Archcontest - Architecture and Design Competitions

1st Prize

Authors: Aleksandra Karpenko, Arina Manannikova, Varvara Poroshina, Sofia Poroshina, Ekaterina Shishikina
Country: France
The project is an austere and monumental architectural tower, containing only one minimalistic room of 9 m². This confined space symbolizes the isolation and anxiety hidden within absolute power and is surrounded entirely by a structure made of soap. The project embodies a dual metaphor: on one side, it conveys the loneliness and oppressive nature of authoritarian rule; on the other, it exposes the intrinsic fragility of such power, visually represented as a soap bubble—seemingly solid and invulnerable, yet inevitably destined to burst.

2st Prize

Authors: Bojana Sicovic, Sara Karac, Darija Rašeta
Country: Serbia
The project explores the dictator's psychological profile through a symbolic spinning-top structure, two-thirds submerged in water, representing duality, illusion, and complexity. Inspired by Freud's theory of personality, the architecture is divided into three symbolic layers: the visible Super-ego for public life, the intermediate Ego for intimacy, and the hidden, submerged Id for the subconscious. Also named the "Nine Circles of Hell", the project metaphorically links power, psychology, and space, symbolically referencing Dante's Inferno.

3st Prize

Authors: Amalia MacCarthy
Country: Canada
The project explores the architecture of power and alienation through the gaze of the dictator. The building, Inferno, set atop a steep mountain, functions as a total surveillance mechanism but gradually reveals its master's inner chaos. Spaces like the Procession Hall, Eye of the Court, Laying Labyrinth, and False God embody the fracture between apparent order and distorted reality. Through mirrors, absurd staircases, and disorienting paths, the project exposes the collapse of discipline, reflecting the dictator’s fragmented psyche and the impossibility of achieving absolute control.