Ideas competition for the Design of the New Central Business District of Thessaloniki

The UIA endorsed ArXellence 2, an open, one-stage, international ideas competition for the Design of the New Central Business District of Thessaloniki, Greece. The competition was organised by ALUMIL S.A., an international company dealing in aluminium and advanced architectural aluminium systems based in Greece. Its goal was to contribute to the regeneration of a declining urban area of Thessaloniki by presenting innovative designs for the new central business district.

This competition was open to all architects entitled to practise in their country of residence.

All projects will be posted online. Alumil S.A. will publish a catalogue of the competition results.

View the competition launch press release.

View the competition results press release.

Visit the competition website.

Theme and objectives

The competition’s goal is to contribute to the regeneration of a declining urban area of Thessaloniki by presenting innovative designs for the new central business district.

Key criteria

The evaluation of entries will be based on the extent of their response to the competition requirements and more specifically, to the following criteria, which are not listed in order of importance:

  • General impression and clarity of the overall concept
  • Compliance with the competition goals
  • Innovation, originality, creativity of the proposal
  • Potential of creating identity
  • Relation to and integration with the surrounding city
  • Quality of urban spaces, composition of volumes and architectural design
  • Contribution to sustainable development, environmental and social impact
  • Adequacy of proposed functions and their localization
  • Usability and attraction for inhabitants and users
  • Economic aspects

Eligibility

Open to all architects entitled to practise in their country of residence.

Jury Members

  • Kasper Guldager Jensen (Denmark)
  • Nikolaos Salpingidis  (Greece)
  • Gabriela Carrillo (Mexico)
  • Lauren Haiden (South Africa)
  • Dimitrios P. Tsomocos (UK/Greece)

Alternate jurors

  • Sara Martin Camara (France)
  • Oren Sussman (Israel)

Key dates

2020-03-09 Launch
2020-05-25 Registration deadline
2020-10-15 Submission deadline
2020-11-25 Results
2020-12-11 Award ceremony

Prizes

  • 1st prize: 20,000 euros
  • 2nd prize: 15,000 euros
  • 3rd prize: 10,000 euros
  • 4th prize: 7,000 euros
  • 5th prize: 5,000 euros
  • 6th prize: 3,000 euros

4 honourable mentions

Reference documents

Arxellence2 competition brief

Gallery

Arxellence2

Thessaloniki