Communiqués – 2022
22 December 2022 – Results of the Great Green Wall Student Ideas Competition
The International Union of Architects (UIA) has announced the results of the Great Green Wall (GGW) single stage student ideas competition. This is the official student competition of the 29th UIA World Congress of Architects that will take place in Copenhagen, Denmark on 2-6 July 2023.
2 December 2022 – The UIA calls for solidarity with Indonesia following deadly earthquake
The International Union of Architects (UIA), advocates for earthquake-resistant structures that are designed to make buildings stronger and/or more flexible. The Union particularly encourages the use of traditional techniques to prevent buildings from collapsing.
10 November 2022 – Winners: Liang Sicheng Prize 2020 & 2022
The winners of the 10th and 11th editions of the Liang Sicheng Prize, organised biennially by UIA Chinese Member Section, the Architectural Society of China (ASC), have been announced. Evaluation of the two editions was successfully merged over the course of one single meeting by the same jury because the 10th edition jury meeting was postponed due to the pandemic in 2020.
7 October 2022 – Daylight Talk with Ewa Kuryłowicz
The Warsaw University of Technology is presenting a talk by one of Poland’s most prominent architectural firms, Kuryłowicz & Associates, as the final volume in the Built with Light segment of the 2022 Daylight Talks. The Built with Light series seeks to explore the role of daylight, not only as a component of a healthy indoor environment, but as a creator of forms, an essential part of space orientation, wayfinding and haptic technology.
3 October 2022 – World Architecture Day – UIA Declaration
In the wake of the pandemic, architects remain steadfast in their commitment to the goals set in the United Nations 2030 Agenda and to building more resilient, sustainable and healthy societies. Architecture for well-being goes beyond access to hospitals and health care facilities. It extends to improving the quality of the architectural spaces in which we live and work.
26 September 2022 – The UIA Award for Innovation in Architectural Education
The International Union of Architects (UIA) is pleased to announce the second edition of the UIA Award for Innovation in Architectural Education, organised jointly by the UIA Architectural Education Commission and the UIA Sustainable Development Goals Commission. This edition of the award will focus on the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
19 September 2022 – Daylight Talk With Estar
Graduates of ETSAB Barcelona, Aurora Armental Ruiz and Stefano Ciurlo Walker founded Estar, based in Santiago de Compostela and Geneva. The studio focuses on historical and culturally valuable buildings, cities and territories. Notable projects include the transformation of the 19th century arena and stables known as the Ancien Manège in Geneva, Switzerland, into an “inhabitable civic building with minimum intervention”.
16 September 2022 – Launch: International Innovative Health Design Awards
The International Union of Architects (UIA) has launched the International Innovative Health Design Awards, organised by the UIA Public Health Group and open to all architects around the world.
9 September 2022 – World Architecture Day 2022
Created by the UIA in 1985, World Architecture Day is celebrated annually on the first Monday of October in parallel with UN World Habitat Day. The theme for World Architecture Day 2022 is Architecture for Well-being. The theme is in line with the designation of 2022 as the UIA Year of Design for Health and the Union’s commitment to use evidence-based design to promote health in buildings and cities.
7 September 2022 – Launch: International Architectural Design Competition Requalification of Byrsa Acropolis and Rehabilitation of the Carthage National Museum in Tunisia
Expertise France, in collaboration with the Tunisian Ministry of Culture and with the support of the European Union announces the launch of the international one-stage design competition for the Requalification of Byrsa Acropolis and Rehabilitation of the Carthage National Museum in Tunisia. The International Union of Architects (UIA) endorses this competition as being in accordance with UNESCO’s regulations on international architectural and urban design competitions and the UIA’s best practice recommendations.
1 August 2022 – Launch student ideas competition to design a rehabilitation centre for 30 stroke survivors
The International Union of Architects (UIA) has launched the Next Generation of Stroke Rehabilitation Centres international single stage student ideas competition open to all students in architecture of the world. The competition is organised by the UIA Public Health Group and the NOVELL Redesign Team. It is co-sponsored by the Australian Health Design Council (AHDC).
