The standout competition of the summer hails from Sydney, where the NSW Government has launched an international design competition for a major new waterfront suburb.

The two-stage Bays West competition is latest instalment in Sydney’s ongoing and impressive transformation of its former docklands. Regenerating two key waterfront sites at Glebe Island and the White Bay Power Station Precinct, the project will deliver up to 8,500 homes along with new public realm and waterfront access. The application deadline is 18 August.

Sticking on the waterfront theme, a high-profile competition is being held to transform the linear Tom McCall Waterfront Park (pictured) across the pond in central Portland, Oregon.

Created in the 1970s following the removal of the city’s Harbor Drive highway, the project will transform the popular but outdated linear park into a new ‘flexible and welcoming’ green space with improved connections to the Willamette River.

Applications to the contest, managed by Malcolm Reading Consultants, are due by 30 July.

Several latitudes below, Ecuador’s Quito Tenis y Golf Club is holding a competition open to international architects and multidisciplinary teams to design its new 27,000 m² headquarters in Pifo. Applications are due by 28 July.

Over in the Mediterranean, the Deputy Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Cyprus has announced a new contest for a new €17 million state archives in Lefkosia.

The new 10,000m² complex will include around 5,000m² of underground spaces along with outdoor areas, landscape and parking facilities. The overall winner will receive a €72,500. The deadline for applications is 20 November.

Looking ahead, an international architecture competition for Malmö’s new art museum is due to launch in the coming months. Prequalification will commence at the end of the summer with applications encouraged from teams with expertise in architecture, landscape architecture and structural engineering.

Merlin Fulcher
Merlin.fulcher@emap.com