Fairy Tales - The World's First Architecture Storytelling Competition

Fairy Tales is an open, international, ideas competition that challenges creatives from all professional realms to develop visionary, narrative-based design proposals.

Architecture competitions are the lifeblood of the profession, but they haven’t changed that much in the past 100 years. Architects are still designing single building typologies like skyscrapers, museums, and houses ad infinitum. By retreating into itself, architecture has lost its ability to send universal messages, to represent culture in its time, and to address issues that are at the core of human existence. That is why Blank Space, an online platform for architecture, is launching the world’s first architecture storytelling competition: “Fairy Tales.”

Fairy Tales challenges participants to develop visionary proposals that take fun seriously and are audacious enough to ignite imaginations. The proposals will combine text-based architectural fairy tales with innovative graphic representations, and in doing so, seek to unlock the power of architecture by improving the way that it is shared, digested, and communicated.

To assess the entrants to the competition, Blank Space curated a team of experts who are each redefining their respective professions. The jury includes: Paula Scher, Partner at Pentagram; Will Alsop, Director at All Design; Mitchell Joachim, Co-President of Terreform ONE; Nigel Coates, Founder of Nigel Coates Studio; Jack Zipes, Professor Emeritus of German and Comparative Literature at the University of Minnesota; and Francesco Lipari, Co-founder of Cityvision.

To register for the competition, or for more detailed information, please visit: www.blankspaceproject.com

PROCEDURE OF PARTICIPATION
Blank Space: Fairy Tales is a single phase competition. Participation is open to architects, engineers, designers, illustrators, students and creatives worldwide. Individual or group entries are permitted. Multiple entries per individual or team are permitted, but each submission must be registered and paid for separately. The indication of a group leader is mandatory. Proposals do not need to be generated exclusively for this competition, but they must address the intent of the competition and should not have been published elsewhere before.

The official language of the competition is English. All proposals must be submitted in English.

SCHEDULE
Architects, engineers, designers, illustrators, writers, storytellers, students and creatives worldwide are invited to participate in the competition. We encourage multidisciplinary teams to enter.

Registration: Until January 31, 2014 (UPDATED)
Submission Deadline: January 31, 2014 (UPDATED)
Results Announced: March 2014 (UPDATED)

AWARDS
1ST PLACE: 1,250 USD
2ND PLACE: 600 USD
3RD PLACE: 400 USD
HONORABLE MENTIONS: The jury will select up to 10 honorable mentions.

The life of the submissions doesn’t stop at the conclusion of the competition. Subsequent to the competition, Blank Space is launching the inaugural issue of Blank Space Magazine. Select entries will be included in the magazine, as well as featured prominently on the Blank Space website, and published by our media partners and other outlets around the world.

-

UPDATE: The final deadline has been extended by two weeks.