OISTAT (International Organization of Scenographers, Theatre Architects and Technicians) announces the 7th OISTAT ARCHITECTURE COMPETITION. This is an opportunity for performing arts professionals to collaborate with architects to design a new performance building.

The OISTAT Architecture Competition is an international ideas competition which is organised by the Architecture Commission of OISTAT to coincide with the Prague Quadrennial (PQ), the major international exhibition of scenography and theatre architecture, which takes place in the Czech Republic every four years. The last competition in 2003 attracted 258 entries from 38 different countries.

The object of the competition is to encourage new ideas for the design of theatres and is open to all. The entrants are mainly students and young architects, eager for the international exposure which the competition offers. Winners are awarded cash prizes in Prague and a selection of the best entries are exhibited at PQ and published in a catalogue. The next PQ is due to take place in June 2007.

Competition Theme
The aim of this competition is to pose a design problem for a new performance building with approximately 500 seats and to encourage a detailed exploration of this building type and the way in which it responds to a particular set of needs, which will be defined by the competitor. This may be a conventional performance or something more experimental. In this way it is hoped to encourage innovative thinking based on a deeper understanding of the relationship between the performance itself and the architecture, which facilitates it.

Collaborations between architects and other theatre practitioners such as directors, designers, technicians, actors, dancers, musicians, or students in those fields, will be welcomed, although it is not an essential requirement. As well as being a place for performances, a theatre is also a public building and its relationship to its setting and the design of its public circulation spaces will be of equal importance to the performance space itself.

Deadline for submission: February 16th, 2007

Key Dates for the Competition
1 Oct 2006 Final date for questions
16 Feb 2007 Closing date for despatch of entries
16 Mar 2007 Closing date for arrival of entries
30 Mar-13 Apr 2007 Jury meeting and report
16 Apr 2007 Notification of the prize-winners
15 Jun 2007 Official announcement and prize-giving at the PQ
10-27 Jun 2007 Exhibition of prize- winning and selected entries at PQ

Further information: to download brief