Introduction
Buildner is pleased to announce the results of the second edition of the Buildner Unbuilt Award, an international competition series that honors architectural ideas not yet realized. With a continued 100,000 EUR prize fund, the award recognizes excellence in conceptual and speculative design across all scales and typologies, celebrating projects that explore the future of architecture through innovation, sustainability, and social relevance.
Organized into three categories: small, medium, and large-scale projects, the award promotes architectural experimentation regardless of size, program, or context. Participants were invited to submit proposals that may be conceptual, unbuilt, paused, or published but unrealized, offering space for bold research, formal invention, and visionary thinking.
This year’s prize-winning projects reflect a shared commitment to architecture as both cultural speculation and practical solution. From climate-adaptive systems to thoughtful urban insertions and new models for collective space, the awarded work demonstrates how unbuilt ideas can shape architectural discourse with clarity, precision, and critical imagination. Across categories, the strongest entries conveyed a refined balance between concept and execution, supported by compelling drawings, models, and visual storytelling.
The jury for the 2025 edition included an outstanding panel of global experts, each bringing distinct perspectives from design, education, and editorial practice. Jurors evaluated entries not only on design merit, but on clarity of narrative, responsiveness to context, and potential impact on the built environment. In addition to first-place winners in each category, the award recognized multiple honorable mentions, student prizes, and a special award for presentation excellence.
The third edition of the Buildner Unbuilt Award is now open with a 100,000 EUR prize fund and categories for small, medium, and large-scale work, the 2026 competition continues to celebrate the role of unbuilt architecture in shaping tomorrow’s ideas. Let’s continue to recognize the value of unbuilt work, not as unfinished, but as foundational to the evolution of architectural thought.
We sincerely thank our jury panel
for their time and expertise
Manuela Gatto
Director, Zaha Hadid Architects
UK
Christele Harrouk
Editor in Chief, ArchDaily
Lebanon
Melodie Leung
Director, Zaha Hadid Architects
UK
Amanda Levete
Founder, AL_A
Jürgen Mayer H
founding partner of J.MAYER.H und Partner
Germany
Michael Meredith
Princeton University, MOS
USA
Lyndon Neri
Neri&Hu Design and Research Office
China
Will Plowman
Partner at Foster + Partners
UAE
Carlo Ratti
Director, MIT Senseable City Lab
USA
Small scale category winner
Nomadic Permanence: Architecture as Resilient Machine
20,000 €
Jury feedback summary
Nomadic Permanence presents a climate-adaptive framework situated in desertified landscapes, merging the logic of resilient shelter with ecological regeneration. The proposal introduces a modular architecture that acts as a self-sufficient, reconfigurable machine, integrating food production, stormwater retention, sand stabilization, and inhabitation. Constructed primarily from lightweight metal framing and locally sourced sandbags, the structure leverages on-site materials and minimal permanent infrastructure. The spatial layout is organized around a sloped roof section with solar panels and tensile fabric skins, beneath which adaptive interior functions unfold in response to environmental needs. The design reimagines permanence as a temporal accumulation of cycles, offering a strategy that addresses displacement, climate adaptation, and food insecurity simultaneously. The architecture is not fixed, but instead a device that accumulates meaning through use, weathering, and stewardship.
Buildner's commentary, recommendations and techniques review
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Medium scale category winner
. the wine path
20,000 €
Buildner's commentary, recommendations and techniques review
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The presentation is anchored by compelling site photography that immediately conveys the spatial relationship between architecture and landscape. Diagrams clearly articulate the evolution of the form from context analysis to sectional studies, though annotation is minimal and could do more to unpack programmatic layers. The linework is precise, particularly in the plan and section cuts, with soft contrast maintaining focus on spatial flow rather than construction detail.
