"Dear Architecture" entrants had to pen their own 500-word letter to architecture — whether as a concept, a social practice, or as a community — along with an illustration to supplement their letter's message.

Entrants from over 60 countries responded to the brief. Not too surprisingly, the letters got upfront and personal, if not a little bit heart-breaking.

The jury — which included Fernando Romero, Elena Manferdini, Hani Rashid, Natasha Jen, and Archinect and Bustler's very own Alexander Walter — selected three top-prize winners and 12 Honorable Mentions.

1ST PRIZE ($1,500): Craig L. Wilkins, Ph.D., RA

"Dear Architecture: 

I’ve been wondering why you don’t speak to me.  Is it because you don’t see me? Are you ignoring me? Maybe it’s because you really don’t care for me; but whatever it is, you sure don’t. speak, that is. At least, not to me. 

When I go downtown, I hear people saying you speak all the time. But I never hear it. I wonder what you say. 

When I was little, I thought you spoke to my dad. He sure had a lot of nice things to say about you. Driving around our neighborhood with my mother, big brother, little sister and me, he’d often point and say things like, “I used to play there!” or “Bobby Ford lived there; we used to sit on his porch all hours of the day waiting for Betty Roberts to walk by just once.” I don’t Betty Roberts. Maybe you do. Do you speak to her, maybe?  

Anyway, he always seemed happy when he spoke about you. But not anymore. Now he tells me you hide things. People. Drugs. That I should watch out for you. Around you. I wonder what you did to make him not like you anymore. Did you stop speaking to him too? 

My friend Jamie, she likes you. She used to live next door but her dad got a different job and now she lives somewhere else. I see her sometimes at cookouts or birthdays. Sometimes she comes to see her grandmother. She never used to but now she talks about you all the time. Is that why you stopped speaking to my dad? Because now you have Jamie?

My teacher Mr. Phillips asked us to draw you yesterday. I tried to remember what Jamie told me; to remember what my dad said about you when you were friends. I dressed you up real fine. You had a tall, pointy hat, big shiny eyes and a long porch wide enough for the entire block to sit on. I didn’t want to draw the flat tops and shut eyes that say, “Post no bills” around here. I mean, what would be the point of that? I tried to draw something I thought would speak. But still, you wouldn’t. Speak. Not to me.

Last week, my mom, dad, all their friends and a bunch of people I didn’t know were walking down the street shouting and holding signs. Most of the signs were about the police but some of them were about you. Said you were cheap. Broken. Mean and always had been. They want something better. I don’t think you speak to them either. If so, it’s not in a way they can understand.

Mr. Phillips seemed to hear you though. He smiled a great big toothy smile and asked me if this is what I wanted; if this was my dream house. I told him I didn’t know but I knew what I didn’t want.  

Architecture that won’t speak to me."

Reflecting on his letter, Craig L. Wilkins stated: 'Almost 50 years after Whitney Young, the field remains deeply implicated in the Baltimores of the nation. I wanted to remind practitioners, people beyond our immediate circle often think long and hard about what we do. Even if they don’t call it architecture, they’re acutely aware of the things that make their lives better or worse.'

  • 2ND PLACE ($1,000): Vershaé Hite and Brittany Eaker Kirkland
  • 3RD PLACE ($500): Lewis Williams
  • HONORABLE MENTIONS
  • Will Fu
  • Petar Bojović
  • Ekaterina Dovjenko
  • Nicholas Venezia
  • Giovanni Bellotti and Giacomo Sarto Favorito
  • Aimilios Davlantis Lo and Celine Park
  • Aditya Ghosh
  • Seth McDowell
  • Chriscelle Banas and Noel Vazquez
  • Shane Reiner-Roth and Kyle Branchesi
  • Alexandre Barrère
  • Arnold Yok Fai Wong

Dear Architecture Jury:

  • Beatrice Galilee: Associate Curator of Architecture and Design at The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  • Fernando Romero: Founder, FR-EE
  • Daniel Arsham & Alex Mustonen: Cofounders, snarkitecture
  • Elena Manferdini: Principal, Atelier Manferdini
  • Natasha Jen: Partner, Pentagram
  • Hani Rashid: Founder, Asymptote Architecture
  • Kelsey Keith: Editor in Chief, Curbed
  • Dr. Diana Balmori, FASLA: Founder, Balmori Associates, Inc.
  • Matthew Hoffman & Francesca Giuliani: Founders, Blank Space
  • David Celento: Founder, DigiFabLab
  • Dr. Rebecca Henn: Professor of Architecture, Pennsylvania State University
  • Adam Hostetler: Founder, Urban Nomad Architecture Lab
  • Alexander Walter: Editorial & Production Manager for Archinect and Editor in Chief of Bustler
  • David Basulto: Founder and Editor in Chief, ArchDaily
  • Becky Quintal: Executive Editor, ArchDaily

All the winning entries, honorable mentions, and other notable submissions will be published in Blank Space's upcoming "Dear Architecture" book. The book is expected to start shipping this December, but it's available for pre-order online.1

  • 1. http://blankspaceproject.com/shop/