New York High Falls Riverfront Market 2026
Competition Brief
The New York High Falls Riverfront Market competition is organized by Buildner (formerly Bee Breeders), the world’s leading architecture competition organizer with 15 years of experience and 183 completed competitions, in partnership with AIA Rochester as part of its annual Designers Unleashed initiative, together with Community Design Rochester and Future Reality Services. The competition invites architects, designers, and creative thinkers to design a contemporary riverfront market and surrounding public space at the Smokestack Portal site within the evolving High Falls State Park landscape in Rochester, New York. The total prize fund is $10,000 USD. Early Bird registration closes 29 July 2026. Final submissions are due 18 January 2027. Winners are announced 9 March 2027.
The competition is part of Buildner’s ongoing collaboration with ArchDaily on “The Contemporary Home” series and is also featured in the AIA Rochester Designers Unleashed annual initiative — a partnership that roots the competition within a real civic stakeholder context rather than a purely abstract ideas brief.
Intent
The competition site is located at the Smokestack Portal, one of the future gateway sites connecting the city of Rochester to the dramatic Genesee River gorge below. High Falls — the 96-foot waterfall that gave rise to the city of Rochester and powered its industrial growth for more than a century — remains the defining landmark of the future High Falls State Park and the broader riverfront transformation reconnecting the city with its gorge.
Participants are asked to design a contemporary riverfront market together with surrounding public space at the Smokestack Portal site. The proposal should function as both an active public destination and a gateway into the future park system, responding carefully to the site’s dramatic topography, industrial identity, and relationship to the Genesee River gorge. The historic smokestack remains one of the defining visual elements of the site and a reminder of Rochester’s industrial relationship with the riverfront.
The competition explores how architecture can contribute to the transformation of Rochester’s riverfront into a contemporary public landscape centered around gathering, culture, and everyday urban life.
Purpose
This is an ideas competition with a real site and real civic stakeholders. The site sits within the future High Falls State Park, a live infrastructure and public space transformation project for the city of Rochester. The competition is presented by Buildner in active partnership with AIA Rochester, Community Design Rochester, and Future Reality Services, giving winning proposals genuine civic exposure. Winners are published on Buildner’s platform (1M+ annual visitors, 800K+ social followers, 200K+ newsletter subscribers), featured on ArchDaily, and promoted through Buildner’s extensive media network.
Requirements
Open to all — no professional qualifications required. Individual or team entries of any size. All submissions in English. Site CAD files and photographs are provided to registered participants as base materials. The brief is available for download in English, Italian, French, and Spanish. Registered participants may ask questions directly to the jury through the dedicated Jury Questions and Answers section in the upload panel. Personalised design assessments are available after results are published for an additional fee.
Jury
The jury panel for New York High Falls Riverfront Market has not yet been published at the time of writing. Buildner is committed to selecting the most qualified industry professionals for its jury panels. Previous Buildner jury members across all competitions — representing the caliber of practitioners typically engaged — include:
- Norman Foster — Norman Foster Foundation, Spain.
- Philippe Starck — Creator, France.
- Farshid Moussavi — Farshid Moussavi Architecture (FMA), United Kingdom.
- Alison Brooks — Alison Brooks Architects, United Kingdom.
- Gordon Gill — Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture, United States.
- Francine Houben — Founding Partner, Mecanoo, Netherlands.
- Ben Van Berkel — Founder and Principal, UNStudio, Netherlands.
- David Gianotten — OMA, Netherlands.
- Winy Maas — Founder, MVRDV, Netherlands.
- Carlo Ratti — Director, MIT Senseable City Lab, USA.
- Beatriz Colomina — Director of Graduate Studies PhD Program, Princeton University, USA.
- Anupama Kundoo — Architect and Professor at TU Berlin, Germany.
- Moshe Safdie — Safdie Architects, USA.
- David Basulto — Founder, ArchDaily, Germany.
- And over 585 additional guest jury members — full list at architecturecompetitions.com/guest-jury
The specific jury for this competition will be announced by Buildner. Registered participants may ask questions directly to jury members through the platform.
