International Garden Festival – 2027 Call for Projects
Competition Brief
The International Garden Festival invites proposals for its 2027 edition at Reford Gardens in Grand-Métis, Québec. The theme, Making Visible: Alternative Geographies, asks designers to question familiar ways of representing territory and make overlooked experiences perceptible. This is a selection for gardens intended to be built, rather than an ideas-only award.
Landscape architects, architects, visual artists and multidisciplinary teams may enter internationally, with one proposal per entrant or team. Designs should remain on display for at least two summers and address material reuse afterwards. The eventual plot is agreed with the artistic and technical committees.
The guidelines identify five new gardens; the downloadable press release says four or five. Neither figure should be treated as a guarantee of selection or a construction contract.
Site and Submission
Plots include 10 × 20 m rectangles and irregular 150–250 m² spaces. Upload in French or English: an anonymous two-sheet A3/11 × 17-inch project PDF, ≤10 MB, 300 dpi RGB, with 180-word concept, plan ≥1:100, plants, two views and overall perspective; one JPG, ≤13 MB or 3000 × 4500 pixels; and a team PDF, ≤5 MB, with identity, 80-word profile, 70-word theme response, three recent projects maximum, CVs ≤2 pages/person and contact details. Do not rasterize text into BMP. Create a portal account before uploading.
Budget, Fees and Rights
Each garden: CAD 27,000, comprising CAD 7,000 team honorarium in two instalments, CAD 15,000 materials/required professional fees and CAD 5,000 construction labour. Reimbursable travel caps: CAD 1,000 Québec; 2,000 elsewhere in Canada; 3,000 abroad. Accommodation is provided for the installation week.
CAD 27,000 is a production budget, not a cash prize. The public documents do not state an entry fee, tax treatment or refund policy. Participation authorizes publication, exhibition and dissemination of proposals; clarify additional contractual rights before committing.
Organiser and Jury
The Festival dates from 2000. Its published 2026 results identify five selections from 204 proposals across 29 countries, including Again, a Garden by Hugh Taylor and Frame by Ulli Heckmann. This is evidence of a documented selection programme, without implying identical odds or delivery terms for 2027.
The reviewed 2027 documents do not name the jury. The organiser identifies Alexander Reford as director and Ève De Garie-Lamanque as artistic director; these roles should not be mistaken for confirmation of jury membership. Assessment covers thematic response, originality, experience, research, feasibility and sustainability; no numerical weights are stated.
Dates and Countdown
Submission closes 27 October 2026 at 17:00 EDT (UTC−4), equivalent to 21:00 UTC. The portal uses “EST”; the counter follows the explicit offset in the guidelines. No separate registration cutoff is stated. Candidates are contacted by 18 December; public results follow in February 2027. On-site participation: 13–19 June; public opening: 19 June; closing: 3 October.
✦ ArchUp Competition Review
The useful architectural question is how an argument about territory becomes an experience that visitors can navigate. A strong proposal would make its position legible through planting, access, enclosure or changing viewpoints, without relying entirely on an explanatory panel. The garden should still work when its author is absent.
For an entrant, the budget demands a buildable material strategy and a clear division of effort. Test maintenance, replacement parts and dismantling as early as the main visual concept. The provision for travel supports participation, but a reimbursement ceiling does not eliminate all expenses. Compare the likely workload with the team honorarium before allocating time.
The published history supports taking the call seriously. Jury identities and final contractual provisions remain material information gaps. This review evaluates the disclosed brief; it is not a recommendation to pay, travel or sign an agreement.
Official sources checked on 29 September 2026: the Festival’s 2027 guidelines, press release, application portal and 2026 selection announcement. Prepared under ArchUp’s competition transparency policy.
