Reuse the Theater – Falerone Competition 2026

Competition Brief

Reuse the Theater — Falerone is the 15th edition of the Reuse Italy ideas competition series, organised by Save the Heritage srl, a Benefit Corporation based in Florence. The competition invites architects, engineers, students, and any individual over 18 to propose a contemporary reactivation of the Roman Theatre of Falerio Picenus in Falerone, Marche — a freestanding classical monument on the flat alluvial plains of the Tenna river valley, built between the late Augustan period and the reign of Tiberius. The site has been largely static for centuries; this edition focuses specifically on the stage system as the architectural catalyst for broader transformation.

The competition is framed as an ideas exercise with no subsequent construction obligation. Submissions are anonymous, identified only by a self-generated six-digit alphanumeric TeamID. A single A1 sheet in PDF format constitutes the entire submission. The total prize pool is 5,000 EUR distributed across three ranked awards, with additional honorable mentions and special mentions for innovative proposals. All awarded and selected projects will be exhibited in Falerone in February 2027 and published in a dedicated ISBN dossier.

Intent

The brief asks participants to design a contemporary scenic infrastructure that completes and reactivates the ancient theatre without erasing its archaeological presence. The focus is the stage sector: a new scenic volume functioning as backdrop and technical housing, an accessibility network providing universal access, and front-stage seating that reinstates the spatial dialogue between performance area and the surviving Roman cavea. The broader ambition is to transform a passive ruin into an inclusive cultural hub and outdoor public park reconnected to its territory.

Purpose

Unlike competitions tied to public procurement or planning processes, this is a pure ideas competition: no construction follows, and participation creates no professional commitment between entrant and organiser. The primary outputs are the ISBN publication, the Falerone exhibition, and the wider dissemination effort Reuse Italy conducts through print and digital channels. The competition’s value to participants lies in peer recognition, publication, and the design challenge itself — not in any downstream commission.

Requirements

One A1 sheet (841 × 594 mm), portrait orientation, PDF, maximum 10 MB. The sheet must include: the TeamID in the top-right corner, a plan of the proposal, a photomontage integrating the design into the existing structure, and an explanatory text of any length. An optional supplementary text (max 2,500 characters including spaces) may be submitted separately via the submission form — it will not be evaluated but will accompany awarded projects in publication. Structural and planning regulations are explicitly waived. Urbanistic compliance is not assessed.

Registration Fees

The fee is per team (maximum 4 members), not per individual. It covers organisational costs, prizes, jury, ISBN publication, and the Falerone exhibition. Refunds are available within 14 days of registration and before the submission deadline, requested via email at support@reuseitaly.com. After that window, no refund is possible under any circumstance. Fees are VAT-excluded. Registration and submission are handled entirely at www.reuseitaly.com.

Prizes and Rewards

All awarded entries, honorable mentions, and special mentions will be displayed at the Falerone exhibition (February 2027, exact dates TBC) and included in Dossier No. 15 — Reuse the Theater, with ISBN. Winning proposals are also published on www.reuseitaly.com. Reuse Italy will seek additional visibility through print and digital media, though actual publication in external outlets depends on editorial relationships beyond the organiser’s control.

Key Dates

✦ ArchUp Competition Review

The Roman Theatre of Falerone is an architecturally exceptional brief: a fully freestanding classical monument on flat ground — technically rarer and structurally more demanding than the hillside theatres that dominate the Mediterranean heritage canon. The design problem is genuinely complex. Inserting a contemporary scenic infrastructure into a ruin of this calibre requires navigating archaeological sensitivity, structural restraint, and programmatic clarity simultaneously. The brief wisely waives planning and structural compliance, freeing participants to operate as spatial thinkers rather than permit applicants.

The jury brings international credibility: Kengo Kuma and Associates, JSa (Mexico City), and COMOCO represent three distinct geographic and methodological perspectives. The fee structure — tiered from 69 EUR to 89 EUR per team — is reasonable for a competition of this scope, particularly for groups of up to four splitting costs. The single A1 sheet constraint is a legitimate editorial discipline, though it will pressure teams to make hard choices about what to communicate. The absence of cash prizes beyond the top three, combined with a 5,000 EUR total pool, positions this as a mid-range competition: meaningful recognition, not life-changing remuneration. For students and early-career practitioners, the ISBN publication and exhibition are substantive portfolio additions.

Final Thoughts

Reuse the Theater — Falerone is a focused, well-documented ideas competition targeting the reactivation of a Roman-era monument through contemporary stage design. The submission is a single A1 PDF. Early registration (69 EUR/team) closes 30 July 2026; the submission deadline is 19 November 2026 at 23:59 Rome time. The prize pool totals 5,000 EUR across three awards. Register and submit exclusively at reuseitaly.com. Questions via the Q&A portal at reuseitaly.zendesk.com — social media enquiries receive no response.

Registration Deadline

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