INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION FOR YOUNG EMERGING PROFESSIONALS

EUROPAN

Cover pic (c) Maria Amador, Julio Sanchez & Mario Montero, honorary mention E17 Vaasa

THEME

The Europan competition always includes a theme, which brings the most current topics in architecture, urban planning, and landscape design to the attention of municipalities, developers, investors, and young designers. This helps disseminate important knowledge and expertise all the way to implementation. The theme is introduced at the beginning of each competition cycle with an international forum featuring various lectures, panel discussions, excursions, and presentations of the best works from the previous cycle.

E18: RE-SOURCING

The theme of Europan 18 cycle, Re-Sourcing, continues the exploration of themes studied in previous cycles. The importance of a sustainable environment and consideration of the Earth’s carrying capacity has grown year by year. The focus now is on making better use of and taking better care of existing resources. The Europan Scientific Committee will further refine the theme in the spring of 2024.

COMPETITION SITES

There are nearly 50 sites around Europe to choose from. They can vary in type and scale. In the past: they are ranging from large-scale urban planning projects to small-scale environmental improvement initiatives and everything in between. The assignments may involve concrete design proposals, such as a residential block (for example, the landing structures for Helsinki’s eastern archipelago in E17) or purely conceptual explorations to generate ideas and alternatives for future development. The competition task may also be a combination of both—serving as a pilot project with concrete implementation while generating ideas and insights applicable to similar projects elsewhere.

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WINNERS E18

News

November 17, 2025

See the AWARDED ENTRIES! AWARDS: E18 LAHTI WINNER: ACTIVE TRAJECTORIES – a vision for lahti sport center and beyond…

November 14, 2025

Welcome to the Prize Giving Ceremony of the site of Lahti & Turku on Mon the 17th Oct at 17.00!…

November 12, 2025

The E18 Finnish Jury has completed its work, and the results for the sites of Lahti and Turku, along with…

Calendar 2024-26

Call for E19 sites

9/2025 - 5/2026

International Inter-Sessions Forum with E18 Winners & E19 New Sites

11/2026

Implementations

Each country’s Europan organisation supports the formation of actual commissions between clients and designers after the competition has concluded. The competition results and the implementations based on them are reviewed at subsequent international forums.

In Finland, follow-up commissions have often involved the preparation of reference plans for various vision projects, zoning changes, and, for example, recreational area planning. Through the competition, young Finnish architecture firms have also been awarded housing projects, including in Jyväskylä, Kuopio, and Vaasa. Projects completed elsewhere in Europe can be found on Europan Europe’s website, as well as interesting residential building implementations on Europan Austria’s website.

Currently, negotiations are ongoing for the implementation of the E17 Helsinki site, involving the competition winner and the runner-up team. Discussions are also in progress with the Vaasa winners regarding preparing an alternative reference plan for detailed plan revision process.

More information about Europan’s past winners and completed projects in Finland can be found on Europan Europe’s website

What is Europan?

Europan is a thematic design and ideas competition aimed at leading to implementations.

It serves as a platform for European cities and other stakeholders to develop innovative strategies and design solutions for sites undergoing transformation.
It provides young professionals in architecture, urban planning, and landscape architecture with a space to showcase their ideas.
It acts as a network and a tool for sharing knowledge.
Competitors are encouraged to form multidisciplinary teams to address increasingly complex design challenges with innovative solutions.

Competitors are encouraged to form multidisciplinary teams to address increasingly complex design challenges with innovative solutions.

The competition sites can vary in type and scale., and they range from large-scale urban planning projects to small-scale environmental improvement initiatives and everything in between. The assignments may involve concrete design proposals, such as a residential block (for example, the landing structures for Helsinki’s eastern archipelago in E17) or purely conceptual explorations to generate ideas and alternatives for future development. The competition task may also be a combination of both—serving as a pilot project with concrete implementation while generating ideas and insights applicable to similar projects elsewhere.

Each national Europan organization supports the realisation of projects by facilitating contracts between clients and designers after the competition. The results and subsequent implementations are discussed in future international forums.

More info on Europan organisation: open the link below.

Europan operates across Europe and was founded in France in 1988. Its umbrella organization, Europan Europe, coordinates national Europan bodies, organizes international meetings and events, develops themes for each cycle, oversees project implementations, and publishes competition results. Europan Europe is supported by scientific and technical committees representing various countries. Europan Europe’s official website provides information about past winners, implementations, themes, workshops, discussions, and related research (Think Tank).

National organisations, such as Europan Suomi Finland (ESF), are responsible for organising competitions in their respective countries, facilitating further development contracts between clients and designers, and contributing to the overall development of Europan Europe.

The Finnish Association of Architects (SAFA) established Europan Suomi Finland (ESF) in 1995 as part of its competition activities and strategic goals.
ESF’s mission is to support the professional development of young architects by organising Europan competitions in Finland in accordance with Europan’s international cooperation agreement.
ESF also acts as a link between housing and urban planning stakeholders to enhance the quality of the built environment.

Board of ESF / E18 session

Pia Sjöroos, chair of the board, architect SAFA, head of the unit at the city planning of the City of Helsinki

Markku Hedman, professor, architect SAFA, director general at Building Information Group

Jenni Lautso, architect SAFA, division director at Sweco Finland

Jenni Poutanen, architect SAFA, head of degree programmes (Arch), university lecturer at Tampere University

Ilkka Törmä, architect SAFA, researcher and teacher, architect at Tommila Architects

General Secretary:

Kirsti Rantanen, architect SAFA, competition specialist of SAFA (p. +358 40 163 6025; info (at) europan.fi