20 July 2022 – European Parliament Building International Architecture Competition
The European Parliament has announced the results of the international design competition for the renewal of its plenary building (SPAAK), located in a complex in the centre of Brussels (Belgium). The open pre-qualification procedure for the selection of competitors among candidates was launched on 26 May 2020. It was endorsed by the International Union of Architects (UIA).
7 July 2022 – International Velux Award 2022: Regional Winners
The 2022 edition of the International VELUX Award, a biannual international student ideas competition endorsed by the UIA since 2004, has announced its Regional Winners. 507 submitted projects were submitted from 211 schools of architecture around the world.
28 June 2022 – UIA 2030 Award Winners
The UIA 2030 Award, a partnership with UN Habitat, promotes the work of architects that contributes to the delivery of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The first cycle of a biennial awards programme to run through 2030, the competition invited architects around the world to submit entries for built projects which demonstrate design quality and have made significant contributions towards achievement of some of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Submissions were received from 125 projects in 40 countries.
24 May 2022 – Daylight Talk with Stéphanie Bru
Technische Universitat Braunschweig is presenting a talk by Paris-based architect and Professor Stéphanie Bru as part of the 2022 Daylight Talks series. A graduate of Paris-Belleville School of Architecture, Bru co-founded the Bruther agency in Paris with Alexandre Theriot in 2008. Mainly engaged in realisations in France, the agency has been recognised for its signature open infrastructures that adapt to an abundance of contextual possibilities and malleability of uses.
18 May 2022 – 2022 Winners : the Daylight Award
The 2022 laureates of the Daylight Award are Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara, from Grafton Architects, for architecture, and Anna Wirz-Justice, Emeritus Professor of Psychiatric Neurobiology for her research. According to the jury, the three women not only “represent international excellence in daylight research and practice, but they also embody a generous and humanistic spirit regarding the celebration of daylight.”
5 May 2022 – Results: International Accessibility Symbol Design Competition
In January 2022, the International Union of Architects (UIA) in collaboration with Rehabilitation International (RI) launched a competition open to architects, graphic designers, architecture and graphic design students for the creation of a new international symbol of accessibility. The international jury met virtually on 11 April to examine 355 anonymous entries received from competitors worldwide. The entries were evaluated based on their symbolic and communicative effectiveness as well as their graphic quality.
22 April 2022 – A Daylight Talk with Dean Hawkes
The 2022 Daylight Talks series, the Department of Architecture at the University of Cambridge presents a Talk by architect, professor and researcher, Dean Hawkes. Presented by Koen Steemers, Professor of Sustainable Design, and transmitted live from the University of Cambridge, this third Daylight Talk will address Hawke’s approach to daylight over the course of his own career, spanning over 50 years, by focusing on houses built in England in the late 20th century.
18 April 2022 – Launch: Great Green Wall Initiative Student Competition
The International Union of Architects (UIA) has launched the Great Green Wall international single stage student ideas competition open to all students in architecture of the world. The objective of the competition is to spotlight innovative design ideas for providing sustainable affordable housing within the 8000 km long, 16 km wide living region stretching across the Sahel- Savanah desert region from Dakar to Djibouti known as the Great Green Wall (GGW).
13 April 2022 – Competition Results: European Commission Joint Research Centre
The European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC) launched an international multidisciplinary project competition with pre-qualification for the design of the new JRC Site Headquarters in Seville, Spain in May 2021. It was endorsed by the International Union of Architects (UIA) as being in accordance with the UNESCO-UIA Regulations for International Competitions in Architecture and Town Planning.
4 April 2022 – Results: Competition for the Design Area Surrounding the Ancient Theatre A’ in Larissa
The team led by Armando dal Fabbro (Italy) has been declared winner of the International Open Ideas Competition for the Design of the Surrounding Area of the Ancient Theatre A’ of Larissa. This competition invited architects to submit their entries for transformation of an inactive ancient open-air theatre dating from the 3rd century BC into a point of reference and identity for the modern city of Larissa, the fourth-most populous urban center in Greece.
