International Urban Project Award 2021

Every year, the International Urban Project Award (IUPA)—which is presented by Bauwelt (Berlin) and World Architecture Magazine (WA, Beijing) and supported by Bau China, Messe München, and the Architecture Society of China—recognizes new and outstanding urban and architectural projects that have transformed cities worldwide. The prize highlights architecture and urban development as sociocultural forces capable of upgrading public space, thereby enhancing civic life and ultimately celebrating urbanity.

Topic 2021: Architecture for Public Space

Buildings and urban space can contribute to a more inclusive city. Both have the power to promote openness to diverse users and uses. Public space is a city’s backbone. Society is knitted together by libraries, theatres, and other buildings devoted to public or urban functions, along with squares, streets, and parks. Acquiring greater importance in an increasingly globalized, individualized, and privatized world are shared urban places that serve social and cultural purposes. Public space fulfills a multiplicity of tasks: mobility, recreation, gatherings, arts and education, climate protection, sports and physical activity. How can new buildings be integrated into the urban context while giving something back to the city? Where is the hidden potential for new public uses to be found? Which urban design strategies will foster more accessible, flexible, and diverse public spaces? With the third edition of the IUPA, we are on the lookout for architecture, landscape architecture, and urban design projects that are dedicated to the public realm. Welcome are projects that expand the playing field and the scope of creative practices, indoor as well as outdoor, on the micro or macro scale, and around the globe.

Projects and Participants

Projects should be completed and must be fewer than five years old (2017-2021). Urban design projects should be substantially completed but need not be fully completed.

Eligible to participate are exclusively nominated architects, urban planners, and landscape architects from around the world, including individuals as well as working teams.

Documents and Deadline

The submitted project is to be presented on an A1 portrait panel consisting of four single A3 sheets (5 MB). Participants may design the panel freely at their own discretion, but should follow the submission guidelines below:

1. On the first A3, for instance in the upper left corner, the project should be presented with a single photo together with the project title.

2. Please include all relevant information about the project in writing on the second A3. In addition to the author’s details, key project data, and an index of manufacturers, there should be a brief explanation of the project itself. The explanatory report should be no more than 400 words in length. You may supplement your text with images or drawings.

3. Please show more project pictures on the third A3.

4. On the fourth A3, present the work in drawings, comprehensively and clearly in its entirety and in detail.

The competition language is English. Legal recourse is excluded.
Please submit your entry in print quality by June 30, 2021 via e-mail or wetransfer or a similar transfer tool to iupa@bauwelt.de.

Jury

The jury sessions will take place in Beijing and Berlin in August and September 2021.
The jury members are:

Prize and Ceremony

The First Prize will be awarded €3000; two Special Prizes will be awarded €1000 each. The jury is authorized to split the sum differently. The award ceremony will take place as part of the BAU Congress China on Tuesday, 2 November 2021 at the Shanghai New International Expo Center.

Publication

All award-winning projects and a selection of further entries will be published in the catalogue of BAU Congress China 2021, WA and Bauwelt, and will also be exhibited on the fairgrounds of the Shanghai New International Expo Center during the BAU Congress China 2021. Submitters guarantee that they are the creators and authors of their competition entries. Furthermore, they consent to the cost-free publication of their submissions. Submitters are solely responsible for obtaining permissions for the right of use from third parties, especially regarding photographs.

Organizers

World Architecture Magazine is a leading architecture journal in China, and this published monthly. Founded in 1980, WA serves as a prominent platform for Chinese architectural debate and acts as a key bridge in the field of architecture between China and the international scene. For the past two decades, WA has also created and organized the highly respected architecture award program WAACA (WA Award for Chinese Architecture). Bauwelt is a German architecture and urban design journal, published bimonthly. The last issue of each quarter is published as StadtBauwelt and focuses on current urban planning issues. Bauwelt was founded in 1910 and has its registered office in Berlin. The journal reports in a politically independent, critical, demanding, and unbiased manner about contemporary architecture in Germany, Europe, and around the world.

Queries and Address

Email: iupa@bauwelt.de
Phone: +49 (0)30 884106-43
Redaktion Bauwelt
Schlüterstrasse 42
10707 Berlin Germany