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ARCH-E Newsletter December 2025
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Dear
ARCH-E community,
Welcome
to this new issue of the ARCH-E newsletter!
In
this edition, you will find news on:
- ADC Conference by ARCH-E & ACE
- ADC System
Presentation - Estonia
- ARCH-E New
Cooperation Partners
- ACE President
- Winterthur
Declaration
- ARCH-E White Paper
- Video - ARCH-E in a
Nutshell
We
wish you a pleasant reading,
The
ARCH-E project team
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SAVE THE DATE | ADC Conference by ARCH-E & ACE
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The ADC Conference by
ARCH-E & ACE – 23 April 2026 –
The Mix,
Brussels
Improving the framework of Architectural
Design Competitions in Europe
We
are pleased to announce a conference
on architectural design competitions as the
quality-based form of procurement to foster innovation and
Baukultur while finding the most economically advantageous
projects. The conference will bring together experts,
institutions, and stakeholders to discuss future directions for
improving the framework and supporting architects as well as
procurers in Europe’s architectural design competition and
procurement landscape.
The
programme will include a keynote speech by Adam Caruso, panel
discussions with European practitioners and policymakers,
workshops and presentations on relevant topics in the field and
reflections on how architectural design competitions can foster
innovation, Baukultur, economic potentials and transparency in
the built environment.
The
conference will be the day before the General Assembly of ACE,
the Architects’ Council of Europe (Friday, 24 April 2026, The
Mix).
A
detailed agenda and registration information will be shared
shortly.
We kindly ask you to reserve these dates and
look forward to your participation.
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ADC
systems presentation | Estonia | online event | 12
December 2025
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The ARCH-E project
promotes high-quality architectural solutions by advocating for
the increased use and accessibility of Architectural Design
Competitions (ADCs) in Europe. On the way to a more accessible
ADC landscape, research and professional know-how transfer by the
project members map the current status in order to better
understand good practices and locate topics with need for action.
Members
of the project team, who are experts in the theoretical and
practical aspects of ADCs, regularly give insights into national
ADC systems. In our upcoming online presentation Liina Soosaar,
architect and competition coordinator of our new cooperation
partner, the Estonian
Association of Architects will give insights in
their national ADC system and Nikolaus Hellmayr, BKZT, will
present ideas on rethinking the distribution of prize money
within ADCs in order to compensate shortlisted architects more evenly
for the efforts put into ADC entries.
The
speakers will be available for questions and further exchange of
ideas afterwards - we are looking forward to a thriving
discussion.
The
presentations will be streamed online, feel welcome to join
without further registration.
12 December 2025 | 13:00 – 14:30
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ARCH-E New Cooperation Partners
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Four
new cooperation partners join ARCH-E, we warmly welcome:
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The Estonian Association of Architects (EAL)
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The Romanian Order of Architects (OAR)
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Order of Architects Portugal (OA)
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Italian National Council of Architects, Planners, Landscapers and
Conservators (CNAPPC)
Their
involvement further expands our European network and strengthens
our shared effort to foster high-quality architectural design
competitions across borders.
Together, we look forward to
fostering further cross-border collaboration and supporting
architects in shaping a more sustainable and innovative built
environment
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Daniel Fügenschuh elected
President of the Architects’ Council of Europe
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During
the latest General Assembly held in Prague in November 2025, the
Architects' Council of Europe elected its new President: Daniel Fügenschuh!
The Austrian architect plans to prioritise the
revision of EU procurement law, the promotion of affordable
housing and the strengthening of quality-based commissioning,
themes he has advanced through the ARCH-E project and its recent
White Paper of recommendations to the European Commission.
He emphasises that architecture plays a crucial role in
addressing societal challenges, from sustainability to building
culture, and highlights the need to move beyond lowest-price
procurement toward innovative, lifecycle-oriented
solutions.
Daniel will succeed the Swedish architect Carl Bäckstrand
starting from January 2026.
We wish him the best of
luck for his new mandate!
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Winterthur
Declaration | A Transalpine Commitment to a Post-Fossil
Procurement Culture
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The newly signed Winterthur
Declaration sets out a shared transalpine
commitment to fostering a post-fossil procurement
culture in the construction sector.
Recognising public procurement as a powerful lever for
decarbonisation, the declaration offers clear and
practical guidance for clients, highlighting the need to manage
uncertainties when working with existing structures, balance
sufficiency, efficiency and quality, and strengthen
interdisciplinary collaboration.
Adopted at the fifth trinational colloquium of architects and
engineers from Germany, Austria and Switzerland, the document
provides a coherent framework to support climate-aligned,
future-proof planning across the region.
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ARCH-E White Paper | Available in several languages
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The ARCH-E consortium has
published a new White Paper offering clear recommendations to
strengthen quality-based procurement through Architectural Design
Competitions (ADCs) across Europe.
Drawing on comparative research and the expertise of all project
partners, the document outlines shared positions on how to
improve ADC systems while addressing the barriers faced by SMEs,
young practices and female architects.
Although all EU countries follow the Directive 2014/24/EU on
public procurement, ARCH-E’s work reveals that national ADC frameworks
still differ widely; the White Paper therefore
includes both Europe-wide recommendations and country-specific
insights. Importantly, ARCH-E’s data challenges the persistent
notion that ADCs are costly to organise or lead to expensive
designs: in fact, analysis shows that well-run competitions can
reduce construction costs by up to 18.3%.
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Video | ARCH-E in a Nutshell
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As the project approaches
its end, this short animation gives insights into ARCH-E’s
research, its key findings and results, culminating in the ARCH-E
White Paper.
Get to know ARCH-E in a
nutshell!
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