All the unmissable design competitions in 2024

Text by

S. Giacomo Apostolo - Ph. Mattia Pedrazzi

A useful guide to help emerging young designers and students find their way amongst this year’s top prizes, competitions and contests

When it comes to design, it is more crucial than ever to be able to devise a future that will render the present sustainable whilst tackling new challenges. For all the experts within the industry, here’s a run-down of all the latest on the design competitions not to be missed in 2024.

SIT Furniture Design Award

In Switzerland, the SIT Furniture Design Award, under the umbrella of the Farmani Group 3C Awards organisation, has set up a Digital Innovation Centre that addresses a different topic each year in which invention is the protagonist. Across 8 categories and more than 80 sub-categories, the prize shines a light on talented furniture designers and professionals. A twin award to the LIT Lighting Design Award (LIT), the International Design Awards (IDA) and the European Product Design Awards (ePDA), and focused on product aesthetics and enhancement, the SIT Furniture Design Award promotes accessible design for people with disabilities. Submissions may be made by both professionals and students.

Deadline: 14th January 2024
SIT Furniture Design Award
3C Awards

Interior Design Association (IIDA)

Organised by the International Interior Design Association (IIDA) and sponsored by OFS and Carolina, the latest edition of the IIDA Student Design Competition (SDC) 2024 celebrates talents within the field of interior design. The 2024 edition invites students to design various critical areas within a new paediatric clinic in Baltimore, Maryland, that will provide primary health care, with facilities for the treatment of behavioural health issues. The competition is held each year, from January to February, and offers emerging young designers an opportunity to show off their work and have it assessed by world-renowned professionals such as Lilliana Alvarado, IIDA, Alexander Bonner, IIDA and Corey Cappello. Launched in 2013, the contest has become a substantial part of the curricula of university professors throughout the world, who include the project in their courses and encourage students to put themselves forward for independent evaluation. The winners will be announced in Spring 2024.

Deadline: 20th February 2024
Interior Design Association (IIDA)

Muse design Award

Set up in 2015 by International Awards Associates in a bid to promote the “muses” of international design, the MUSE Design Awards competition is open to students and professionals in fields related to architecture, interior design, fashion design, product design and packaging design. The aim is to promote talented individuals in all the categories whose projects improve the world we live in, from the buildings we inhabit to the objects we use, right down to the clothes we wear. There are 10 different categories: Architectural Design, Interior Design, Fashion Design, Transportation Design, Product Design, Packaging Design, Lighting Design and Conceptual Design, Landscape Design and Furniture Design. The winners will be presented with the coveted Design Muse statuette, which varies from year to year.

Deadline 29th February 2024
Muse design Award

Student Trophy 24

The spotlight is on wood for the fifth chapter of the Student Trophy 24 contest, supported by the Building Construction and Design Research Department of the Institute of Architecture and Design at the Vienna University of Technology. Promoted by proHolz Austria in partnership with proHolz Bavaria, the contest encourages students to see the material in question as a fundamental element for the expansion of the urban fabric and come up with 3 design solutions for areas with significant housing density. The competition is open to registered students of architecture and engineering, invited to form teams of at least two people. One of the tasks is to expand a school complex by slotting in a new wooden building to house the secondary school, with a capacity of around 400 students, designing an innovative building of at least four floors above ground, covering an area of approximately 6,000 m2. The new building must be contiguous to the existing one. Thanks to its low weight and great strength, the use of wood is the optimal solution in this context.

Deadline: 1st March 2024
Student Trophy 24

eu mies awards, salonemilano — EU Mies Awards 2024

GRANDS PRIX DU DESIGN

Montreal is the protagonist of the 17th edition of the GRANDS PRIX DU DESIGN, the contest organised by Agence PID that generates recognition of the work of designers and architects whose practice helps to improve quality of life and of the environment. Set up in Montreal in 2007, the competition is now open to companies and professionals from all over the world. The competition is split into seven categories: Architecture, Interior Design, Construction and Real Estate, Landscape and Urban Design, Product, Communication and Branding, Art and Photography. The winners will be presented with a trophy and will be entitled to use the promotional system created by Agence PID, which includes headed paper, online tools, events and PR and B2B opportunities. The winning projects will also be featured in two editions of Interieurs magazine, published on the portal and online channels. Awards in the categories Platinum, Grand Lauréats and the Award of the Year will be presented at two gala events in Quebec City and in Montreal in September and October 2024.

Deadline: 1st April 2024
GRANDS PRIX DU DESIGN

EU Mies Awards 2024

Thinking around the new challenges facing citizens, architects and institutions within the context of the European Green Deal forms the backdrop for the 18th edition of the European Union Mies Van der Rohe Awards held in Barcelona. 362 submissions, 13 of them Italian, from 38 different European countries, 125 regions and 240 different places. The leading institutional partners of the EU Mies Awards are the Council of Architects of Europe (ACE-CAE) and the European Association for Architectural Education (EAAE). The calendar of events includes the announcement of the short-listed works in February 2024 and of the winners in April 2024. The Award is a platform for research into and the development of sustainable architectural practices to curb the negative environmental impact of construction in favour of sustainable growth. An EU Mies Award Open Day will be held in the Mies van der Rohe Pavilion in Barcelona in May.

EU Mies Awards 2024