The Quiet Tower competition takes place on Latvia’s remote Baltic coastline near Cape Kolka — a landscape of forests, dunes, sea winds, and small villages shaped by nature and seasonal change. Located along the historic Livonian Coast, the site belongs to one of the country’s quietest and most atmospheric regions, where architecture is expected to exist in harmony with the surrounding landscape rather than dominate it.
The project is initiated by a private owner developing the property as a retreat focused on simplicity, presence, and connection to nature. Instead of creating a traditional tourist destination, the vision is to offer visitors a place to slow down, disconnect from everyday routines, and experience the atmosphere of the Baltic coast through landscape, weather, silence, and observation. The future tower is imagined not simply as a viewing platform, but as a lookout ritual, a room above the trees, a sheltered pause within nature, or a contemporary object inspired by the spirit of the coastline.
Not a Tower, but a Vertical Experience
Participants are invited to rethink the observation tower as more than a functional structure. Rather than designing an iconic landmark, the competition encourages proposals that create atmosphere, emotional connection, and a unique relationship between visitor and landscape. The Quiet Tower may become a place for reflection, conversation, photography, watching sunsets, or observing changing weather and distant horizons. Inspired by fire lookout towers, dune watchpoints, pilgrimage shelters, and Nordic retreat culture, the project should explore how simple architecture can create memorable experiences through sensitivity, restraint, and connection to place.
The proposed tower site is located next to a historic pub currently being renovated into a guest house by the property owner. Surrounded by gardens, fruit trees, and forest, the location offers views across the property and the wider Baltic landscape. The tower is envisioned as a quiet addition to the site, complementing the transformation of the property into a retreat connected to nature, local culture, and the atmosphere of Latvia’s Livonian Coast.
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.
The competition rules summary is available for download at any time in the following languages: English
FULL COMPETITION BRIEF [ENG]
5,000 €
2,500 €
1,000 €
Buildner will acknowledge the outstanding performance of all winners and honourable mentions with Certificates of Achievement.
Buildner's publicity campaign offers extensive exposure to the architectural community, ensuring that the results of the competition are seen by a vast audience:
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.
Winners will have the opportunity to submit a movie and an interview, boosting their recognizability and helping to build their name in the industry.
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
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
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The jury panel for The Quiet Tower Architecture Competition has not yet been published. Buildner is committed to selecting the most qualified industry professionals to comprise its jury panels. These panels include architects and experts from related fields to ensure fair and objective evaluation of all entries. All communication regarding the competition should be directed exclusively to Buildner staff. Explore some of the names featured in previous Buildner competition jury panels:
Norman Foster Foundation
Spain
Creator
France
Farshid Moussavi Architecture (FMA)
United Kingdom
Alison Brooks Architects
UK
Neri&Hu Design and Research Office
China
Founder, AL_A
Founding Partner, Mecanoo
Netherlands
Founder and Principle, UNStudio
Netherlands
Adjaye Associates
UK
Fernanda Canales
Mexico
OMA -Office for Metropolitan Architecture
Netherlands
Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture
United States
Interiors Principal, SOM
USA
Founder, ArchDaily
Germany
Partner at Foster + Partners
UAE
Director of Zaha Hadid Architects
UK
Director, Zaha Hadid Architects
UK
Director, Zaha Hadid Architects
UK
Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design, Merge
United States
Google and Michelle Kaufmann Studio
United States
GSAPP and MOS
United States
Marlon Blackwell Architects
United States
GLUCK+
United States
Director, Zaha Hadid Architects
UK
Director of Zaha Hadid Architects
UK
Olson Kundig
United States
Steven Holl Architects - SHA
China
Grimshaw
United Kingdom
Snøhetta
Norway
Director, Snøhetta
Norway
Managing Partner at SOM
USA
Partner at MVRDV
Netherlands
Studio Fuksas
Italy
Founder, MVRDV
Netherlands
Associate Partner, MAD Architects
USA
Partner at BIG - Bjarke Ingels Group
USA
BIG - Bjarke Ingels Group
Denmark
Director, MIT Senseable City Lab
USA
Calatrava Grace and Calatrava International
UAE
Studio Seilern Architects
UK
Partner, MVRDV
Netherlands
Director of Graduate Studies, PhD Program, School of Architecture, Princeton University
United States
Architect and Professor at TU Berlin
Germany
Safdie Architects
USA
Founder and Partner, Peter Pichler Architecture
Italy
Practice for architecture and urbanism: PAU
USA
TenBerke Architects
USA
JDS Architects
Denmark
Princeton University, MOS
USA
Editor in Chief, ArchDaily
Lebanon
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.
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
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.
In order to guarantee equal opportunities to all competition participants.
No new questions will be answered after this deadline.
In order to guarantee equal opportunities to all competition participants.
No new questions will be answered after this deadline.
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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.
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
years of experience
architects and designers
on our network
