Introducing the sixth Architect’s Chair competition, an exciting opportunity for architects and designers to showcase their creativity, versatility, and design vision through the creation of a signature piece of furniture.

Developed in partnership with Stockholm Furniture Fair, the world’s leading platform for Scandinavian design, this edition offers participants the unique opportunity to engage directly with one of the most influential events in the international furniture and design industry.

Take a seat and make a statement!

Inspired by the long-standing tradition of architects extending their design philosophy beyond buildings and into furniture, the competition challenges participants to distill their architectural thinking into a single object – the architect’s chair. Throughout history, renowned architects such as Charles and Ray Eames, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Marcel Breuer, and Arne Jacobsen have created iconic chairs that embody their distinct design approaches.

The Architect’s Chair competition continues this tradition by inviting a new generation of designers to explore materials, craftsmanship, construction techniques, ergonomics, and innovation through the design of a chair that reflects their unique creative identity.

This sixth edition carries special significance through its collaboration with Stockholm Furniture Fair. The competition results evaluation process will take place in connection with the fair, bringing submitted projects into direct dialogue with one of the most important gatherings of architects, designers, manufacturers, and industry leaders. In addition, selected winning designs will be exhibited during Stockholm Furniture Fair, providing participants with an exceptional opportunity to present their work to an international audience and gain visibility within the global design community.

The sixth competition edition.

As part of an ongoing series dedicated to custom furniture design, The Architect’s Chair encourages participants to move beyond the traditional boundaries of architecture and engage with furniture as a medium for architectural expression. By creating a signature chair that embodies their personal design philosophy, participants contribute to the evolving relationship between architecture, design, and craftsmanship while joining a tradition that continues to shape the future of contemporary furniture design.

Download the full competition brief for more information!

Competition is open to all. No professional qualification is required. Design proposals can be developed individually or by teams (4 team members maximum). Correspondence with organizers must be conducted in English; all information submitted by participants must be in English.

Open to all. Register now.

As part of Buildner’s collaboration with Stockholm Furniture Fair, selected winning designs from The Architect’s Chair Edition #6 will be exhibited at one of the most prestigious and influential furniture and design events in the world. Widely regarded as the leading platform for Scandinavian furniture, lighting, and interior design, Stockholm Furniture Fair has been a cornerstone of the global design industry for decades, attracting thousands of architects, designers, manufacturers, retailers, developers, journalists, and decision-makers from nearly 100 countries. The fair is renowned for showcasing groundbreaking ideas, emerging talent, and industry-leading innovations, making it a key destination for anyone shaping the future of design. For winners, exhibiting at Stockholm Furniture Fair provides exceptional international exposure, valuable networking opportunities, and direct access to manufacturers, media, buyers, and industry leaders, offering a unique chance to gain recognition and establish meaningful professional connections on a global stage.

Brief

The competition brief is available for download at any time in the following languages: English, Italian, French and Spanish

FULL COMPETITION BRIEF [ENG] [FR] [IT] [ES]

Download brief

Ask questions to the jury panel directly!

This option is available to registered participants only.

If you are registered, please access your upload panel and look for the
Jury Questions & Answers section.

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The brief

Interpretation and intent of the competition brief

Your task

Key themes, priorities, or values considered during evaluation

Design help

General design approach or conceptual direction

Personal design assessment

Request an in-depth design assessment of your project after results are announced.

The design assessment highlights each project’s strengths and areas for improvement, giving participants valuable insight into their work. It helps them better understand their submission, compare it to other entries, and identify opportunities for growth in future projects.

Prizes

Total prize Fund

8,000 € + Exhibition at Stockholm Furniture Fair

1ST PLACE

3,500 €

2ND PLACE

2,000 €

3RD PLACE

1,000 €

Student award

1,000 €

(more details)

Sustainability award

500 €

(more details)

Honorable mentions

6 Honourable mentions & certificates

Publicity campaign

The Buildner’s extensive global publicity campaign for the competition winners:

Buildner's two million

The results are published on buildner.com, a leading website in the architecture industry, attracting over one million unique visitors annually. Additionally, the campaign extends to Buildner's social networks, which boast over 800,000 followers combined, and through newsletter campaigns reaching over 200,000 subscribers.

Feature in a book

Winners will be featured in the book.

Interview and movie

Winners will have the opportunity to submit a movie and an interview, boosting their recognizability and helping to build their name in the industry.

