The IAAC Scholarship Competition offers a limited number of scholarships for individuals whose project proposals address global challenges in architecture, design, urbanism, and technology. Future IAAC students are invited to submit project proposals to the Institute’s Scholarship Competition, which seeks to provide solutions to pressing global challenges. Scholarships are available to applicants for eligible on-campus & online programmes

Information about the competition’s proposal (topic, requirements, and format) for each programme is detailed below.

Application Information

Eligibility Criteria

  • Open to applicants for eligible on-campus and online programs (excludes Fab Academy and Fabricademy).
  • Applicants must meet the minimum admission criteria established in the IAAC Guide for Applicants.
  • Applicants must have submitted an IAAC programme application before applying for the scholarship.

Coverage

Partial tuition fee waivers ranging between 40 – 50%

Application Period

On-Campus Programmes:

  • Competition opens: February 3rd, 2025
  • Submission deadline: February 28th, 2025

Application Instructions

  1. Before applying to the IAAC Scholarship Competition, candidates must complete the regular application process to an eligible IAAC programme via the IAAC´s Application Portal including all mandatory application documents.
    Important: A €50 non-refundable application fee must be paid to submit your application.
  2. Submit Scholarship Competition documentation via the submission form found in the section ¨Project Briefs¨. Each programme has a separate submission form

Application Documentation:

    • Applicants must submit a document containing a proposal, design strategy, solution, or system based on a project brief assigned by the academic committee of each eligible program. The document should include the strategy/rationale behind the proposal. An additional page can be used to include pictures/illustrations (optional).
      Format: One (1) PDF file in A4 format, maximum of three (3) pages, in vertical orientation. An additional page may be included for pictures/illustrations (optional).
    • 30- 45-second video introducing/pitching the proposal, design strategy, or project brief. Applicants should include their names and the programme they are applying for.

Project Briefs

Scholarship Prompt:

“Architecture for Climate Adaptation” – Design an architectural proposal that responds to the issues associated with climate change such as CO2 emissions, sea level rise, heat island effect, climate migration, or loss of biodiversity among others. Applicants are free to choose the scale of their proposal, ranging from urban metabolism/design to building tectonics to performative material systems. The use of computational design tools, the implementation of digital technologies, and advanced manufacturing strategies are highly encouraged.

Scholarship Prompt:

As AI continues to evolve, it holds the potential to radically reshape how we design and build environments that are not only functional but also sustainable, equitable, and resilient. In the face of environmental crises, resource depletion, and social disparities, we ask you to explore how AI can be integrated into the built environment to create sustaining ecosystems that promote long-term regeneration and positive impact.

In this project, envision AI as an essential, transformative component in rethinking the spaces we live and work in. Go beyond traditional design concepts and imagine how AI can support interconnected systems that are conducive to environmental sustainability and societal advancement. The focal point of your proposal should be oriented towards one or more of the following global challenges:

  • Climate Change: How can AI optimize energy use, reduce carbon footprints, and facilitate climate adaptation strategies in urban areas?
  • Urbanization and Disasters: How can AI be used to address the challenges of rapid urbanization, particularly in cities where inadequate planning exacerbates the impact of natural disasters? What kind of AI-driven tools can be developed to assist in rethinking cities to be more adaptive?
  • Social Equity: How can AI contribute to more equitable access to resources, opportunities, and services, especially in underserved communities?

The proposed project should be grounded in a long-term vision of resilience, sustainability, and well-being.It is encouraged that radical thinking be employed in terms of the potential of AI to foster collective growth, not just in terms of technological advancement but also in ways that enhance the lives of communities and ecosystems alike.

Scholarship Prompt:

Advanced Ecological Wood Construction” – Create a design proposal at any scale (from urban/landscape to architecture/building to furniture/object), related in some way to ecological principles and advanced techniques, using wood as the primary material. Please include the strategy/rationale behind the proposal. Applicants are free to choose the proposed location and use.

Scholarship Prompt:

Planning the data-informed city” – In the face of planetary urbanisation, the climate crisis, and the rapid advancement of technology, urban planners and designers have the opportunity to embrace data analytics embedded into urban planning and design to develop more informed strategies. In this context, identify and analyse a social and/or ecological vulnerability of a real city and develop an urban design or technology plan to help empower the local community or environment to mitigate or regenerate itself in the face of this vulnerability.

Scholarship Prompt:

Cultivating Regenerative Futures: Radical Acts of Everyday Design
In a world focused on extraction and depletion, how can design transform the everyday into a catalyst for radical change? We encourage you to reimagine design as not just about objects but as the cultivation of systems, processes, and relationships that regenerate life. Your project should serve as a model for an alternative present you’d like to experience, critically examining emerging global issues such as climate emergencies, armed conflicts, artificial intelligence, engineered lifeforms, systemic inequities, structural violence, weakened democracies, or biosphere degradation. The aim is to create proposals that restore rather than exhaust our resources. Here, design is not passive; it is a radical act of collective becoming.

Scholarship Prompt:

Design, Architecture and Robots: Call for Innovation” – Propose a computational or digitally fabricated solution that explores how advanced robotic manufacturing systems can challenge traditional architectural processes and drive innovation in the design and construction industry. Submissions should include an A4 poster that combines text and renders/images and can focus on any location and scale, demonstrating the transformative potential of robotics in architecture and construction.

Scholarship Prompt:

3D Printed Architecture Vision” – The Postgraduate in 3D Printing Architecture is an applied research program focused on integrating cutting-edge technology into today’s construction practices. Rather than envisioning architecture for the distant future, our goal is to explore how advanced 3D printing can reshape the present. We challenge you to share your unique vision for 3D-printed architecture. Showcase your creativity and technical insights by submitting an A4 poster that includes text and renders/images, clearly showcasing your vision for 3D-printed architecture.

Scholarship Prompt:

Generative Architectures: Dreamscapes of Design” – Create an innovative proposal outlining how the emerging capabilities of generative AI, now capable of hallucinate images of buildings, could be used to generate complex spatial data, beyond the inspiration for design and into the generation of 3D buildings with high level of complexity and detail. Proposals will be assessed based on their understanding of current trends, creativity, and technical feasibility.

Selection Criteria & Evaluation Process

Tuition waivers will be awarded by the IAAC Academic Committee based on the quality of the proposal in addition to an assessment of the applicant’s academic and professional merit evaluated by the information and documentation provided in their application.

Evaluation Process:

  1. IAAC´s  Academic Committee will evaluate the proposal of the candidate, as well as other supporting documents.
  2. Candidates with the highest evaluations will proceed to the second stage, consisting of an interview via videoconference with the academic committee.

Successful applicants will be notified of their selection for a scholarship and the amount of the award in their acceptance letter.