In partnership with Make Architects, Sir John Soane’s Museum and sponsor William Hare Group, the World Architecture Festival (WAF) has announced the call for entries for the third edition of The Architecture Drawing Prize. Launched in 2017, the prize is conceived to celebrate and showcase the art and skill of architectural drawing. 

Entries should be sent until October 4, 2019. To see full details on how to enter, visit the Architecture Drawing Prize website. 

In the spirit of many great architects of the past, from Palladio and John Soane to Le Corbusier and Cedric Price, The Architecture Drawing Prize is an ideal platform for reflecting on and exploring how drawing continues to advance the art of architecture today. 

It embraces the creative use of digital tools and digitally produced renderings, while recognising the enduring importance of hand drawing. The organisers invite entries of all types and forms: from technical or construction drawings to cutaway or perspective views – and anything in between.

Li Han, ‘The Samsara of Building No. 42 on Dirty Street’, overall winner of the 2018 Architecture Drawing Prize. Image courtesy of the artists.

Entries are welcomed by architects, designers and especially students from around the world in the following categories: hand-drawn, digital, and hybrid, combining the two. This year also sees the introduction of a new category: the detail drawing, to support entries by architects with a passion for working details. 

Submissions across the four categories will be evaluated on the basis of their technical skill, originality in approach and ability to convey an architectural idea. Drawings can be entirely speculative or relate to real projects.

This year’s judges include artists Langlands and Bell (Ben Langlands and Nikki Bell); Ken Shuttleworth (Make Architects); Narinder Sagoo (Foster + Partners); Jeremy Melvin (World Architecture Festival); Owen Hopkins (Sir John Soane’s Museum London) plus Manuelle Gautrand (Manuelle Gautrand Architecture); Christian Schittich (DETAIL) and Gary Simmons (William Hare Group).

"Drawing has long been the practice that differentiates architecture from all other practical ways of making buildings. When informed by rigour and intelligence, it remains one of the most important ways of inventing and representing architectural ideas - and making them discussable. The drawing prize is an integral and vital part of WAF’s mission," said Jeremy Melvin, Curator of the World Architecture Festival.

The winners and shortlist will be announced in October, and then go on display at a dedicated exhibition at the Sir John Soane's Museum in London in January 2020. The category winners will each receive a delegate pass and two nights in a hotel during the World Architecture Festival in Amsterdam, 4-6 December 2019. They will be invited to participate in an event on the Festival Stage at WAF, and receive tickets to the Gala Dinner.

Overall Winner + Category Winner: The Samsara of Building No.42 on Dirty Street by Li Han/Drawing Architecture Studio. Image courtesy of the artists.

In 2018 the prize attracted entries from 31 countries across the globe, showing the truly international nature of the prize. Of the entrants, 55% were architects, 12% were designers and 33% were students. Over 50% of entries, and over 60% of the shortlisted entries were submitted by entrants aged 30 and under. 

To encourage this trend into 2019, the organisers continue to offer a reduced entry fee of £55 for all entries by students and those under 30, a reduction from the standard fee of £165.

The second annual Architecture Drawing Prize in 2018 went to Li Han, one of the founding partners of Drawing Architecture Studio in Beijing, for his work entitled ‘The Samsara of Building No. 42 on Dirty Street’. Judges commended him for challenging preconceptions of digital presentation, creating a modern day Archigram drawing but also a step into the future. 

World Architecture Community is official Media Partner for this year's festival and offers to its Professional Members 10% discounted tickets over regular festival prices during WAF registration! All you have to do is to upgrade your World Architecture Community membership to Professional here or visit your WAC Settings page and send us ([email protected]) an email to get your promo code for your WAF registration!

Top image: Coding Athens in a ‘Festival of Time’: Archive of Temporality – Viktor Gekker, courtesy of WAF

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