Until October 30, submissions are open for the Unbuilt Award 2025, organised by the architecture competition platform Buildner. Highlighting the role of innovation and the creative process, it celebrates unrealised projects, concepts, and architectural and design visions that have not been brought to life. In addition to cash prizes and other benefits, the winners will receive a trophy designed by renowned Latvian designer Germans Ermičs.
With theUnbuilt Award 2025 competition, the architecture competition platform Buildner aims to highlight ideas that push boundaries and could potentially influence the built environment in the future. Participants are invited to submit all kinds of unrealised works that demonstrate their creative freedom and visionary thinking — unrealised projects and detailed plans that are still waiting to be implemented, as well as conceptual ideas to introduce to the world. Applications are divided into categories according to their scale: small (up to 100 m2), medium (up to 999 m2), and large (over 1000 m2) projects.
Buildner will select the best project in each category and award five special mentions. Students are also invited to apply, and their work will be evaluated separately. An additional special prize will be awarded to the author who best presents their idea. The works of all winners and recipients of special recognition will be compiled in the annual publication Unbuilt Book, and the total prize fund for the competition is 100,000 euros. The architecture platform ArchDaily will also award a prize, offering the opportunity to complete a 3–6 month paid remote internship at the media outlet in 2026 to gain experience in architectural media, publishing, and editorial processes. After the evaluation of the works, each contestant will receive feedback or a personalised design assessment based on three core values — idea, form, and language — which will highlight the strengths of the project and reveal areas for improvement.
The jury consists of 12 industry professionals from various countries around the world — both representatives of ArchDaily and experts who hold leading positions in well-known architectural firms such as Zaha Hadid Architects, Foster + Partners, Adjaye Associates, and others.
The competition organisers are particularly proud of this year’s trophy, designed by the renowned Latvian designer Germans Ermičs. The design of the award embodies the idea of continuity — «the fleeting purity of an idea — not yet created, but already perfect, balanced between presence and absence, heaviness and lightness, reality and imagination,» as Germans describes it. «Like a drop of water in calm water, an idea creates waves — some disappear, some remain, but all leave an imprint. This work reveals the quiet persistence of thought, the fluid nature of creativity, and the endless cycle of ideas. Similar to the ouroboros — an ancient symbol of renewal and continuity — it reminds us that no idea ever disappears completely, it only transforms.»
Registration for the competition continues until October 30, and the winners will be announced on December 17. For more information about the competition rules, jury, and other topics, visit the Unbuilt Award 2025 website.
The Unbuilt Award, organised by Buildner, was first held in 2024, when the Loa River Black Line — a spatial intervention in Chile — was recognised as the best small-scale work, the proposal for the Slovenian pavilion at Expo as the best medium-scale work, and in the large-scale category, the Eden 2.0 reserve in Yeoulu Park, South Korea, won.
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