Large scale category winner
Theseus: A New Housing Typology
20,000 €
Jury feedback summary
Theseus: A New Housing Typology proposes a 150-bed modular housing system adjacent to the Port of Chelsea, MA, utilizing the immense structural strength of decommissioned Handymax cargo ship holds. The project retrofits these steel structures into multi-story housing units elevated above the ground, forming adaptable living environments that address long-term urban resilience, material scarcity, and climate adaptation. The superstructure supports suspended floor plates, allowing the ground level to remain open and fostering flexibility in future use scenarios. By separating the steel shell from its original function and embedding new laminated timber floors within a tensile grid, the design celebrates industrial heritage while offering a replicable framework for dense, cost-effective infill. The proposal envisions scalable, ship-derived modules as part of a broader strategy for coastal cities grappling with housing shortages and post-industrial land reuse.
Buildner's commentary, recommendations and techniques review
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The presentation conveys its architectural and conceptual goals through elegant renders, well-structured diagrams, and a consistent visual language. The section and axonometric views articulate structural transformation clearly, with effective use of line weight and exploded views to communicate complexity. However, visual hierarchy could be strengthened in some of the more technical diagrams, which are tightly packed and require close inspection to follow sequencing.
Student award 2025
Nomadic Permanence: Architecture as Resilient Machine
5,000 €
Jury feedback summary
Nomadic Permanence presents a climate-adaptive framework situated in desertified landscapes, merging the logic of resilient shelter with ecological regeneration. The proposal introduces a modular architecture that acts as a self-sufficient, reconfigurable machine, integrating food production, stormwater retention, sand stabilization, and inhabitation. Constructed primarily from lightweight metal framing and locally sourced sandbags, the structure leverages on-site materials and minimal permanent infrastructure. The spatial layout is organized around a sloped roof section with solar panels and tensile fabric skins, beneath which adaptive interior functions unfold in response to environmental needs. The design reimagines permanence as a temporal accumulation of cycles, offering a strategy that addresses displacement, climate adaptation, and food insecurity simultaneously. The architecture is not fixed, but instead a device that accumulates meaning through use, weathering, and stewardship.
Buildner's commentary, recommendations and techniques review
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The project’s presentation conveys an atmospheric and conceptually rich approach, balancing technical accuracy with evocative visual storytelling.
The best presentation award 2025
Tranquillizing the Void
10,000 €
Spain
Jury feedback summary
Tranquillizing the Void proposes a small-scale intervention in the underutilized residual spaces of Kyoto’s dense urban fabric. Taking inspiration from the Japanese concept of oku—the layered spatial experience of depth and retreat—the project introduces a light timber pavilion designed for reflection, solitude, and reconnection with nature. Its architectural language is minimalist yet refined, combining translucent polycarbonate panels, soft interior tatami, and open roof apertures that guide natural light inward. The drawings present a clear sequential logic, from context plan and elevation to an elegantly constructed sectional perspective and diagrammatic construction breakdown. The project balances simplicity with craft, proposing a replicable structure that can be adapted to the overlooked pockets of the city, offering moments of quiet amidst the urban rush.
Buildner's commentary, recommendations and techniques review
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This submission is distinguished by the exceptional quality and clarity of its architectural drawings. The section, plan, and axonometric diagrams are not only technically accurate but also emotionally evocative, conveying a deep sensitivity to light, material, and spatial rhythm. The renderings are carefully composed, seamlessly integrated with the graphic narrative, and rich with seasonal and cultural atmosphere.
Honorable mentions
Upside Down
1,000 €
Germany
Playwood
1,000 €
United States
Calitropis
1,000 €
La Geria
1,000 €
Spain
Bedouin Folds
1,000 €
Ethiopia





















The project’s presentation conveys an atmospheric and conceptually rich approach, balancing technical accuracy with evocative visual storytelling. Read more Photorealistic renders successfully communicate environmental context, material palette, and spatial quality, while the axonometric sequences and section models offer insights into function and assembly. However, diagrammatic clarity could be improved with sharper contrast and clearer annotation to support understanding of key mechanisms. The layout is orderly and benefits from consistent framing and scale, though certain details in the interior image and elevation montage are visually dense. Text is well-structured and effectively communicates the broader conceptual ambition, though its typographic weight could be better balanced across the page. The tension between adaptability and structural clarity is well-managed, offering a compelling framework for incremental, site-responsive inhabitation.