Archcontest - Architecture and Design Competitions

1st Prize

Authors: Xiaodan Zhou, Tingting Peng
Country: China
Winning this competition feels like a profound dialogue with the raw power of Black Angel Cliff. The challenge—to reimagine a handrail as more than a safety feature, but a bridge between humanity and an extreme landscape—pushed us to embrace the site’s duality: its billion-year geological story and the scars of 1970s mining.
Our design drew from that tension: native stones, floating cables, and zones that invite leaning, sitting, and reflection. To see it recognized affirms that architecture, at its best, doesn’t conquer nature but converses with it. This win honors the cliff’s history and reaffirms that even the humblest element, like a handrail, can become a poetic mediator between safety and wonder.

2st Prize

Authors: Polatip Thongphruksalai
Country: Thailand
"This project began with a simple question: how can architecture exist with nature, rather than against it? We designed a handrail that responds to wind and touch — not to dominate the path, but to quietly converse with the mountain. It appears only where needed, allowing the landscape to remain untouched and respected. This opportunity allowed us to explore new ways of designing not just within nature, but alongside it — with humility and care. Thank you for the opportunity to share our perspective through this project."

3st Prize

Authors: Marlene Samson
Country: Belgium
"I drew from what was left, to speak of what we pass on when there's almost nothing left to give. To become a child again, facing that raw feeling of being too small.
The villain is a sad child. The monster is not born a monster.
The Black Angel is that shadow within us. That child gone dark, desperately trying to exist.
Always question. Change course. Begin again.
The scar on the cliff won't disappear, but it stands to tell the story we tried to silence. To heal the mother, the grandmother, the great-grandmother...
For my daughter. For my son too. I believe in turning points. For them. For tomorrow."