, funders, contractors and others able to demonstrate involvement may enter. |
| Student prize | Finished projects by students who graduated after 1 January 2026 from a master’s, RIBA Part 2 or equivalent programme. |
| Competition entry prize | Unsuccessful and uncommended proposals from architecture competitions whose results were announced after 1 January 2026, submitted by an author of the work. |
| Sustainable research and design prize | Environmental ideas for construction, whether on the drawing board, at prototype stage or being tested on site, submitted by an author. |
| Main categories | Civic and community; commercial mixed use; cultural regeneration; education; health; hotels and leisure; housing; infrastructure; new and old; offices; regeneration and masterplanning; retail; sports; and tall buildings. |
The fourteen main categories require an identified client and a completion date after 1 June 2027. A speculative project without a client belongs only in one of the three special-prize routes when it satisfies that route’s conditions.
Submission requirements
| Component | Required specification |
|---|---|
| Boards | Two anonymous A2 boards, uploaded as two separate PDF files. Each file must not exceed 12 MB; identification on the boards may lead to disqualification. |
| Project summary | Up to 200 words in English, including the project name, practice, client, city and country. The organiser states that this text may be used for editorial coverage. |
| Images | Four high-resolution JPEG files: two portrait and two landscape, 300 mm on the long side at 300 dpi, in CMYK. |
| Submission method | Online account, category selection, entry form, uploads, acceptance of the terms and completion through the official portal. |
| Language | English for the written summary; the public instructions do not announce an alternative submission language. |
Schedule
| Stage | Published date | UTC |
|---|---|---|
| Standard-fee period ends | 13 November 2026 | No closing time published. |
| Final entry deadline | Friday, 4 December 2026 | No closing time or time zone published. |
| Celebratory event | April 2027, during Salone del Mobile in Milan | Exact date not announced. |
The organiser publishes the final date but not the closing hour or time zone. The countdown below uses 4 December 2026 at 23:59 UTC only as an editorial estimate; entrants should confirm the live portal and submit earlier.
Fees and awards
| Item | Published amount and approximate USD |
|---|---|
| Main categories — standard period | £599 + VAT (about USD 792 before VAT). |
| Main categories — late period | £649 + VAT (about USD 858 before VAT). |
| Student prize | £49 + VAT in the standard period (about USD 65); £75 + VAT late (about USD 99). |
| Competition-entry and sustainable-research prizes | £100 + VAT in the standard period (about USD 132); £149 + VAT late (about USD 197). |
| VAT | The organiser states that 20% VAT is applied to UK practices. Tax treatment for other entrants depends on the portal and entrant status. |
| Overall winner | £1,500 (about USD 1,984). |
| Three special-prize winners | £500 each (about USD 661). |
| Category winners | A trophy, certificate, catalogue, badge, press release and invitation to the Milan event are listed; no separate cash award is stated for each of the fourteen category winners. |
USD equivalents use GBP 1 = USD 1.3228 on 10 October 2026 and are indicative only.
Jury and assessment context
| Juror | Published background |
|---|---|
| Tomà Berlanda | Co-founder of a Malmö architecture and urbanism practice; professor of architectural technology at Politecnico di Torino; former technical reviewer for the Aga Khan Award for Architecture. |
| Manijeh Verghese | CEO of Open City, Mayor of London Design Advocate, external examiner at The Bartlett and former head of public engagement at the Architectural Association. |
| Additional juror | Listed by the organiser as “to be confirmed” at the review date. |
The published category notes emphasise contextual fit and category-specific performance: for example, housing is assessed beyond the unit toward site planning and shared thresholds, infrastructure toward connection and daily use, and regeneration toward environmental, economic and social durability. A single universal scoring matrix is not published on the public entry-information page.
Organiser, publication and rights
The Architectural Review positions the programme as an editorial award for future architecture. All entries are stated to appear in the awards catalogue and website gallery, while winning work receives further promotion. The public entry information reviewed does not set out a project-rights transfer clause or clarify travel funding for the Milan event. Entrants should therefore read the transaction-stage terms before payment, particularly for image licences, cancellation, refunds and attendance costs.
✦ ArchUp Competition Review
The strongest aspect of this award is its clear distinction between commissioned future projects and three forms of speculative work. That structure lets practices, recent graduates and research-led designers enter through different eligibility routes rather than competing under one undifferentiated brief. The announced jurors also bring complementary perspectives in technology, public engagement, teaching and curatorial practice.
The principal limitation is economic. For a main-category entry, the fee is high relative to the £1,500 overall cash prize, and category recognition is primarily editorial and professional rather than financial. Because every entry is published, entrants should assess the catalogue and gallery exposure as a publication service attached to an award—not as payment or a promise of commissions. Anonymous boards, a compact English summary and carefully prepared CMYK images also make the submission closer to a publication package than a conventional ideas competition.
Reviewed on 10 October 2026 against the official AR Future Projects awards 2027 home, entry-information and jury pages.
Related competitions — Editorial team selection
Readers comparing future-facing design opportunities may also review the WDC 2028 Busan Pavilion International Design Competition for a project tied to development and delivery, and the 2027 COTE Competition for a student route centred on environmental performance.
Time remaining for submission
4 December 2026 · 23:59 UTC (editorial assumption; no official closing time is published).
Official award page
Check the live categories, terms and entry form before payment and submission.