Extensive media network

Buildner leverages an extensive network of media industry leaders to publish the competition results. This broadens the audience further, ensuring that participants' work is showcased across multiple platforms known for their influence and reach in the architecture and design sectors.

Publicity

ArchDaily feature

As part of the collaboration between Buildner and ArchDaily, the competition winners will be showcased on ArchDaily, a leading architecture news platform.

This feature will greatly boost the winners' visibility to millions of architecture professionals and enthusiasts worldwide, increasing their chances for new opportunities, attracting new clients, and establishing their reputation in the industry.

Read more about Buildner and ArchDaily partnership
&

Publicity

Exhibition at Stockholm Furniture Fair

Selected winning designs will be exhibited at Stockholm Furniture Fair, one of the world’s most prestigious and influential furniture and design events. Recognized as the leading international platform for Scandinavian furniture, lighting, and interior design, the fair attracts thousands of architects, designers, manufacturers, buyers, media representatives, and industry leaders from around the globe each year.

Exhibiting at Stockholm Furniture Fair provides winners with unparalleled visibility, placing their work in front of key decision-makers and offering valuable opportunities for international recognition, professional networking, and future collaborations within the global design industry.

Eligibility

This international competition is open to architects, artists, and creatives from all backgrounds. Whether you are an emerging talent, an established professional, or exploring a bold new idea, your vision is welcome. All submissions must be completed in English to ensure fair evaluation.

Key dates

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Registration fees

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ADVANCED

24 Jul - 24 Sep

120 €

110 €

LAST MINUTE

25 Sep - 03 Dec

140 €

120 €

ADVANCED

24 Jul - 24 Sep

120 €

110 €

LAST MINUTE

25 Sep - 03 Dec

140 €

120 €

+4.5% VAT

 

STUDENT REGISTRATION REQUIREMENTS

Contact us to receive special student rates for group registrations (discount applies for 3+ registrations from one university/school) and to receive further information and support for getting your students involved in architecture competitions. 

Send us ([email protected]) a request from your university email address and basic information about yourself and your university/school. Only recognized university staff can apply for the reduced student rate.

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Architecture competitions newsletter

Ask questions to the jury panel directly!

This option is available to registered participants only.

If you are registered, please access your upload panel and look for the
Jury Questions & Answers section.

Ask to all.
One collective jury answer
Ask a
specific jury member
Ask questions about

The brief

Interpretation and intent of the competition brief

Your task

Key themes, priorities, or values considered during evaluation

Design help

General design approach or conceptual direction

Participants in the competition are not required to submit images of an actual, physically built chair. Instead, you can simply submit final renders or other representations of your concept design.
The "Architect's Chair" competition suggests a chair designed by an architect, meaning it's a chair conceived and executed with an architectural perspective. The target audience for this chair could be anyone, not just architects. It's about applying architectural principles and thinking to the design of a chair.
Yes, any form of seating, including benches and stools, is acceptable for submission to The Architect's Chair competition. The competition brief is open to interpretation, and you are even welcome to reimagine the very process of sitting. We encourage creativity and innovation in all entries.
Absolutely not! You’ll always keep full ownership and authorship of your project. Submitting to a Buildner competition doesn’t mean giving up your rights — it simply gives us permission to share and promote your work as part of the competition. We may feature your project on our website, social media, newsletters, books, or exhibitions — all to celebrate your creativity and inspire others. This permission helps us give your work the visibility it deserves, without needing to ask you each time we publish it.
Click on "register now", fill in all the required fields, choose your payment method and submit your information. You will be forwarded to Paypal or CPS secure payment gateway, to cover the competition fee. Once we receive your payment, we'll send you an email with your username and password to upload your submission directly to the website.
You can add/remove/edit team member information as often as you want in the upload panel, up until the submission deadline.
Yes we are in the process of negotiating with multiple international industry-related media representatives. The list of media partners is constantly updated on our website, please check it regularly to find latest updates.
No. Competition entries are evaluated anonymously. The participant registration type is only revealed upon the announcement of the results.
Please contact us – [email protected] and we will address the problem directly.
The short answer is yes, you may submit a previously published design concept as long as you are the author. Before re-submitting your project, please carefully read the following clarification points listed here - architecturecompetitions.com/resubmit-your-design
As AI-generated images may be based on pre-existing work or generated using proprietary algorithms, it is best to check the specific terms and conditions of the AI tool used to generate the image to determine its ownership status. It may also be necessary to seek legal advice to fully understand the ownership rights and any restrictions that may apply. In general, it is not recommended to consider AI-generated images as your sole work or intellectual property unless you have obtained explicit permission to do so.
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Architecture competitions are a great way to explore subjects we are passionate about, continue developing our creativity and enjoy working on ideas that we might not have the opportunity to address in everyday practice. They are also an excellent way to keep practicing, experimenting, and improving as designers.

