Courtyard Stories: A Contemporary Home in Calcinate

Courtyard Stories is TerraViva’s international design call for turning part of a historic courtyard complex in Calcinate, Italy, into a contemporary single-family home. It offers an architectural exercise in connecting inherited fabric, domestic life and outdoor space.

Five key facts

Brief: connect the main building, adjoining structure and garden. Eligibility: worldwide, age 18+, individuals or teams. Next fee change: 5 February 2027. Fees and awards: €89/€109/€139; €6,000 cash plus coupons. Submission: two horizontal A1 boards and a short proposal text, due 7 May 2027.

Programme, dates and costs

The residential proposal should reconcile circulation, daylight, materials and relationships between levels. Registration changes from early to standard on 5 February, then late on 9 April; registration and submission close on 7 May, stated as 15:00 CET. Results are scheduled for 7 June. Advertised single-entry fees include VAT. A 15% early discount is advertised until 16 November 2026; subscription plans have separate commitments and team limits.

Jury and rights

Jurors are Maxime Pauzon (Pauzon Filliatre Architectes), Lucia Paci (Operastudio), Ivan Rota (IR Studio), Andrea Bellentani (ABArchitecture) and Verena Hake (RWTH Aachen). The mix connects practice and academia; the listed affiliations alone do not establish a dedicated conservation or structural assessment. English and anonymity are required under the general rules.

Participants retain intellectual property, but the general terms separately grant extensive publication and modification rights. For finalists, they claim exclusive, irrevocable, perpetual worldwide economic exploitation rights, including adaptation and implementation. Keeping authorship is therefore not the same as keeping unrestricted commercial control. Competition-specific rules may modify the general terms. Confirm the applicable scope before entry.

Points requiring clarification

The €8,000 headline is not all cash: first, second and third receive €3,000, €2,000 and €1,000; the remaining advertised value consists of membership and entry coupons. The May deadline is labelled CET despite Italy normally using summer time then. The upload section also displays a maintenance notice. These are reasons to confirm the submission arrangements, not evidence that entries cannot ultimately be accepted.

ArchUp Competition Committee assessment

The brief is strongest when treated as a section-and-circulation problem. A persuasive entry should show what remains, what changes and why, then test usable daylight, privacy and access between levels. Atmospheric interiors alone would leave the central reuse question unanswered. The workload is manageable at two boards, but the value of participation depends on both the cash award and the finalist-rights provisions. No guaranteed building commission is established by the reviewed announcement.

Review scope: the official announcement and general terms were read and compared on 13 November 2026. The PDF brief and preview package lead to an email form; neither full file was obtained. Dimensional constraints, complete drawing requirements and project-specific amendments remain unverified. This review does not certify buildability or guarantee payment.

Related: Funes House and phased domestic construction. Sources: TerraViva competition announcement and general terms. Official visual: TerraViva.