Lisbon Triennale Millennium bcp Début Award

1.About

For the fourth time, the Lisbon Architecture Triennale presents the Début Award to an architect or a practice in order to celebrate their achievements and stimulate their career. Applications, both individual and collective, will be evaluated by an international jury. A group of influential nominators from Portugal and other parts of the world will also suggest other studios that will be invited to apply, besides the submissions made by the applicants’ own initiative.

With this new edition of the Début Award we hope to support new voices and forms of architectural practice. We also hope the award will contribute to these authors’ intellectual and professional growth at a critical and transformative stage in their careers.

2.Eligibility

2.1. The competition is open to architects under the age of 35 (thirty five), or any architecture office with an average age up to 35 (thirty five) by February 28, 2022. Only one submission per applicant will be admitted.

2.2. For collective applications, the group of architects must be working together on a regular basis and each of the submitted projects must be authored by at least 2/3 (two thirds) of the applying group . In case of an individual application, the projects that are presented should be uniquely and exclusively authored by the applicant.

2.3. The prize will be given to one person, in case of individual application, or a studio, in case of a collective application. The prize will not be given to a group of individual names.

3. Prize

A prize of €10,000 (ten thousand Euro) will be awarded to the winning architect or studio. A shortlist of 10 (ten) architects/studios will also be honourably mentioned.

4. Conference

4.1. The Lisbon Architecture Triennale will organise and promote a conference with the winner of the Début Award, which will take place in an auditorium, in the Portuguese capital city, during the opening days (September 29 to October 1, 2022). The Lisbon Architecture Triennale will cover travel and accommodation expenses for at least 1 (one) person. The exact date and venue will be confirmed by the organisation at a later date.

4.2. The applicant also agrees to give a conference about their work without any compensation being due.

5. Jury

• N'Goné Fall (Senegal) 
• Yael Reisner (Israel) 
• Zhang Ke (China)
• Cristina Veríssimo (Portugal) 
• Diogo Burnay (Portugal)

6.Dates

7. Right of use and publication of entries

By submitting an application, the applicant agrees that their work will be used in promotional materials related to the Lisbon Triennale, unless otherwise stated, without prejudice to their respective copyright and intellectual property. The Lisbon Triennale will credit the authors of any materials (text or image) used.

8. Copyrights and Property Rights

All work submitted must be the applicant's original work. It is the applicant's sole responsibility to ensure that the work submitted does not infringe upon the intellectual property rights of any third party, including, but not limited to, copyright, trademark and design rights.

9. Admission fee

There are no admission charges.

10. Language

All texts must be written in English.

11.Submission of Entries

11. Submission of Entries

11.1 Form

Applications must only be submitted digitally through this form.

Applications sent via email, regular post or any other way will not be accepted. 

11.2 Identification data
11.2.1 Applicant

• Name of applicant (individual or studio)
• Country
• Age of applicant/Average age of studio members
• Short bio
• Website (optional)

11.2.2 Contact Person

• Name of Contact Person
• Address
• E-mail
• Phone number

11.3 Required Documents
11.3.1 Proof of Age

The applicant must provide proof of age with a scanned image of passport or national identification card. In case of a studio, all members must provide the referred proof of age. This information should be sent on one single file, in PDF format (max 1 Mb).

11.3.2 Statement
The applicant's statement must be written in the Statement field of the online form, and inserted again in the second page of the “Presentation” (see 11.3.4). It is a letter of intent, a short statement on the reasons for applying.

The international competition is open to architects under the age of 35 (thirty five), or any architecture office with an average age up to 35 (thirty five).

11.3.3 Letters of References
The applicant must submit 2 (two) reference letters, each with the following information regarding the person that is making the reference

• Name
• Relationship with applicant
• Phone Number
• E-mail

Both reference letters should be written in English. If that is not possible, please add an English translation to the original letter. The letters must be signed and submitted separately in PDF format (max. 500 KB each) in sections "Reference 1" and "Reference 2" of the online form. The reference letters must not be included in the PDF "Presentation” (see 11.3.4).

11.3.4 Presentation
Applicants must submit a presentation in PDF format, landscape oriented, no larger than 6MB in one single file, composed of: 

Cover page: with the information referred in "Contact Person" (point 11.2.2), and in case of a studio, the same information for all members of the team.

Second page: this page must present the text submitted in the applicant's Statement (as stated on point 11.3.2).

Following pages: one to three (maximum) key project(s) that illustrate their approach and practice, with texts, photographs, drawings, diagrams, renderings, collages, or other visualisations, and credits where applicable. The submitted projects must have been developed as professional practice, and not during university years. In other words, projects developed as an architect and not as a student of architecture. The choice of the projects to submit must be done by the applicant. There are no guidelines whatsoever given by the Triennale concerning that subject. 

There is no mandatory format. The jury will have access to the applications on their digital version, and will view them on a screen. We therefore suggest that the application should be presented in ISO A4, which can match the size of a common laptop screen more closely.

There is no page limit.

12. Restrictions

12.1. Applicants cannot enter this competition if the following restrictions apply:  

Applicants who are related to or in any way have or have had a privileged relationship (personal or professional) with any of the jury members;

Employees of the Lisbon Triennale association, its executive team, governing bodies, partners and current sponsors.

12.2. Failure to provide any of the documents listed in "Required Documents" (point 11.3), is grounds for exclusion from this competition.

13. Confidentiality

The Lisbon Architecture Triennale will treat all information, references and identification documents submitted by the applicants as confidential and will not disclose them to third parties without prior consent of the applicants.

14. Clarifications

14.1. This set of projects is part of the Lisbon Architecture Triennale’s 6th edition. All documentation is available in a bilingual format [PT/EN] through the website of the Lisbon Triennale, in the Open Calls tab, the official place for consultation of the process: trienaldelisboa.com/open-calls

14.2. Every clarification and doubt about the interpretation of the present guidelines, as well as other questions, must be submitted to the organisation by sending an e-mail message to debut@trienaldelisboa.com, within the period defined in the calendar of this call.

14.3. The Lisbon Triennale will publish the list of FAQ's here.

15. Final Provision

The Lisbon Architecture Triennale reserves the right to amend these guidelines, hereby committing to communicating those alterations through the same means used in the promotion of the original guidelines.