Are you eager to put your architectural design skills to the test?  Here are some exciting upcoming competitions that will be sure to present you with the type of challenge you’ve been waiting for. AN‘s editors have combed through our online listing of architecture and design competitions to bring you five of the most interesting competitions happening right now. If you’d like your competition to be included in the listing, please submit it here.

Activate Union Station. While Chicago’s Union Station is an iconic building and an important transport center, it has much more potential. The Metropolitan Planning Council’s Fifth Annual Placemaking Contest is awarding cash prizes of $5,000 to the top temporary ideas that transform three specific sites within the space into a gathering place for West Loop residents and an attraction for tourists. Two winners will have the opportunity to implement their designs for 10 days this summer, between August 24 and September 3, 2013.

Submission Deadline: July 24, 2013.

Better World Challenge / Redesigning the Billy Taylor House. A Better World by Design and the Billy Taylor Project are asking the Providence community to participate in shaping the future of the Billy Taylor House by designing the transformation of the house’s second floor and yard to create a meet-up, celebratory space. The winning designer will work with the project team to implement the selected proposal. Cash prizes of $1000, $500, and $250 will be awarded to the top three submissions, which will be showcased at the 2013 A Better World by Design Conference in September.

Submission Deadline: August 16, 2013.

The Library of the Future. The two-phase competition, open to all NACRB/IDP participants, involves the planning and design of the library of the future. Future neighborhood libraries will be quite unlike today’s libraries, and the competition seeks to discover how the physical form of the library will change to serve the community. Phase 1 consists of A Program for Designing a Neighborhood Library of the Future and, using the winning program from Phase 1, Phase 2 consists of the Design of a Neighborhood Library of the Future. Cash prizes will be awarded to the top two submissions for each phase. All qualified entrants can receive IDP core hour credits.

Submission Deadline: October 1, 2013.

Crisis as Calling. REVERSE and DESIGNCIRCUIT are calling for members of the arts and design communities to put forward ideas addressing specific crises. The international competition invites participants to reassess and react to the general condition of crisis by addressing the challenge of a certain crisis and considering whether restoring post-crisis conditions to their pre-crisis states is the best solution or if it provides opportunities to create a better standard. Submissions do not need to be site specific, but they should establish a reasonable response within the framework of the defined crisis.

Registration Deadline: September 6, 2013.
Submission Deadline: October 4, 2013.

Spark>Spaces Design. The Spark Awards are a series of competitions formed to promote great design and designers and encourage people to discover their own creativeness. Spark>Spaces is a two-phase competition focused on architecture, interiors, urban design and landscape, incorporating 26 different categories for professional designers who want to submit projects that have already been built, produced, built on spec or as part of a proposal, or are in pre-production, with commercial intent. The Award winning Celebration and launch of the exhibition will be in San Francisco in November.

Registration Deadline: October 10, 2013.
Submission Deadline: October 10, 2013.