Rome Rain Rooms 2026

Competition Brief

Purpose

The Rome Rain Rooms 2026 competition is a call for urban rainwater harvesting designs from designers, architects, and creative society. The sustainability, social engagement, and sensory experience should integrate in the models. The concept must be non-invasive, easy to move, and considerate to the city, and involve the rain’s visual and auditory aspects.

Intent

The challenge is to find new inventions that can combine urban functionality with nature’s power. The designers are expected to come up with concepts that will beautify public places and at the same time help people realize how important the nature and sustainable lifestyle are.

Jury

Manuela De Micheli – Studio Transit – Italy
Her role at Studio Transit is that of a partner and artistic director. After being born in Rome in 1968, she attended La Sapienza University from where she graduated. She has managed architectural efforts of different magnitudes and is now responsible for the creative guidance of Studio Transit.

Ivan Juarez – x-studio | Ivan Juarez – Finland
Ivan Juarez is the founder of the x-studio and the Nordscape Lab in Iceland. He possesses a Ph.D. in Fine Arts and an M.Sc. in Landscape Architecture. His artistic activity involves the trichotomy of architecture, art and nature, including but not limited to installations, participatory projects, and body-scaled architectures.

Rodolfo Morandi – AACM – Italy
Rodolfo Morandi, co-founder of the Italian architectural office AACM, which has locations in both Padua and Milan, works mostly in the fields of residential, commercial, and public architecture. He was one of the contributors to Renzo Piano’s G124 initiative and his architectural practice is characterized by the creation of spaces that are contextual, light-sensitive, and socially engaged.

Patrizia Pisaniello – MICROSCAPE Architecture Urban Design AA – Italy
A member of the founding team at MICROSCAPE in Lucca, Italy. The domain of her expertise includes architecture, urban and landscape research, photography, writing, and teaching. MICROSCAPE has been awarded internationally and has had its works exhibited broadly.

Lieven Poutsma – Observatorium – Netherlands
At Observatorium, he is a partner with the main area of achieving public art and placemaking. He has a degree in Interior Architecture from the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague. He deals with the planning of squares, parks, modular constructions, and transformations of urban areas.

DaeWha Kang – DaeWha Kang Design – United Kingdom
DaeWha Kang is the founder of DaeWha Kang Design. Before that, he was part of Zaha Hadid Architects. He has the skills in the areas of parametric design, digital fabrication, and the adaptive reuse of and working on heritage projects. His works include the Black Gold Museum (Riyadh) and St Andrew Holborn regeneration (London).

Andrea Tabocchini – Andrea Tabocchini Architecture – Italy
Architectural studio in Ancona with an award-winning founder. Collaboration with OMA, Kengo Kuma, and RCR Arquitectes. Involved in projects such as housing, business premises, urban planing, exhibitions, and museums. Listed among the best young talents in Europe and appeared in Fortune Italia.

Fees

Prizes

Timeline

✦ ArchUp Competition Review

The Rome Rain Rooms 2026 competition is an open call for entries, which includes the design of rain rooms, the collection and reuse of rainwater in urban contexts, apart from the main theme of sustainability, sensory experience, and social engagement. The panel of judges is made up of seven world-famous architects who are experts in urban design, landscape, installation, and participatory projects, thus assuring a reliable and diversified evaluative viewpoint. The entry fees which vary from 75 to 125 € according to the time of registration, are not high, however, they might limit the participation of students or independent designers from the lower-income areas. The prize money is divided into several categories like cash awards, student and sustainability recognition, and certificates, thus giving the winners not only the financial gain but also the other kinds of encouragement that the competition brings along. The competition permits reversible designs and flexible urban sites which could lead to the exploration of new ideas and the creative adaptation of existing ones, even though it makes the evaluation process complicated due to the different quality of proposals. Definitely, the competition is a perfect mix of eco-friendly innovation, social interaction, and urban integration, though the practical advantages for the participants are mostly limited to the aspects of visibility and the probability of implementation of the winning designs.

Critical Analysis

Purpose and Intent

The competition promotes the use of rainwater as a functional and social element of urban spaces. By demanding reversible and lightweight designs, the participants are led to practical, ecological, and interactive solutions through the brief.

Jury

The jury consists of seven architects of international stature with different skills in the areas of urban design, landscape, installation, and participatory projects. The jury ensures a wide evaluative view on the sustainability, creativity, and urban integration aspects.

Fees and Accessibility

Entry fees are reasonable and set in phases, which might motivate early signing up. On the other hand, costs can be a factor that limits the participation of some students or freelancers.

Prizes

The prize strategy includes not only monetary awards but also the recognition of students, the acknowledgement of sustainability, and certificates, thus making the financial gain not the only motive for participation.

Competition Flexibility

Reversible designs and urban site variability give rise to experimental creativity and various approaches. Participants have the opportunity to modify their concepts for different locations in Rome.

Strengths and Weaknesses

The strengths consist of the incorporation of environmental sustainability, sensual experience, and urban interaction. A major challenge is to find the right balance between the complexity of the design and its feasibility and to evaluate the varying proposals through the jury’s multidisciplinary lens.

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