Registration Fees
| Period | Dates | Professional Fee | Student Fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| Early Bird | 24 May – 29 July 2026 | €110 | €90 |
| Advanced | 30 July – 7 October 2026 | €120 | €110 |
| Last Minute | 8 October – 10 December 2026 | €140 | €120 |
All fees subject to +4.5% VAT. Payment in single or 3 monthly installments available. Group student discounts for 3+ registrations from one university — contact Buildner from a university email address. Author rights are fully retained by participants. Entries are evaluated anonymously; registration type is only revealed upon announcement of results.
Prizes and Rewards
| Award | Prize (USD) | Additional Benefits |
|---|---|---|
| 1st Place | $5,000 | Certificate of Achievement. Publication on Buildner (1M+ annual visitors). ArchDaily feature. Winner interview and video. Extensive media network promotion. |
| 2nd Place | $2,500 | Certificate of Achievement. Full Buildner and ArchDaily publicity campaign. |
| 3rd Place | $1,000 | Certificate of Achievement. Full Buildner and ArchDaily publicity campaign. |
| Student Award | $1,000 | Certificate of Achievement. Combinable with top 3 prize. |
| Sustainability Award | $500 | Certificate of Achievement. Combinable with top 3 prize. |
| 6 Honourable Mentions | None | Certificate of Achievement. Publication in results. |
Key Dates
| Milestone | Date |
|---|---|
| Early Bird Registration Closes | 29 July 2026 |
| Advanced Registration Closes | 7 October 2026 |
| Registration Deadline | 10 December 2026 |
| Competition Q&A Deadline | 16 December 2026 |
| Submission Deadline | 18 January 2027, 23:59 London Time |
| Winners Announced | 9 March 2027 |
✦ ArchUp Competition Review
The New York High Falls Riverfront Market competition combines Buildner’s established platform credibility with a real civic site, a real stakeholder coalition, and a genuine urban transformation context. This distinguishes it from purely speculative ideas competitions: the Smokestack Portal site within the future High Falls State Park is an active public planning project, and the partnership with AIA Rochester, Community Design Rochester, and Future Reality Services gives winning proposals a direct audience within the organizations shaping Rochester’s riverfront future. The brief is both site-specific and programmatically rich: designing a riverfront market as a civic gathering place, cultural anchor, and gateway to a future state park in a former industrial gorge setting requires thinking simultaneously about topography, heritage, public program, and urban sequence. The Genesee River gorge and the 96-foot High Falls waterfall provide one of the more dramatically beautiful and contextually complex sites in any current open competition. Buildner’s track record of 15 years, 183 competitions, a fixed $10,000 pre-committed prize pool, and a media reach of 1M+ annual visitors plus ArchDaily feature ensures both organizational credibility and publication visibility. The jury for this specific edition has not yet been published, which is normal at this stage of the competition cycle; the platform’s history demonstrates consistently high-caliber jury panels. The Early Bird fee of €110 (€90 for students) through 29 July 2026 is the most cost-effective entry point, with a long submission runway through 18 January 2027 providing over seven months for proposal development. For architects, urban designers, and landscape architects interested in waterfront revitalization, adaptive reuse of industrial heritage, public market design, and civic urban space, this is one of the most contextually grounded and institutionally credible open competitions available in the 2026 cycle.
Final Thoughts
The New York High Falls Riverfront Market is a rare competition that combines the credibility and reach of Buildner’s platform with a real civic context in an American city, active local partnerships, and a site of genuine natural and industrial drama. The Genesee River gorge, the 96-foot waterfall, the historic smokestack, and the future High Falls State Park constitute one of the most compelling site conditions in any current architecture competition brief.
The current Early Bird period runs through 29 July 2026, making this the optimal registration window. The final submission deadline of 18 January 2027 gives participants over seven months to develop a considered, site-responsive proposal. The Sustainability Award and Student Award, both combinable with top-3 prizes, offer additional recognition pathways. All author rights are retained by participants.
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.
