DesignBuild 2027
DesignBuild 2027 is the Sto Foundation’s competitive funding call for student construction projects and publications about design-build education. It is an institutional funding opportunity, not an unrestricted ideas competition for individual designers.
Funding and eligibility
| Organizer | Sto Foundation |
|---|---|
| Eligible applicants | Architecture faculties and departments at German and European universities, and nonprofit organizations active in the field. |
| Total funding | EUR 120,000 across PROJECT and REFLECT; no fixed award per winner announced. |
| PROJECT | Student-led, full-scale construction with social value. |
| REFLECT | Publication proposals examining design-build methods and wider issues. |
| Deadline | 13 December 2026, 23:59; the announcement does not state a timezone. |
| Selection | Jury decision in January 2027. |
| Fee | No application fee stated in the reviewed announcement. |
Submission route
Applications use the foundation’s online forms. PROJECT requests a project description and financing document in PDF. REFLECT requests a publication proposal. Applicants prepare their own documents; no standard description or financing template is supplied.
ArchUp editorial assessment
The distinction between the two tracks matters. PROJECT puts design under the pressure of procurement, assembly and use: an attractive proposal alone cannot explain how a student team will actually deliver it. A strong application should make the relationship between ambition, resources and local involvement clear. That is an editorial recommendation, not an additional eligibility requirement.
REFLECT provides a different opportunity: to extract transferable lessons from design-build work rather than produce another project portfolio. Applicants should assess which track fits their institution’s capacity before preparing material. The shared funding pool must not be presented as a prize available to a single winner, and selection should not be confused with an unrestricted professional commission.
This assessment is based on the foundation’s official announcement, track descriptions and application pages. No separate complete regulations document was reviewed. Details not stated there—including a confirmed closing timezone and an award allocation per recipient—have not been inferred.
Source and featured image: Sto Foundation’s official DesignBuild 2027 announcement. The image shows an architectural model, not a winning 2027 project.
Submission date and official website
The countdown marks the start of the deadline date in UTC, not an official closing hour. The announcement does not establish the closing timezone; check with the organizer and submit early.
