As part of Barcelona’s nomination as the World Capital of Architecture 2026 by UNESCO-UIA, Fundació Mies van der Rohe – Barcelona City Council have launched an international competition of ideas to remodel 10 permanent blind walls, spread across the city’s 10 districts, aiming to leave a lasting legacy in Barcelona, and is calling on the world community of young architects to participate.

Taking the nomination of Barcelona as World Capital of Architecture 2026 by UNESCO-UIA as an opportunity to disseminate and debate globally about the added value of the quality of urban space and its impact on the quality of life in cities, the Barcelona City Council with the Fundació Mies van der Rohe is launching an international competition of ideas to remodel 10 Blind Walls in the 10 districts of the city of Barcelona.

A challenge framed in an ephemeral event such as the World Capital of Architecture, which seeks to leave a lasting legacy that provides permanent responses to real situations. We are looking for ideas that solve the break in the landscape and the fracture in the urban fabric that these anonymous walls dividing properties, exposed to the vision in a permanent provisional state. Proposals that, in addition to improving the visual impact of these walls, solve constructive and habitability problems and transform them into facades that provide solutions to public space.

The competition's Jury will select for each of the locations a winning proposal from among those presented in that location, and a second and third prize.

The winning proposals will be implemented whenever possible for their inauguration in 2026 as part of the programme of activities of the World Capital of Architecture and as a legacy of enduring material of Barcelona as the 2026 World Architecture Capital UNESCO-UIA.

The period for presenting ideas will be open until 5 August.

See the competition sites here. 

Download the competition brief. 

Eligibility

The competition has two eligibility criteria:

Title of Architect

The AUTHOR(S) of the proposal must have the right to use the title of Architect in their country of origin or residence. Read more here.

Maximum age

All participants must have been born on or after 1 January 1989. More information. 

Jury members

Camilla van Deurs

Ali Kural

Teddy Cruz

Philip F. Yuan

Meriem Chabani

Maria Buhigas

Anna Ramos

As technical consultants (with voice but no vote). Technical Directorate of the Municipal Institute of Urban Landscape and Quality of Life: Montserrat Prado, architect and technical director. Marta Guitart, architect. Jon Ajanguiz, architect Roger Pedro, architect.

Evaluation criteria

1. Architectural quality of the proposal

a. Architectural quality and design

b. Connection with the environment

2. Energy efficiency and life cycle of materials

3. Construction coherence and feasability

Calendar

Launch of the competition: 10 June, 2024

Questions: June 10 to June 20, 2024

Publication of answers: July 1, 2024

Submission of proposals: Deadline August 5 23:59 GMT+2

Jury meeting and decision: September 9-17, 2024

Publication of results: September 25, 2024

All deadlines in the above table are set at 23:59, Barcelona time (GMT+2), on each of the dates indicated. Any submissions that are not submitted by this deadline will not be considered.

Prizes

First prize: 3.000,00 €

Second prize: 1.500,00 €

Third prize: 750 €

There are 3 prizes for each of the 10 locations.

Up to three honourable mentions with no monetary prize may be awarded for each site, to be decided by the Jury.

The winning proposals will be implemented whenever possible for their inauguration in 2026 as part of the programme of activities of the world capital of architecture and as a legacy of enduring material of Barcelona as the 2026 World Architecture Capital UNESCO-UIA.

Read more about the competition from the website. 

Top image courtesy of Fundació Mies van der Rohe.

> via Fundació Mies van der Rohe

architecture competition