Celebrating 15 years of
Buildner competitions

I see architectural competitions as fields where I can think more freely than in everyday practice. For me, they act as a laboratory for testing new typologies, developing more speculative ideas about material and structure, and challenging my own design approach. Competitions also allow me to see the work of international juries and other participants, which helps me place my own work within a broader context. In short, I choose to take part in competitions to develop myself professionally and to further clarify my portfolio, my way of thinking, and my design language.

This is our first time participating in an architectural competition. We wanted to further hone our design skills by learning something different outside of the classroom. We specifically chose to participate in this competition because we wanted to challenge ourselves to think and design at the intimate scale of a chair. We believe that architects who design most sensitively for the human scale are often those who, at some point in their careers, have also designed chairs.

As young designers, we participate in architecture competitions because they challenge us to grow, build a meaningful portfolio, and put our work into dialogue with a wider creative community. More importantly, we believe that one does not need to be an architect or industrial designer to contribute to innovation in the built environment. Coming from graphic design, entering these competitions has pushed us to explore spatial thinking, collaborate with industrial designers, and expand our approach—from flat systems to considerations of volume, weight, materiality, and human experience.

Competitions are an opportunity to challenge myself creatively and to engage in dialogue across disciplines. They provide space to test new concepts, express ideas freely and contribute to the wider conversation around design and architecture. For me, they are both an exercise in clarity and a way to share my perspective with a broader audience.

I enter architecture competitions to think out loud through form, challenging the norm and creating what doesn’t yet exist — all for the thrill of challenging myself.

I participate in architecture competitions because they challenge me to move beyond the familiar and keep evolving as a designer. The briefs are often far more provocative and ambitious than what I encounter in everyday practice, and that pushes me to think critically, explore new directions, and test ideas that wouldn’t surface otherwise. That level of creative freedom is incredibly energising—it allows me to take risks, stretch my capabilities, and refine my understanding of my own creative practice and the design ethos I want to build. 

Competitions allow me to connect with like-minded designers, discover diverse perspectives, and challenge myself creatively beyond commercial constraints.

I do not have experience with furniture competitions yet, but I do have successful experience with interior competitions. For a beginner, competitions are one of the few ways to receive objective feedback from a professional community rather than from social media users.

We participate in architectural competitions to challenge ourselves with diverse project typologies and broaden our understanding of different global contexts. Each competition offers a unique opportunity to experiment with various design narratives and technologies, serving as a testing ground for new ideas and approaches. This process ultimately advances our knowledge base and skill set, informing and enriching our future projects.

Perhaps the most important role competitions play for me is the opportunity to develop design skills and broaden my knowledge base as a practicing architect through the intense competition process, where the focus is on conceptual design and the early design phase. In competitions, you can quite freely develop and test new ideas and architectural approaches, as many parties that commission architectural competitions seek them. If the competition program and location are as inspiring as this one, it also brings great joy in participating.