Space is the Place: Invent New Uses for Old Places
For its third year, the Perspektive Fund’s architecture ideas competition invites architects, designers and artists (individually or collectively) from the French and German scenes to share their ideas around the theme “Space is the Place: Invent New Uses for Old Places”.
Application deadline: June 30, 2025.
In many cities today you can come across a department store that has been converted into a public library, a factory into a shopping centre, a church into an exhibition space for contemporary art, a power station into a discotheque, a shopping mall into flats, an airport into a refugee camp or a water tower into a residential building...
In France, as in Germany, many buildings are suddenly out of use. Systemic crises and instabilities, which are increasingly difficult to anticipate and control, are turning new construction projects into uncertain adventures. At the same time, existing buildings that are functionally unsuitable or financially unprofitable are being abandoned, contributing to the freezing of suburbs and town centers. Stripped of their substance, inaccessible to the public, they mark urban spaces with their ghostly presence.
Faced with this growing problem, it is becoming imperative to consider strategies for transforming and revitalising these neglected buildings. The aim of this competition is to convert vacant or disused buildings by giving them new functions that are both useful and original. Demolishing to build is no longer the norm. This virtuous attitude allows us to preserve the existing buildings—which contribute to the genius of the place and the constitution of a collective unconscious—while limiting the environmental impact of these interventions as much as possible.
The Space is the Place ideas competition invites artists, architects and designers - students or graduates, individuals or groups—to choose an unused building or one whose use is currently being called into question, and give it a new lease of life. It could be located in France or Germany, be of historical interest or of relative importance. Anything is possible, as long as you are inventive enough to demonstrate that the future of architecture no longer lies in building something new, but in transforming, adapting and changing what already exists.
The jury expects to examine your proposals in the form of three to six images (collages, drawings, etc.) accompanied by a 500-word text (in English). Your proposal must be anonymized. The jury will be particularly interested in two aspects: firstly, the choice of the original building and what it represents in terms of the history or image of the city in which it is located; secondly, the originality of the transformation and new use. The aim is not to propose realistic solutions, but to demonstrate, in the manner of a manifesto, that there are alternatives to the construction of a new building. Provided they are inventive and original.
The three best ideas will be awarded the following prizes: 5,000 EUR for first place, 3,000 EUR for second place and 2,000 EUR for third place. In addition, the ten best ideas will be exhibited as part of the awards evening at the Kunstraum Techne Sphere Leipzig in November 2025.
