Design Circle Art Gallery Competition
Registration:
20.10.2026
Submission:
16.11.2026
Prize pool:
£1,000
Competition Brief & Overview
Design Circle invites proposals for a temporary contemporary art pavilion on the historic, unbuilt gallery foundations in Bute Park, Cardiff, beside the Animal Wall. The pavilion should create an accessible cultural destination and may accommodate a touring Welsh architecture exhibition following the Venice Architecture Biennale. The existing foundations should inform the proposal without compromising Bute Park's Grade I registered landscape. Entrants must retain trees, minimize disturbance within root-protection zones, consider non-invasive foundations and provide step-free access from main park paths. Local, sustainable and low-carbon materials are encouraged. The temporary structure should be capable of disassembly, relocation or reuse. The programme should consider exhibition space, reception and orientation, storage and servicing, accessible facilities, and flexible space for events. Submissions require one A1 presentation board with site plan, floor plan, elevation, section and key architectural detail, plus a written statement of maximum 500 words. This is an ideas competition; the brief does not announce a construction commission.
Eligibility & Target Participants
Open to architecture and design students, artists, architects, designers and other built-environment professionals, individually or in teams
Submission Guidelines & Full Rules
Participation Type:
free
Total Prize Fund:
First prize: £1,000. Three Honourable Mentions. The brief does not state whether tax applies, define publication or intellectual-property terms, or promise design development, procurement or construction. The exhibition and awards event creates public presentation value.