Fe.M Festival di Microarchitettura 2026

Competition Brief

The Fe.M Festival di Microarchitettura 2026 is something that the Cultural Association Fe.M is putting together. This group is a third-sector organisation. They have some help from the Province of Pesaro Urbino, the Marche Region, and some other people who are supporting them. They want architects and designers to send in their ideas for building wooden structures in the countryside of the Pesaro-Urbino province in central Italy.

They will pick six projects. Build them in special places around the region that are important for history and look really nice. People can go see these Fe.M Festival di Microarchitettura 2026 projects from July to November 2026. The Fe.M Festival di Microarchitettura started when Pesaro was named the Capital of Culture in 2024, and this is the third time they are doing it. They built things in places, like Borgo Pace, Sant’Angelo in Vado, Lunano, Piobbico, Urbania, Pietrarubbia, and Mercatello sul Metauro. The people who win will get to go to a workshop to build their projects, and they have to be there when the Fe.M Festival di Microarchitettura 2026 starts.

Intent

The festival wants to help people notice the world around them again. It uses buildings that are only temporary, like little messages that give people a new way to look at the places they see every day. These small buildings also help visitors see the area in a new light. The competition is wide open for people to be creative; there are no rules for what the buildings should look like or what they should be used for. The people judging the competition will pay attention to ideas that deal with the landscape being kind to the earth, finding new uses for old things, and how buildings and nature work together. The festival is really about the landscape. How we live in it, and the judges want to see ideas that think about the landscape and sustainability, reuse, and the dialogue between architecture and nature.

Purpose

Beyond recognition, this competition really cares about buildings and the environment. Teams that are picked actually build their projects on site in the Pesaro-Urbino area. They get paid to stay and work there.

All projects that make it past the review will be shown at the festival no matter if they win or not. This way, all teams that qualify get to be seen by the public through the festival’s media and local partner networks.

Requirements

The contest is open to individuals, teams, and groups of people who have finished studying to be architects or engineers, or have a level of education. There are no limits on where they’re from or how old they are. At least one person on the team must have finished studying to be an architect or engineer. Each team can only enter one project. Each person can only be on one team. The projects must be new. Never shown to the public before.

The small building must be designed to be built by the team. It should be between 5 and 10 meters in size and use no more than 3 cubic meters of wood. The main part of the building must be made of wood. Other materials can be used if they fit with the idea and the place. The team has a budget of 1,500 euros to cover all costs, including materials, wood, work, transport, tools, and going to the opening. The team does not have to pay anything before they start building.

Submission Requirements

When you send in your work, you need to include a book that is A3 size and no more than 20 pages long. This book has to be split into two parts. The first part is called the Concept section. It can be up to 10 pages long. It has to include a description of your idea, which can be no more than 2,000 characters, and some pictures or drawings.

The second part is called the Technical section. It can also be up to 10 pages long. It has to include drawings of your project, like the size and shape of everything, and a list of how much wood you will need. You also have to send in a model of your project that is scaled down to 1:10. This model has to be sent to the festival office by 8 May 2026.

If your book is not complete or if you do not send in a model, you will not be able to participate. If you are from a country and you make it to the fourth round, you have to send in a special insurance certificate by 10 June 2026 that proves you have insurance in case you get hurt. This insurance certificate is very important for Italian participants who are admitted to Phase 4.

Jury

The people who decide the winner have not said who they are yet. They pick the winners in two parts. First, they look at all the projects to see which ones are really good. Then they choose one winner and one special mention for each place. The people who decide the winner will look closely at the projects that people send in and how they are presented. This is because all the good projects and models will be shown to everyone during the festival. The quality of the projects and how they are presented is what the people who decide the winner care about. They want to see projects that are presented in a good way.

Registration Fees

The Fe.M competition is entirely free to enter. Registration is completed by email to fem@festivalmicroarchitettura.com with the required documents.

Prizes and Rewards

The €1,500 prize is a construction budget, not a cash award. Timber purchase costs are deducted from this sum. No additional financial supplements may be requested beyond this amount.

Key Dates

✦ ArchUp Competition Review

Fe.M is really one of the unique architecture competitions in Europe. It does not cost anything to enter. The competition is about a place with a lot of culture and history. The people who win have to build what they proposed during a residency where they get paid. This is different from competitions where people just submit their ideas. The winners get 1,500 euros to buy materials, not as a prize. To use for building. So the winners have to put in a lot of time and effort; they do not just get money. People who want to enter have to make a model of their idea, which can be expensive and hard to do for people from other countries. We do not know who the judges are yet so it is hard to know how fair the competition will be. For people who just graduated or have small architecture practices and who care about the environment and want to build things that are honest and fit in with the landscape, Fe.M is a great chance to build something real in a beautiful place in Italy. The experience of building something with people and living there for a while is a reward in itself.

Final Thoughts

The Fe.M 2026 is really different from the competition. You should not think of it as another competition. Fe.M 2026 is about making a promise to create, build, and live in an area in the Pesaro-Urbino hinterland. If you are the team and you really want to design something new, and you are willing to build it, and you actually care about sustainable architecture that is good for the environment and does not last forever, then Fe.M 2026 is a great opportunity for you, in Europe. You need to register for Fe.M 2026 by 26 April 2026, so you have to act.

Registration Deadline

Brought to you by the ArchUp Editorial Team

Inspiration starts here. Dive deeper into Architecture, Interior Design, Research, Cities, Design, and cutting-edge Projects on ArchUp.