Architecture competitions in Europe, open now

Architecture competitions and design contests across Europe, in one list: every open and restricted competition published in TED (the EU's Tenders Electronic Daily), BOAMP (France), BASE (Portugal), TenderNed (Netherlands), simap.ch (Switzerland) and Find a Tender (United Kingdom), read four times a day. Each card shows the deadline, the country, the building type and the procedure, and members open the original brief and documents. Competitions are one part of the full architecture tenders feed; the country pages list them country by country.

186 competitions open today24 countries
France · 54Germany · 44Spain · 27Switzerland · 10Italy · 7Lithuania · 7Portugal · 6Slovenia · 3Finland · 3Poland · 3the Netherlands · 3Cyprus · 2Czechia · 2Denmark · 2Estonia · 2Austria · 2Ireland · 2Liechtenstein · 1Greece · 1Slovakia · 1Bulgaria · 1Belgium · 1Sweden · 1Norway · 1

Open architecture competitions

See them all in the feed

How architecture competitions work in Europe

A design competition is a public procurement procedure in which a contracting authority (a city, a university, a hospital, a housing company) chooses a design and a team through a jury rather than on price. Above the EU thresholds the notice is published in TED as a design contest; below them it appears on the national portal. The winner is normally awarded the commission for the next phases, which is why competitions are the usual way for a practice to win its first public building, at home or abroad.

  • Open competitions

    Anyone may enter; entries are anonymous and judged on the design. Often one or two stages. Low barrier, strong competition: the right place to start in a new country.

  • Restricted competitions

    Teams apply with references first; a shortlist of three to eight is paid an honorarium to design. The notice says how many will be shortlisted and what the honorarium is.

  • Ideas competitions

    No commission follows, only prizes. Good for visibility and for testing a market, less good for the order book. TenderDesk's brief says which kind a notice is.

  • Competitive dialogue and negotiated procedures

    Not competitions strictly, but also decided largely on design quality. They appear in the feed as tenders, scored high when real design work is involved.

Before you enter

Read the eligibility clauses first: professional registration in the country, minimum references, the language of the submission, and whether a local partner is required for the execution phases. Then decide the team: a competition for a hospital or a school usually asks for structural, MEP and cost consultants from the first stage. TenderDesk lets you find a partner for the competition among the verified firms on the platform, and a paid plan gives the team one workspace for the entry: roles, documents, checklist and deadlines (see bid management for architecture firms).

The guides on the blog cover the rest: go/no-go, how to write the technical offer, how to price fees and how to fill in the ESPD.

Hear about new competitions first

Set an architecture tender alert for competitions only, in the countries and building types you want. New ones reach your notifications as they open, and your inbox every morning.

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Questions

What is the difference between an architecture competition and a tender?
A tender asks for a price and a team for a defined service; a design competition (concours, concorso, Wettbewerb, concurso) asks for a design, judged anonymously by a jury, and the winner is usually awarded the commission. In the EU both are public procurement procedures, so both are published in TED above the thresholds and on the national portals below them. TenderDesk marks the competitions in its feed and lists them on this page.
Where are architecture competitions in Europe published?
Above the EU thresholds, in TED (Tenders Electronic Daily) as a 'design contest notice'. Below them, on each country's portal: BOAMP in France, BASE in Portugal, TenderNed in the Netherlands, simap.ch in Switzerland, Find a Tender in the United Kingdom, and the regional portals in Germany, Italy and Spain. Professional bodies (Ordem dos Arquitectos, Ordine degli Architetti, Bundesarchitektenkammer) relay some of them. TenderDesk reads these sources four times a day.
Can a foreign architecture firm enter a competition in another EU country?
Yes. EU public competitions are open to architects from every member state on equal terms, and most are open to Swiss and British firms as well. Check the brief for professional registration, the language of the submission and whether a local partner is required for the later phases.
Open or restricted: which competitions should a small practice enter?
Open competitions take anyone's entry and are decided on the design alone, so they suit young and foreign practices. Restricted competitions shortlist a few teams on references first, then pay each one an honorarium for the design phase. The notice says which it is; TenderDesk shows it on the card and in the brief.
How do I hear about new architecture competitions as they open?
Start a 7-day free trial of TenderDesk and set an alert for competitions in the countries and building types you want. New ones reach your notifications when they are published and your inbox every morning.

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