Open Call: 13 White Houses
Competition Brief
The Open Call: 13 White Houses is an international curatorial and architectural exhibition project organized by Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of Michigan. The competition invites architects, designers, artists, and researchers to submit a single-image proposal that reinterprets the White House as a civic and political spatial construct.
The exhibition expands the idea of architecture beyond built form, treating images as independent spatial arguments. Each submission contributes to a broader curatorial investigation into how architecture can represent, question, or redistribute systems of authority.
This type of image-based architectural thinking reflects broader discussions on representational design practices, similar to explorations found in ArchUp architecture studies and conceptual design approaches used in experimental competitions.
Intent
The intent of the open call is to investigate how architectural representation can operate as a political and cultural instrument. The competition encourages participants to rethink institutional symbolism, especially the White House, as a flexible and reinterpretable spatial idea.
It challenges conventional architectural production by focusing on image-based submissions that function as standalone arguments rather than documentation of physical buildings.
Purpose
The purpose of the exhibition is to construct a collective visual archive of speculative “White Houses” that question authority, governance, and civic space. The project aims to explore how architecture can be used to critique institutional power structures through visual and conceptual means.
This approach aligns with broader theoretical discussions on design representation and speculative urbanism, often explored in ArchUp urban planning analyses.
Requirements
- Open to architects, designers, artists, and interdisciplinary practitioners worldwide.
- No professional registration required.
- Submission format: one image per entry (JPG or PNG).
- Minimum resolution: 18 x 12 inches at 300 DPI or equivalent.
- Accompanying text statement: maximum 150 words.
- Images must function as complete architectural propositions.
- Submissions may address building, landscape, urban, territorial, or diagrammatic scales.
Jury
- Sharon Haar (Taubman College, University of Michigan)
- Olivier Peyricot (Designer and curator)
- Anya Sirota (TAUBMAN College, Associate Professor of Architecture)
- Ishan Pal Singh (Architect and researcher)
Fees
| Category | Fee |
|---|---|
| Submission Fee | Free |
Rewards
| Award | Details |
|---|---|
| Juried Selection | Inclusion in the curated image exhibition |
| Extended Selection | Possible invitation to develop full propositional works (models + drawings) |
| Curatorial Access | Participation in research and exhibition development process |
Dates
| Milestone | Date |
|---|---|
| Submission Deadline | August 2, 2026 (11:59 PM EDT) |
| Exhibition Selection | Following jury review (TBD) |
| Exhibition Launch | Announced by organizers |
Conclusion
The Open Call: 13 White Houses operates as a conceptual and curatorial experiment rather than a conventional architecture competition. By limiting submissions to a single image, the project shifts emphasis from construction to representation, positioning architectural drawing and imagery as tools for political and spatial critique.
Its focus on institutional symbolism and speculative reinterpretation of governance structures situates it within a growing field of image-based architectural discourse, where the value of design lies in its ability to provoke interpretation rather than resolve physical constraints.
Registration Deadline
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