Ruinas de Quilmes Architecture Competition 2026

Competition Brief

The Ruinas de Quilmes competition is organized by Terraviva Competitions, a Milan-based competition platform (Terraviva S.r.l.) with an established track record running international open architecture competitions. The competition invites architects, designers, urbanists, engineers, artists, and students worldwide to rethink the visitor experience of the Sacred City of Quilmes — one of Argentina’s most significant pre-Columbian archaeological sites — through the design of a contemporary Open-Air Museum.

Located in the Calchaquí Valleys of Tucumán Province, Argentina, the Ruinas de Quilmes are the largest preserved indigenous urban complex in the country, dating back to the Quilmes people who inhabited the region for centuries before Spanish colonization. The competition launched with an Early Promo period and the Early Registration deadline is 17 July 2026. The submission deadline is 16 October 2026 and winners are announced 16 November 2026.

Intent

The competition calls for the design of a new Visitor Centre as the main gateway to the site, alongside a series of small-scale architectural and landscape interventions aimed at improving accessibility and enriching the visitor journey. The project is not limited to a single building — participants are asked to develop an integrated strategy connecting architecture, landscape, and cultural heritage, transforming the ruins into a coherent and engaging narrative. Elements to consider include pathways, viewpoints, informational devices, and resting areas, each contributing to a deeper understanding of this unique cultural landscape.

Special attention must be given to the relationship between new and existing structures, and to the sensitive integration of interventions within the natural and archaeological context. The scale and impact of the proposal remain deliberately open — encouraging a wide range of approaches from discreet and minimal solutions to more expressive and iconic interventions. The competition seeks visionary proposals capable of strengthening the connection between past and present, offering a renewed way to experience one of Argentina’s most significant ancestral sites.

Purpose

This is an international open ideas competition — no built commission and no site selection requirement beyond the defined Ruinas de Quilmes site. The outcome for winners is a cash prize, public exhibition, and publication across Terraviva’s channels. All finalists (top 30) are published on Terraviva’s platforms. Golden Mentions (5) and Honorable Mentions (10) receive competition and membership coupons respectively.

Requirements

Open internationally to students, architects, designers, urbanists, engineers, artists, and anyone interested in architectural design. No nationality restrictions. Teams may be of any size for single competition registrations; membership plan participants may have teams of up to 5. Submissions consist of two A1 panels (594 × 841mm, horizontal orientation) in PDF format, plus a brief descriptive text. The brief is available in English, Italian, Spanish, and French. An Extend service (+72 hours), Verify service (formal compliance check), and Flex to Withdraw service (refund of registration fee upon withdrawal) are available as optional extras.

Jury

1. Agostina Giusto — Architect, Universidad Nacional del Sur (UNS), Bahía Blanca, Argentina. Graduate of UNLP; PhD in Storia, Disegno e Restauro dell’Architettura from Sapienza Università di Roma. Active in both academic and professional practice across scales from single-family to urban.
2. Jaime Font — Creative Director, Mesura, Barcelona, Spain. Graduated in Building Engineering (2008) and Architecture (2010) from La Salle School of Architecture, Barcelona. PhD at TU-Wien (2022). Combines research and practice through the Barcelona-based studio Mesura.
3. Irina Shmeleva — Architect and Urban Designer, Henning Larsen, Copenhagen, Denmark. Design lead for complex urban planning projects at one of Scandinavia’s most recognized practices, focused on urban regeneration and heritage integration.
4. Leonardo Losada — Architect and Academic, LCarq / FAPyD–UNR, Rosario, Argentina. Graduate of Universidad Nacional de Rosario (2012), currently lecturer in Theory and Practice of Architectural Design. Co-founder of Castellani Losada Arquitectura.
5. Tommaso Michieli — Architect and Co-Founder, MichieliZanatta, Udine, Italy. Graduate with honours from IUAV Venice (2004). Practice spanning landscape and infrastructure, public architecture, research, and writing.
6. İnci Shoainia — Architect and Co-Founder, Spika Architecture, Ankara, Turkey. Master’s degree in Architecture; leads design studios at Ankara Medipol University. Practice focused on competition-based design.
7. Yang Fei — Founder and Director, Field Object Lab, Boston, USA. Master’s degree from Harvard Graduate School of Design. Architecture and landscape design consultancy based in Boston and New York City.
8. Juan José Vargas Castillo — Architect and Founder, TAP Arquitectura, Medellín, Colombia. Graduate of Pontifical Bolivarian University (2020). Professional trajectory focused on landscape, urban, and residential projects.

Registration Fees

All prices are exclusive of 22% Italian VAT (DPR 633/1972). Student group discounts available — contact alexandra@terravivacompetitions.com. Cash prizes paid in EUR at a fixed nominal rate of 1 EUR = 1.25 USD.

Prizes and Rewards

Total prize pool: $9,000 USD (of which $7,000 is cash and $2,000 is equivalent coupon value). All prizes funded by Terraviva.

Key Dates

✦ ArchUp Competition Review

The Ruinas de Quilmes competition is organized by Terraviva Competitions, a Milan-based platform with an established track record of international architecture competitions including the Villa Gioia and Nishisando competitions reviewed previously on ArchUp. Terraviva operates with full transparency on fees, prizes, jury, and deadlines, and has published winners archives from multiple completed editions. The brief for this competition is substantively grounded: the Ruinas de Quilmes is a real, protected archaeological site of national significance in Argentina, the design task — a Visitor Centre and integrated landscape strategy for an Open-Air Museum — is architecturally rich and contextually demanding, and the requirement to address the relationship between new interventions and the pre-Columbian ruins adds a heritage sensitivity dimension that rewards genuine cultural knowledge alongside spatial skill. The jury panel is geographically diverse and professionally credible: eight jurors from Argentina, Spain, Denmark, Italy, Turkey, and the USA represent both local Argentine architectural context (Agostina Giusto from UNS, Leonardo Losada from UNR, Juan José Vargas from Medellín) and international design practices (Henning Larsen, Mesura, Harvard GSD-trained Yang Fei). This combination of regional relevance and international reach is appropriate for a competition set in a Latin American heritage site. The $9,000 prize pool ($7,000 cash, $2,000 in coupons) is modest relative to some larger platforms but consistent with Terraviva’s model. The early registration fee of €69 (plus 22% VAT) at the promo code rate of 15% off is competitive. The brief is available in four languages (English, Italian, Spanish, French), which reflects the site’s Latin American context and Terraviva’s Italian base. For architects and designers with an interest in heritage sites, archaeological landscapes, sensitive contextual intervention, and Latin American built culture, this competition offers a genuinely substantive design challenge at a reasonable cost.

Final Thoughts

The Ruinas de Quilmes competition asks one of the more intellectually demanding questions available in the current open competition calendar: how does contemporary architecture engage with a pre-Columbian archaeological site without dominating it, erasing it, or reducing it to a tourist backdrop? The integrated strategy requirement — visitor centre, pathways, viewpoints, rest areas — means participants must think at multiple scales simultaneously, from the single detail to the landscape sequence.

The launch promo code RDQ15XTVC is valid until 11 May 2026, bringing the early fee from €69 to approximately €58.65 before VAT. The submission deadline of 16 October 2026 gives participants nearly six months to develop a considered proposal. Terraviva’s Flex to Withdraw service also reduces the financial risk of registration for teams uncertain about their ability to complete a submission.

Registration Deadline

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