The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) is pleased to announce the launch of a new design competition on behalf of Bradford 2025, inviting expressions of interest for the design of an iconic travelling performance space for Bradford City of Culture 2025.

The competition is seeking an architect-led team to design this temporary arts space, named ‘Beacon’. Embedded in communities, Beacon will be a platform for performances, installations, and live events across the district during 2025.

Awarded every four years by Government, the UK City of Culture title has had a transformational impact on previous host cities, securing millions of pounds of investment and acting as a catalyst for creative place-making and culture-led regeneration.

The intention behind Beacon is for it to have sustainability at its heart, to celebrate Bradford’s cultural heritage and to reflect its diverse, cosmopolitan communities. The venue will facilitate and promote meaningful interchange between communities.

Tumpa Husna Yasmin Fellows, co-founder and director of Our Building Design and RIBA Architect Adviser for the competition said:

I am pleased to be working as the RIBA architect adviser for this competition with the Bradford City of Culture 2025. The Beacon is a competition for arts and performance spatial design, seeking responses through the lens of de-colonial architectural practice, design methods and proposals. Speaking to the global impacts of climate change and to a desire to create more equitable public spaces by facilitating the voices of under-represented and local diasporic communities, in the design, build and use of Beacon; widening access to the arts, architecture and design.

Shanaz Gulzar, Creative Director of Bradford 2025, said:

It’s crucial that our year as City of Culture reaches every corner of Bradford district and Beacon will be just one of the ways we do that. This new peripatetic venue will be an incredible space for people to get together, to show off the creativity of our district as well as taking spectacular events and performances to a wider Bradford audience.

The deadline for receipt of applications is 12.00 midday (BST) on Tuesday 27 June 2023. 

Applications are invited in accordance with the requirements set out in the briefing document and submission form. Further information can be found on the competition webpage at https://ribacompetitions.com/press/beacon/ including a link to register for the competition.