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Beyond the Mall: Rethinking Retail Landscapes as Urban Public Space
Designaddvance 2026 invites participants to reimagine retail architecture as a civic catalyst - a place where commerce coexists with play, culture, movement, and everyday life. This year, with the theme "Beyond the Mall: Rethinking Retail Landscapes as Urban Public Space", take a bold design step towards the future of malls.
Registrations Open: May 6, 2026
Registrations Close: October 23, 2026
Submission Deadline: October 29, 2026
Design Challenge:
Reimagine the mall as an open, porous civic landscape woven into the city. Transform the inward-facing retail box into an accessible, socially active place where commerce, culture, recreation, and community coexist.
Challenge the conventional mall- rethinking its form, organization, and purpose. Put public life first. Create meaningful, usable spaces. Enable activity day to night, year-round. Blur inside and outside, public and private, while integrating movement, pause, and interaction.
This is not about adding a plaza, it’s about making the mall itself public space.
Design a mall that behaves like a city: open, connected, and alive
Site Strategy (Choose One):
The site may be located in any thriving urban city across the world, but must be situated within a dense, active urban context, supported by clear evidence and a strong justification for its selection.
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Retrofit Approach: Select an existing, real-world shopping mall or commercial complex (not hypothetical) that is currently underperforming, obsolete, or lacks public engagement.
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New Hybrid Proposal: Propose a new development on an underutilized urban site.
Look for strong potential for accessibility/connectivity (streets/transit/pedestrian flows)
NO REGISTRATION FEES FOR THE COMPETITION
Eligibility:
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The competition is open to Undergraduate and Postgraduate students, as well as recent graduates and young professionals from the fields of Architecture, Planning, Civil Engineering, and Design globally.
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Postgraduates and young professionals (who are practicing) are eligible, only if they are under 30 years of age as of the date of submission.
Team Composition:
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A maximum of three members per team is permissible.
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Participants may make teams with students from different academic years of study, colleges or even courses of Undergraduate or Postgraduate disciplines. However, at least one of the team members must be a student of architecture or a practicing architect.
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All team members to be under the age of 30 on the date of submission.
Timeline:
Registrations Open: May 6, 2026
Registrations Close: October 23, 2026
Submission Deadline: October 29, 2026
Awards:
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Cash Prizes for the top three winners of this architecture competition:
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1st: ₹ 75,000/-
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2nd: ₹ 50,000/-
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3rd: ₹ 25,000/-
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Top 10 entries to be published on our website.
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Top 3 winners get free entry to ARKANCE IN BIM for Design Program (120 Hours) worth ₹ 80,000/-
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All participants who have submitted the entries will get a discount voucher of 40% on the BIM for Design Program.
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E - Certificates for all participants who have submitted competition entries
Resources and Suggested Reading:
All Designaddvance 2026 registrants will get access free of cost to online Self-Learning Modules and Webinars by experts in sustainability, Industrialized Construction, BIM, energy simulation, and building innovations, conducted at regular intervals. This will help the teams understand concepts and best
practices for high performance design and construction. For more info, stay tuned at our Social Media Handles: arkancein & ethosempowers
Meet the Jury Members :
Ar. Anirudha A. Dehade is a Vadodara-based architect and Founding Partner at S3D, with over 30 years of experience in architecture and interior design. He holds a Bachelor of Architecture from Maharaja Sayajirao University, Vadodara, and is a member of the Council of Architecture and the Indian Institute of Architects. He also served as Chairman of the Baroda Chapter of the Institute of Indian Interior Designers from 2004 to 2006.
Ar. Anirudha Dehade
Founding Partner
S3D
With a career spanning three decades, Anirudha has contributed to the design profession through his practice and leadership. He has been recognised with the ‘Master Stroke’ Award – Design Unfiltered 2026 and a Certificate of Meritorious Appreciation at the IIID National Awards 2000. As a founding partner of S3D since 2006, he continues to bring experience, creativity, and a strong design perspective to the architectural landscape.
Ar. Qutub Mandviwala is the Founder of Mandviwala Qutub & Associates (MQA), a multidisciplinary architecture, urban design, and interior design practice based in Mumbai. With over 30 years of experience, he has led a team of 95+ professionals delivering innovative, context-driven projects across nearly 30 cities in India. A graduate of the Academy of Architecture – Rachana Sansad, Mumbai, he is known for his thoughtful approach to spatial design, combining contemporary expression with climate responsiveness and sensitivity to context.
Under his leadership, MQA has received several prestigious recognitions, including the Indian Achievers Award, Build Awards, Asia Pacific International Property Award, Architect of the Year Award by CNBC, and WAFX Awards at the World Architecture Festival. Through his continued pursuit of responsive and timeless design, Qutub remains committed to creating meaningful spaces that enhance everyday life and contribute positively to the evolving urban landscape.
Qutub Mandviwala
Founder
Mandviwala Qutub & Associates (MQA)
Ar. Dimple Mittal is the Design Principal and co-founder of mayaPRAXIS design+architecture, Bengaluru, established in 2001 with Vijay Narnapatti. With over 25 years of experience, she brings a strong focus on sustainability, architectural processes, and material exploration to her work. She holds a Bachelor of Architecture from the School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi, and a Master’s degree in History and Theory of Architecture from the University of Cincinnati, Ohio.
Ar. Dimple Mittal
Design Principal
mayaPRAXIS
Dimple’s practice explores the making of architecture—from design and detailing to construction—with particular interest in materiality, tectonics, and the phenomenological experience of space. Under her leadership, mayaPRAXIS has received several prestigious recognitions, including Architect of the Year 2011 for Public Building and awards from A+D, IIID, Inside Outside, and JK Cement. The practice has also been recognised among India’s emerging and influential architectural practices.
Ar. Shashank Achanthodi is an Associate Urban Designer at BDP, with experience spanning architecture, urban design, street design, urban mobility, and public realm projects. His work focuses on creating vibrant, inclusive, and people-centric cities, with a particular interest in how people move through and experience urban spaces. He is committed to design that is simple, thoughtful, and responsive to both visible and underlying aspects of the built environment.
Before joining BDP, Shashank held senior design roles on urban projects of varying scales across India, including complete streets, heritage redevelopment, public infrastructure, and universally accessible education campuses. He has also worked with Habitat for Humanity across Gujarat, Rajasthan, and Karnataka, and served as a Fellow with the Government of NCT of Delhi, advising on research, design, and monitoring of street design and public infrastructure projects.
Ar. Shashank Achanthodi
Associate Urban Designer BDP
Competition Partner
Technology and Knowledge Partner
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