BOTANICAL TURN
EXTEND BOTANICAL GARDENS BEYOND THEIR WALLS
BRIEF IN SHORT →
Reimagine the relationship between cities, plants, and botanical gardens. Not as separate entities, but as one interconnected system.
Botanical Turn contest invites architects and designers to see botanical gardens as active urban infrastructures, reservoirs of knowledge and biodiversity with the capacity of extending spatially, culturally, and symbolically into the city. The challenge is to imagine how botanical gardens can help reshape the urban landscape and redefine the relationship between plants and the built environment.
ELIGIBILITY →
Non-a contests are open to all human beings, from every age and cultural background, working in groups or individually.
Teams can be formed by a maximum number of 5 people. Personal information of all the team members can be uploaded during the submission procedure of the final proposal.
This contest has no registration fee.
DOWNLOAD →
PRIZES →
3 WINNERS (1 PER CITY)
x3 1.500 €
Awarded to each selected project: Lisbon, Cagliari, Lima
BEST OVERALL PROJECT
500 €
Awarded to one project across all three cities that demonstrates exceptional clarity, innovation, and impact.
x9 HONORABLE MENTIONS
Selected projects will be published on the Non-a contests website, gaining international visibility within our global community.
Up to x20 FINALISTS
Finalist proposals will be featured on the Non-a contests website, showcasing outstanding ideas and design excellence.
SPECIAL PRIZE
Additional special prizes and recognitions may be introduced during the contest and evaluation process, highlighting exceptional approaches and innovative contributions.
JURY →
Claudia Pasquero (Prof.)
Co-founder of ecoLogicStudio, Professor for Landscape Architecture at Innsbruck University, Rc16 Tutor at The Bartlett UCL
Leading architect and researcher developing climate-active systems that merge biology, computation, and design. Her team is internationally recognized for pioneering work in photosynthetic architecture and synthetic landscapes, built environments that capture CO₂, purify air, and produce biomass while promoting urban wellbeing. Through the research platform PhotoSynthetica™, a collaboration between ecoLogicStudio, the University of Innsbruck (UIBK), and University College London (UCL), she and her team have developed algae-based façades, canopies, and pavilions that function as living infrastructures, contributing directly to carbon sequestration and urban air purification.
Nans Voron
Principal at SCAPE
Nans Voron is a Principal at SCAPE with cross-disciplinary experience in architecture, urban design, landscape architecture, resilience planning, and graphic design. He is committed to strong community and stakeholder engagement, with a focus on social and environmental justice through design. He leads several large-scale urban design and resilience projects and contributes to the firm’s communication and exhibition design. Nans holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Architecture from the École Normale Supérieure in Paris, and a Master’s in Architecture and Urban Design from Columbia University, where he serves as an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Urban Design program.
Martha Fajardo
Founding Principal, Partner of Grupo Verde
Martha C. Fajardo is a Colombian landscape architect and architect. Martha advocates for nature-based thinking, emphasizing our interconnectedness with the natural world and all living beings, particularly relevant in our rapidly changing global landscape. Martha is widely recognized as a trailblazer in landscape activism on a global scale; first woman landscape architect to serve as President of the International Federation of Landscape Architects (IFLA), driving initiatives across Latin America, Africa, and Asia, including expanding membership to India and China.
David Maddox
Founder and Editor of The Nature of Cities
David Maddox is an urban ecologist, writer, and artist. David advocates for transdisciplinary approaches to cities, emphasizing the interconnections between people, nature, and culture, particularly relevant in addressing today’s environmental and urban challenges. David is widely recognized as a leader in urban sustainability discourse on a global scale; founder of The Nature of Cities, an international platform bringing together scientists, designers, activists, and artists, driving initiatives that merge art, science, and community practice to imagine more resilient, livable, and just cities.
Mathilde Marengo (Dr.)
Head of Studio Operations, External Reference, Faculty & Program Director, Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia
Mathilde Marengo is an Australian – French – Italian PhD Architect. Specialised in Research and Academia, her work focuses on enabling spatial justice in cities by leveraging advanced technologies to bridge data gaps and support practitioners to make more informed decisions. She has specifically focussed on the development of computer-aided methodologies for the practical implementation of ecological justice and mobility justice in urban design. She is Head of Studio Operations at External Reference, an award-winning multidisciplinary design and architecture studio based in Barcelona, Spain. She also directs a program and teaches at the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia.
Eric W. Sanderson
Vice President for Urban Conservation at the New York Botanical Garden
Eric W. Sanderson serves as the Vice President for Urban Conservation at the New York Botanical Garden, where he also directs the Center for Conservation and Restoration Ecology. Sanderson is the author of the bestselling book Mannahatta: A Natural History of New York City (Abrams, 2009) and the upcoming five-borough sequel, Before New York: The Natural Geography of the City (Abrams, 11/2026). His work has been profiled by The New Yorker, National Geographic, NPR, BBC, and The New York Times; his TED talk has had more than 3 million views. He earned his Ph.D. in Ecology at the University of California, Davis.
Claire Martin
Associate Director OCULUS
Claire Martin is an award-winning landscape architect and Associate Director at OCULUS, known for her systems approach across a range of scales from insect hotels to public spaces, through to statewide greening strategies. Claire has curated projects across Australia, focusing on material thinking and landscape performance. A Fellow and past National President of the Australian Institute of Landscape Architects, she is a passionate design advocate, landscape communicator and mentor.
Gary Leggett
Founder of Leggett & Cahuas, Pontifical Catholic University of Peru
Gary Leggett is a Peruvian-American architect and founder of Leggett & Cahuas. He curated Spain’s 13th Ibero-American Biennial of Architecture and Urbanism (BIAU), held in Lima in 2024 under the theme CLIMATE: Actions for Good Living. He teaches architecture at the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, where he has also served as Deputy Director of the Center for Architecture and Urbanism.
CALENDAR →
Registration OPENS:
18 May 2026
*UPDATED Registration CLOSES:
18 September 2026 (11.59 PM CET)
Q&A Deadline:
30 June 2026
UPLOAD →
Participants are required to complete their contest registration in advance and obtain a valid registration code. Submissions without a registration code will not be considered for evaluation.
All participants must submit their project as a single ZIP folder via the Non-A contest page (Google Form). The ZIP file must be named using the participant’s registration code and project title.
The submission link will be shared once the submission period starts.
REGISTER →
Registration is per submission/project. Each registration allows one project to be submitted, regardless of the number of team members. Team members will be added later, during the submission process.
REGISTRATION PERIOD ENDS IN:
BOTANICAL TURN
Keep in mind the submissions will open following the Brief’s calendar.
Do not hesitate to ask us any question at info@nonarchitecture.eu