14 March 2022 – Daylight Talk: Floris de Bruyn
The second episode in the 2022 ‘Daylight Talks’ series, featuring practicing architect Floris De Bruyn, co-founder of GAFPA, based in Ghent, Belgium, and Professor at the KU Leuven Faculty of Architecture (UCLouvain). Organised by the VELUX Group in collaboration with individual schools of architecture and endorsed by the UIA and the European Association for Architectural Education (EAAE), the Talks explore the significance of natural light in architecture and will present prominent architects and educators working consciously and qualitatively with daylight in their projects and educational programmes.
8 March 2022 – 2023 UIA Golden Cubes Awards: National Call for Projects
The UIA Work Programme Architecture & Children launched the National Phase of the 5th edition of the Golden Cubes Awards with a webinar on 25 February. The triennial Awards “honor those who help children and young people to understand architecture.” Attributed in four categories – Institutions, Schools, Written Media and Audio Visual Media– entrants are invited to describe “activities (courses, classes, events, etc.) or products (publications, tools, games, kits, guides, films, computer programmes, etc.) designed to teach children and young people about architecture and the built environment.”
3 March 2022 – UIA Forum 2022: Registration Open
Organised by the Consejo Superior de los Colegios de Arquitectos de España (CSCAE), with the cooperation of UN-Habitat and supported by the Government of Spain, the Comunidad de Madrid, the Ayuntamiento de Madrid and the Colegio Oficial Arquitectos de Madrid, the 2022 UIA Forum seeks to transform the capital of Spain into the epicentre of the global debate on decent and adequate housing, with the aim of producing a multilateral declaration.
3 March 2022 – The UIA Condemns the Invasion of Ukraine
The International Union of Architects strongly condemns the invasion of a sovereign nation, Ukraine by Russia. We further condemn the inequities that emerge from war including racial prejudices at border crossings, loss of homes of many innocent people and most importantly, the loss of life. We implore the Government of Russia to bring an immediate cessation of this war.
28 February 2022 – Solidarity with Ukraine
In the face of the mounting tragic events in Ukraine, the International Union of Architects (UIA) expresses its unwavering solidarity with all those affected and calls for unity and peace among nations. On behalf of the international community of architects, we condemn any act of violence or war affecting the well-being and dignity of humans, join the global appeal against war and call for the immediate restoration of peace.
25 February 2022 – UIA 2030 Finalists
The UIA, working in partnership with UN-Habitat, is pleased to announce the results for the first stage of the inaugural edition of the UIA 2030 Award, which recognises and celebrates the work of architects contributing to delivery of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development together with the New Urban Agenda. Jury Chair Peter Oborn commented that “jury members were impressed by both the diversity and quality of submissions, which demonstrate the many different ways in which the work of architects from around the world is contributing to this important global agenda.”
21 February 2022 – Results: International Contextual Architecture Award 2022
Antalya Kepez Municipality, in cooperation with the Antalya Branch of the Chamber of Architects of Turkey, has announced the results of the 2022 edition of “The International Contextual Architecture Awards in memory of Architect Turgut Cansever”. Endorsed by the International Union of Architects (UIA), the Award recognises architects and work that exhibit original interpretations of Turkish architect Turgut Cansever’s design principles, including cultural continuity, regional values and distinctive local attributes. The award seeks to highlight the importance of local identity in a globalised world.
15 February 2022 – Circling A Star: A Daylight Talk by Níall Mclaughlin
The first episode in the 2022 Edition of the ‘Daylight Talks’ series, featuring Níall McLaughlin, founder of the London-based architectural firm, Níall McLaughlin Architects and Professor of Architectural Practice at The Bartlett School of Architecture.
7 February 2022 – A new website for the UIA
In its continued efforts to unite, influence and advance the architectural profession, the UIA has redesigned its website to make it more informative and user-friendly. The new design layout has been modernised to adopt a refined style in line with the feedback received from its Members of Council during a survey conducted in 2021.
18 January 2022 – International Accessibility Symbol Design Competition
The International Union of Architects (UIA) and Rehabilitation International (RI) are jointly inviting submissions for a twenty-first century symbol of accessibility to represent their core values of rights and inclusion, independence, physical and virtual accessibility for all, including people with disabilities. The challenge is therefore to develop a new symbol of accessibility that better represents the variety of people who use buildings and other types of built environments.