International Architecture & Design Awards 2026

Competition Brief

Intent

The International Architecture & Design Awards 2026 loudly proclaims itself to be a supreme prize for the world’s best architects, interior designers, and product designers, as well as for the best of all disciplines creative works. The award believes in appraising both realized and visionary projects on the basis of professional merit which correlates with aesthetics rather than crowd mentality based ones.

Purpose

The award’s objective is to reveal designers’ superior works to the public from various scales and typologies. It will be out to seek the blueprints that display the utmost simplicity, ensured by technical skills and knowing the site well. The whole process is designed as a playground for the talents of both well-known artists and newcomers.

Requirements

The award is available to everyone and anyone around the globe who has something worth calling an idea, architects, designers, sturges, academics, and other creative people. The entries have to be original and well-documented. The projects can be either built or unbuilt, depending on the category chosen. The best ones will be selected on the basis of the quality of design, innovation, execution, and relevance to contemporary practice.

Jury

Camilo Cerro
Professor of Architecture and Interior Design, American University of Sharjah
Founder and Principal, Dharmatecture LLC
Laura Mimini
Industrial Designer, Design Director and Co-Founder, d2p Design to Product
Tiago Russo
Chief Design Officer, Tiago Russo Product Design
Founder and CEO, Craft Design
Júlia Kolláthová
Assistant Professor, Department of Architecture
Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Bratislava
Sébastien Maleville
Co-Founder and Creative Director
Essential Studio Co., Ltd.
Chantanee Chiranthanut
Associate Professor, Faculty of Architecture
Khon Kaen University
Artem Kropovinsky
Founder and Principal Designer
Arsight Studio
Xiang Li
Founder and CEO
X Plus Living Architecture and Interior Design
Frederick Rickmann
CEO and Co-Founder, DNgroup
Co-Founder, STEENSSEN Aps
Co-Founder, DNDC
Founder, AFR Thinking Urbans
Larry Lim
Motion Director
Anchor Agency
Yuting Zhang
Founding Principal and Design Director
Studio RE plus N
Paul Wiseman
Founder
The Wiseman Group
Daryl Villanueva
CEO and Chief of Design
Bandit9 Motors
Alberto Dias Ribeiro
Architect and Founder
A2OFFICE
Xiaobi Iris Pan
Lead Designer XR AI
Amazon
Jiaru Lin
Head of Design
Amaffi Perfume
Gloria Cabral
Founder
Studio 4.4
Serhii Makhno
Founder and Architect
Makhno Studio
Eva Castro
Founding Partner and Director, Plasma Studio
Founding Partner, GroundLab
Professor of Practice, Singapore University of Technology and Design
Pal Pang
Chief Creative Officer
Another Design
Tanja Schmitt-Fumian
Design Professor
SRH Distance Learning University
Marcel Vrieswijk
Co-Founder and Managing Director
PlusOne
Johnny Chiu
Founder
JC Architecture and Design
Founder, OUT Scholarship
Ilana Seleznev
Founder and Manager
Studio RDD
Rituparna Simlai
Founder and Principal Architect and Landscape Architect
Studio Arth LLC
Gabriel Munnich
CTO and Co-Founder
Design with FRANK
Simon Devitt
Architectural Photographer
Independent Practice
Nicolas Sterling
Co-Founder and Director
Sterling Presser Architects and Engineers
Elke Sterling-Presser
Co-Founder and Director
Sterling Presser Architects and Engineers
Martinho Pita
Founder
Martinho Pita Studio
Martin Beverfjord
Co-Founder
Rever and Drage
Juan Pablo Cepeda
Founder and Director
CPDA Arquitectos
Jaime Andres Marin
Principal and Founder
Marin Architecture
Greg Corso
Designer
SPORTS Collaborative
Andreas Tjeldflaat
Founder
Framlab
Raulino Silva
Founder
Raulino Silva Arquitecto
Yussef Agbo-Ola
Architect and Founder
Olaniyi Studio
Karen Nelson
Dean and Faculty of Architecture
Boston Architectural College
Tiago do Vale
Senior Architect
Tiago do Vale Architects
David M. Chasco
Professor
The Illinois School of Architecture
Peter Kuczia
Architect and Founder
Kuczia Architects
Xiang Li
Founder and CEO
X Plus Living Architecture and Interior Design
Larry Lim
Motion Director
Anchor Agency

Fees

Registration Phase	Fee
Early Registration	€80 ($88)
Standard Registration	€110 ($121)
Late Registration	€160 ($176)

Rewards

Category	Prize
Winner	€5,000 ($5,500)
Runner-up	€2,500 ($2,750)
Third Place	€1,000 ($1,100)
Special Mentions	Certificates

Dates

Milestone	Date
Early Registration Deadline	October 15 2025
Standard Registration Deadline	December 15 2025
Late Registration Deadline	February 10 2026
Submission Deadline	February 20 2026
Winners Announcement	April 2026

✦ ArchUp Competition Review

The International Architecture and Design Awards 2026 is a contest that rewards professionals in the field of design through recognition of their work and hence the winning would achieve more visibility rather than academic or research driven competition. Although the submission rules and fees are not imposed by a university or public institution, transparency still exists but to a limited extent. The jury is named publicly and comes from various backgrounds which are also very different but the large number of jurors gives rise to doubts about the evaluation of every individual in-depth and hence the whole process of critical assessment is perceived as less consistent. The money awarded is not much in comparison with the submission effort and fees making it more of a symbol than an economically motivating factor. The real advantage to participants is not the implementation opportunities or concrete professional commissions but rather the international exposure and portfolio improvement.

Conclusion

International Architecture & Design Awards 2026 is presenting itself as such a competition that only provides a wide evaluation framework and not narrowly themed competition. Its main feature is the variety of the jury and the categories which enable different design disciplines to be evaluated in the right professional context. The open character of the awards may limit the thematic depth but on the other hand, it enhances accessibility and global participation. Thus, for the designers who are looking for formal recognition rather than experimental speculation, the awards do provide a structured and internationally visible platform.

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