Architecture Competition Museum of Emotions 1st prize winners – Demet Dincer, Mehmet Metin Polat and Bilge Altug

We’d like to take the opportunity to introduce you to the 1st  prize winners of our "Museum of Emotions" competition – Demet Dincer, Mehmet Metin Polat and Bilge Altug from Australia!

Mehmet Metin Polat, Bilge Altug and Demet Dincer from Australia

We are a team of three architects: Demet Dincer (DD) is a Lecturer at the University of New South Wales in the School of Built Environment (Australia), conducting academic research while keeping her practice as a freelance architect in Sydney.

Bilge Altug and Mehmet Metin Polat and are architects and founders of 9016 Architecture, an award-winning architecture practice based in Istanbul (Turkey) and established in 2011.

Brief information about the projects that you/your company have been involved with. For instance, what scale have you focused on/preferred, any significant projects where the company/ individuals have been involved?

9016: We create contemporary and modest architecture that suits any environmental and functional needs. We are committed to generating unique ideas as design solutions with expertise in different building typologies. With a wide-ranging experience in different scales and mostly gained through architecture competitions, 9016 Architecture has been selected for the Arkitera Young Architect of 2022 award in Turkey.

DD: Multi-sensory and emotive design has been one of the leading topics of my research and a highlighted approach in my practice. I am an academic who teaches and researches the societal role of architecture, with a focus on public-private conflicts of space.

The projects that refer to architecture as a tool to create a societal impact bring me and 9016 Architecture together as a team. We previously worked on a competition project that was a memorial and public space design for health workers, whom we lost due to pandemic and our proposal was awarded the third prize.

9016: We work collaboratively between Australia and Turkey, as the time difference becomes less of an issue when you are a team of three like-minded architects, with differentiated skill sets.

What does architecture mean to you and what is the role of an architect in your society?

DD: Architecture is a tool that shapes the world we all live in, which requires a holistic understanding of what the world demands, needs, or has an impact on. By saying that, ‘we’ don’t refer to humans as architecture’s subjects, even though the architecture is commonly referred to as a discipline of ‘designing places for people’. An architect should be a good interpreter to understand the needs of both humans and nonhumans, to count what his/her design’s impact would be, beyond its human-users.

Why do you participate in architecture competitions?

9016: For years, competitions have been such helpful platforms for us to develop our design approach. We have been awarded various prizes in national and international competitions, and our winning proposal for a Cemevi competition (Beylikduzu Cemevi) was constructed in 2020 and won the 18th National Architecture Prize of Turkey. In fact, democratic settings provided by competitions enable any designer to receive award regardless his/her background. We believe that an architect always has something more to learn, and we consider each competition as if it is a new studio environment to learn from the process of designing, no matter how experienced we are.

DD: I agree. Collaborating and being open to each other’s ideas while forming one design proposal is such a productive process. For me, competitions provide differentiated viewpoints on how ideal architecture could be as a response to a given brief. It inspires me to observe such distinctive (design) responses to the same brief, each one trying to argue its own rationale. Competitions provide a common ground for me to combine architectural research with practice, experiment with ideas, and challenge the (so-called) gaps between academia and practice.

What advice would you give to individuals who struggle to decide whether it would be beneficial for them to participate in architecture competitions?

9016 and DD: Competitions are exploration processes to test your ideas and push your own boundaries. Participating would be beneficial to develop your own design approach. Even if you are not a finalist, checking the selected projects and reading the jury report is a fabulous opportunity to learn and develop yourself. They are opportunities where you are encouraged to think outside the box, push your own boundaries, challenge yourself, and develop your viewpoint as a creative (and critical) thinker; especially when a competition topic makes you excited to say something.

