Graines d’Avenir 2027
Graines d’Avenir 2027 is a free architecture ideas competition asking students to transform a real inhabited place in La Réunion or Mayotte for everyday life today and adaptation toward 2050. The brief requires a sourced reading of the chosen site, a 2035 intermediate stage, a 2050 scenario and explicit architectural decisions about use, resources, maintenance and change.
The official cover image is a prospective AI-generated illustration produced for the competition; it is not documentary evidence of either island. The competition carries no cash or material award and no commission or promise of construction.
Competition overview
| Official title | Graines d’Avenir 2027 |
|---|---|
| Organizer | Fonds MAJ, a French public-interest endowment fund. |
| Design question | How can an inhabited place be transformed to improve daily life now and remain adaptable through 2050? |
| Territory | A real, manageable site chosen by the entrant in La Réunion or Mayotte: an existing building and its surroundings, a public space or a small inhabited ensemble. |
| Procedure | Open, anonymous student ideas competition. |
| Eligibility | Students enrolled in architecture education anywhere in the world; individual entries or teams of two or three. Every team member must still be a student on the submission date. |
| Entry fee | Free. |
| Prize | No financial or material award. Public presentation and jury feedback are planned. |
| Language | French. |
| Registration | Open by email from 10 September 2026 and remains possible until submission; early registration is advisable to obtain the anonymous team code. |
| Submission | 30 April 2027 at 23:59 Paris time, equivalent to 21:59 UTC. |
A situated architectural question
Each team chooses one island and one real site, then documents existing conditions rather than treating the territory as a generic tropical backdrop. In La Réunion, the brief points toward existing-building adaptation, climatic comfort, intermediate spaces and relationships between relief, housing and landscape. In Mayotte, it highlights domestic uses, shared places, construction resources and continuity of everyday services.
The proposal must compare at least two options before explaining the selected path. Architectural evidence may include plans, sections, routes, envelopes, assemblies and management of shared space. Shade, ventilation, water, soil and living systems, maintenance, accessibility and capacity for future change should be addressed when relevant to the chosen site. Technical claims must not be presented as certified performance without supporting evidence.
Submission requirements
| Boards | Two digital A1 boards in PDF, readable on screen. |
|---|---|
| Written statement | One PDF statement, maximum four pages. |
| Content | Site and users; sourced initial state; 2035 and 2050 horizons; proposal; compared options; resources, uncertainties and limits; team contributions. |
| Recommended package size | 30 MB maximum. |
| Anonymity | Jury documents show only the team code and project title. Names and school information remain in a separate administrative sheet. |
| AI disclosure | References and AI-assisted creations must be identified. Generated imagery cannot stand in for site observation or proof of performance. |
| Delivery | Email the three PDFs, or provide a download link that does not require the organizer to request access. Receipt is confirmed manually. |
Schedule, jury and rights
| Questions deadline | 31 March 2027. |
|---|---|
| Common answers | By 9 April 2027. |
| Submission deadline | 30 April 2027 at 21:59 UTC. |
| Jury | Members of Fonds MAJ’s Board of Directors and Scientific and Ethics Council. The published governance includes architect Anouk Legendre, climate sociologist Stéphane La Branche, urbanist and territorial engineer Laurent Vigneau and public-action specialist Olivier Frérot, alongside the fund’s administrators. |
| Assessment | Territorial grounding and uses 25%; quality of foresight 25%; architectural innovation and coherence 25%; argument, resources and limits 15%; clarity 10%. |
| Results | Eligibility review and jury in May 2027; public presentation planned for June 2027. |
| Rights | Authors retain ownership. Any public dissemination by the organizer requires a separate agreement defining media, duration and credits. |
Organizer and implementation status
Fonds MAJ identifies itself as a French non-profit endowment fund serving the public interest, with a published board and a separate Scientific and Ethics Council. This is an educational ideas programme rather than procurement: no construction client, project budget or professional appointment is offered, and entrants should not read the public presentation as a promise that proposals will be built.
✦ ArchUp Competition Review
The competition’s value lies in its demand for a site-specific argument. Entrants must connect climate, maintenance, accessibility, resources and everyday use to a real inhabited place, compare alternatives and show how a proposal could evolve across two time horizons. That makes the exercise more rigorous than a free-form future image.
The principal limitation is the absence of a prize, commission or implementation route. The deadline allows substantial research, but students outside the islands should be cautious about claiming local knowledge from remote sources alone. The institutional jury is named through the fund’s governance rather than as a competition-specific panel with individual roles, and entrants should weigh that disclosure level before committing work.
Source reviewed: official Fonds MAJ competition page, published programme and rules, and Fonds MAJ governance page, accessed 25 October 2026.
Related competitions — Editors’ selection
For related archive reading, the Husum Nord Pavilion Open Call tests climate-aware, demountable construction for a real public setting, while im2026 offers a structured student review across interior-architecture categories.
Time remaining to submit
The official deadline is 30 April 2027 at 23:59 Paris time, converted here to 21:59 UTC.
Official programme and entry
Read the programme, register early enough to receive a team code, and confirm the email-delivery instructions before submitting.
