AR Public celebrates excellence in the design of public space, from parks to pools to all the civic structures of the city. Possible eligible projects include: town squares, playgrounds, pavements, street furniture, wayfinding, courtyards, public gardens, riversides and waterfronts, harbours, piers, lidos, markets, underpasses, public staircases, bridges, outdoor amphitheatres, public roof terraces, canopies or pavilions, and many more! These kinds of spaces could be part of bigger or broader projects, for example as part of a public building such as museum or urban development such as a housing project – please note that judges will be concentrating on the public spaces of the project, so your submission should focus on these rather than the overall project.

All projects must have been completed after 1 January 2016, and should be freely accessible to the public in order to be eligible. There are no restrictions of budget or location

Questions or Queries?

To discuss the awards, arrange a meeting our team at a time that's convenient to you. Click here to view Will Perkin's availability.

Why enter

  • All entries will be reviewed by an expert international judging panel which will choose a shortlist of 15 projects
  • The top six commended projects will be visited by an independent critic before the winner is selected by the judges
  • All shortlisted projects will be featured in the July/August 2022 issue of The Architectural Review, with in-depth building studies for the top six
  • All shortlisted projects will be promoted on the AR website, newsletters and social media, which have a following of over a million readers worldwide
  • All entrants will have their project listed on the AR Public awards website, each with an image and URL 
  • Photographs of the winning project will be considered by the editorial team for the front cover of The Architectural Review 
  • The winner will present their project at AR Public Live in July 2022 and participate in a conversation with the editor and judges


How to enter

  • Read the entry criteria
  • Register on the entry page
  • You will receive an email, click on the link to validate your account, or add the validation code. You will need to do this before you can complete your entry 
  • Submit your entry via the online entry form. Your entry should consist of:
    • two A2 boards, uploaded as two separate PDF files containing compressed images, and at least one plan and one section of the project – files should not exceed 12Mb and boards need to be anonymous, otherwise they may be disqualified
    • a 200-word summary of your project, written in English 
    • a JPEG image of your project (480x480px) that will be added to the AR Public gallery page

You can view entry board examples of a recent AR award winner, Green Square Library in Sydney Stewart Hollenstein: board 1 and board 2 

  • To submit your entry, agree to the terms and conditions and click complete at the bottom of the page. You can start and save your entry to come back to at any point before the deadline. If you forget your password, please use the reset password link on the login page


Deadlines and prices


Final entry deadline: 8 April 2022 – £375 + VAT


Use of images for promotional material

The Architectural Review reserves the right to make use of images of winning projects (both in print and digital media) for promotional material and editorial use in connection with the award. For instance, this might include publicising an exhibition (of winning entries), a lecture series (featuring the winning architects), or promoting the award itself. Use of material in this capacity either in whole or part will not attract payment of copyright. Where we are made aware of their names, photographers will be credited.