Open architecture competitions

  • Closest Deadline first
  • Project competitions first
    Selected winning projects have the potential to be constructed
  • Ideas competitions first
    Experimental competitions with the focus on pushing the boundaries of creativity
project COMPETITION
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Prize: MONETARY AWARD + CONSTRUCTION
Eligibility: OPEN TO ALL

registration deadlines

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Jun 09
Sep 12
Nov 03
project COMPETITION
Iceland Beer Spa

Design a beer spa in Iceland's captivating landscape

Prize: MONETARY AWARD + CONSTRUCTION
Eligibility: OPEN TO ALL

registration deadlines

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Jun 14
Sep 14
Nov 08
ideas COMPETITION
The Architect's Chair
Edition #1

Take a seat and make a statement!

Prize: MONETARY AWARD
Eligibility: OPEN TO ALL

registration deadlines

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Jun 06
Sep 06
Nov 01
ideas COMPETITION
Beyond Isolation: Senior Housing
Senior living. Edition#2

Reimagine senior living spaces

Prize: MONETARY AWARD
Eligibility: OPEN TO ALL

registration deadlines

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Jun 08
Sep 08
Nov 02

Reccuring architecture competitions

ideas COMPETITION
MICROHOME
Small living, huge impact! Edition #6

Design a new concept of small-scale home

Prize: MONETARY AWARD + PUBLICATION IN MAGAZINE
Eligibility: OPEN TO ALL

registration deadlines

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Feb 16
Apr 18
Jun 16
ideas COMPETITION
Silent contest
For this competition, NO DESCRIPTION TEXT is allowed. The architecture ideas must be communicated strictly with visuals.
The Last Nuclear Bomb Memorial
Edition #3

Design a memorial that speaks to the cause of ending all nuclear weapons programs

Prize: MONETARY AWARD
Eligibility: OPEN TO ALL

registration deadlines

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Jun 26
Sep 03
Nov 05
ideas COMPETITION
Silent contest
For this competition, NO DESCRIPTION TEXT is allowed. The architecture ideas must be communicated strictly with visuals.
Museum of Emotions
Edition #3

Use architecture to create different emotional states

Prize: MONETARY AWARD
Eligibility: OPEN TO ALL

registration deadlines

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Mar 17
May 19
Jul 21
Run repeatedly
Virtual Home
Edition #2

Shape the future of digital living environments

Prize: MONETARY AWARD
Eligibility: OPEN TO ALL

registration deadlines

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May 02
Jul 04
Sep 06
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Run repeatedly
Pavilion Of Humanity: First Contact
Edition #2

How would you represent the best that humanity has to offer through architecture?

Prize: MONETARY AWARD
Eligibility: OPEN TO ALL

registration deadlines

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Mar 27
May 25
Jul 24
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Run repeatedly
Silent contest
For this competition, NO DESCRIPTION TEXT is allowed. The architecture ideas must be communicated strictly with visuals.
Architectural Visualization Award
Edition #2

Present your best work and submit your favorite architectural visualization

Prize: MONETARY AWARD
Eligibility: OPEN TO ALL

registration deadlines

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Mar 23
May 25
Jul 27
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Los Angeles Affordable Housing Challenge
Affordable Housing Series #16

Design affordable housing solutions in Los Angeles

Prize: MONETARY AWARD
Eligibility: OPEN TO ALL

registration deadlines

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Jun 07
Sep 07
Nov 01
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Creativity gym Short term competitions for you to exercise your creativity

T-SHIRT DRAWING COMPETITION
The Architect's T-shirt
Edition #19

Design THE architect's t-shirt!

Prize: 3,000 €
Eligibility: open to all

registration deadlines

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May 31
Jun 30
Jul 31
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ARCHITECTURE PORTFOLIO COMPETITION
THE BUILDNER'S ARCHITECTURE PORTFOLIO COMPETITION
Edition #4

Submit your online portfolio!

Prize: 5,000 €
Eligibility: open to all

registration deadlines

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Jun 30
Jul 31
Aug 31
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Competition results

Hong Kong 
Pixel Homes

Hong Kong Pixel Homes

Affordable Housing Series #2
MICROHOME

MICROHOME

Small living, huge impact! Edition #4

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