From our point of view, architecture competitions are an opportunity to step outside the routines of everyday practice and explore ideas with greater freedom. They encourage experimentation, challenge us to test our own design approach, and allow us to engage with places, cultures, and architectural questions that we might not encounter in our daily work. The Iceland Slow Sauna competition was particularly appealing because of its unique setting and intimate scale, inviting a thoughtful response to both landscape and atmosphere. Competitions also provide a valuable space for collaboration. As this is our first competition as a team, it allowed us to develop ideas together, combine our individual perspectives, and discover how we complement each other throughout the design process. At the same time, competing alongside participants from around the world motivates us to continuously improve and learn from different ways of thinking about architecture. Regardless of the outcome, we believe every competition is worthwhile. Each project strengthens our design process, sharpens our ability to communicate ideas, and teaches us something new about architecture and ourselves. Every challenge becomes another step in our professional development, giving us greater confidence and a deeper understanding that we can carry into future projects. We see competitions as an essential part of our growth as architects and hope to continue participating regularly in the years to come.

For me, architecture competitions are more than a way to win projects. They are opportunities to challenge my own limits, refine my thinking, and continuously develop as an architect. Competitions are also an open platform for engaging with society, cities, the media, and the public through architecture. They allow us to respond to contemporary issues, communicate ideas, and explore new possibilities for architecture and the public realm.

HONORABLE MENTION
Competition Iceland Slow Sauna

Competitions allow us to continue an ongoing design dialogue beyond the constraints of commercial practice. They provide a space to experiment, test ideas and develop our own architectural voice. While recognition is rewarding, the process of exploring a clear idea from brief to proposal is what we value most.

One of the reasons I enjoy architecture competitions is that they allow me to explore ideas that don't always fit within everyday practice. They allow designers to work with greater freedom, respond to unfamiliar contexts, and place their ideas within an international architectural conversation. The Iceland Slow Sauna competition was especially interesting because the program was small, but it involved many different elements: heat, water, vegetation, weather, privacy, and landscape. Receiving an Honorable Mention was very encouraging, but I also valued the design process itself. It gave us the chance to think carefully about how such a small building could still create a rich spatial experience.

I participate in architecture competitions to be able to explore topics or develop skills that I am not currently otherwise working on.

HONORABLE MENTION
Competition Iceland Slow Sauna

Architecture competitions give designers the freedom to explore new building types, challenge conventions, and test ideas that may not be possible within the constraints of commercial projects. They create opportunities to experiment with new concepts, materials, and ways of thinking, pushing both the designer and the discipline forward.

SUSTAINABILITY AWARD
Competition Iceland Slow Sauna

We participate in architecture competitions because they offer a space for experimentation, research and reflection, beyond the constraints of a conventional commission. They allow us to test ideas, question our methods and develop architectural proposals with a strong conceptual and material focus. This competition is particularly meaningful to us because it deals with micro-architecture and the program of the sauna, two subjects that strongly resonate with our practice. We are interested in small-scale architectures where every decision becomes essential: the relationship to the site, the use of materials, the construction process, the atmosphere, and the experience of the body in space. The sauna is a program that we find especially rich, as it connects architecture to ritual, climate, materiality and sensory experience. It is a place where heat, light, texture, intimacy and landscape can come together in a very direct way. For us, this type of project is an opportunity to explore architecture at a concentrated scale, where simplicity, precision and sensitivity are fundamental.

Architecture competitions are an opportunity to collaborate, conduct research, and contribute to architectural discourse. They allow architects to explore questions that may not emerge within conventional commissions and to develop ideas that push beyond established norms. Often, speculative and unbuilt proposals become a means of revisiting, refining, and expanding upon ideas that emerge from longstanding interests and research. Even when a proposal is not realised, the concepts developed through competitions can continue to evolve, generate conversation, or find their way back into projects down the line.

We decided to participate in this architecture competition as an opportunity to challenge ourselves, think freely, and grow as future architects. As we approach graduation, it felt like the right moment to apply what we have learned in a real design context, explore ideas beyond the academic framework, and begin sharing our work with the architectural community.

Celebrate your idea. Register today!