1st UNESCO-UIA & MIDO Student Prize for Responsible Architecture

The Education Commission of the International Union of Architects (UIA) is pleased to announce the 1st UNESCO-UIA & MIDO Student Design Prize for Responsible Architecture for the 2015-2017 triennium. Administered by the UIA, and sponsored by the UIA and MIDO Watches, this program is intended to provide architecture students in the ten UNESCO-UIA validated and candidate schools, working individually or in teams, with a platform for recognition and reward for their best academic design projects focused on Responsible Architecture. The prize is also intended to promote the UNESCO-UIA validated schools and the UNESCO-UIA Validation System.

The theme of the competition is Responsible Architecture. This is in response to the call of Habitat III for the New Urban Agenda as follows, (excerpted from “Habitat III New Urban Agenda”, 10 September 2016):

"By 2050 the world urban population is expected to nearly double, making urbanization one of the 21st century’s most transformative trends. As the population, economic activities, social and cultural interactions, as well as environmental and humanitarian impacts, are increasingly concentrated in cities, this poses massive sustainability challenges in terms of housing, infrastructure, basic services, food security, health, education, decent jobs, safety, and natural resources, among others.

We are still far from adequately addressing these and other existing and emerging challenges; and there is a need to take advantage of the opportunities of urbanization as an engine of sustained and inclusive economic growth, social and cultural development, and environmental protection, and of its potential contributions to the achievement of transformative and sustainable development.

We commit to urban and rural development that is people-centred, protects the planet, and is age-and gender-responsive, and to the realization of all human rights and fundamental freedoms, facilitating living together, ending all forms of discrimination and violence, and empowering all individuals and communities, while enabling their full and meaningful participation. We further commit to promote culture and respect for diversity, and equality as key elements in the humanization of our cities and human settlements."

schedule

8 December 2016 - Prize announced and launched
1 February 2017 - Registration Deadline
1 April 2017 - Submission Deadline
19-20 April 2017 - Jury
May 2017 - Winners announced
September 2017 - Winning projects displayed at the UIA Congress, Seoul, Korea

eligibility

The deans and/or their designees of invited schools are asked to submit and enter up to three student design projects from each school. All student entrants are required to have worked under the direction of a faculty sponsor. Entries will be accepted for individual as well as teams. Teams must be limited to a maximum of three students. Submissions should be principally the product of work in an upper-level (last year of a degree program) design studio or related class. Entries should be work principally developed between December 2015 and March of 2017. (It is understood that the students of some of the submitted work will have received their degrees, and no longer be students, but the work must have been completed by them prior to their graduation.)

awards

First, Second and Third prizes will be awarded, in addition to a selected number of honourable mentions, all at the discretion of the jury. MIDO has provided a total of 5,000 CFH will be distributed to the winners, divided at the discretion of the jury, as well as watches for the prize winners.

The First Place winners will also receive a stipend to attend the 2017 UIA Congress in Seoul, Korea. Award winning projects will be displayed and winners will be recognized at the UIA Congress.

criteria for judging.

Entries will be judged on their success in proposing Responsible Architecture to fulfil the aspirations of the New Urban Agenda.

jury

The jury of esteemed architects are associated with the work of the UNESCO-UIA Validation Commission. None of the jurors have any associations with the validated schools.