V.I.J.A.Y. Awards 2026 at Bharat Buildcon — India’s Emerging Architects Reimagine Forgotten Urban Spaces with Global Vision
At the inaugural V.I.J.A.Y. Awards 2026 — The Emerging Architect Award, held at the Yashobhoomi Convention Centre in New Delhi during Bharat Buildcon 2026, India’s most promising young architectural talent was given a platform to address one of urban India’s most pressing design challenges: how to transform neglected, forgotten urban voids into vibrant, living public places.
Organised by the Indic Art & Heritage Foundation (IAHF) and curated by Ar. Avitesh V. Singh, the competition’s theme — “Reclaiming Forgotten Urban Spaces: Transforming Neglected Urban Voids into Vibrant Public Places” — proved to be the perfect lens through which student architects could engage with the realities of India’s rapidly expanding cities. In a country where urban density, crumbling infrastructure, and underserved public spaces are daily realities for hundreds of millions of people, the brief was not merely academic; it was urgent.
The jury panel was a remarkable assembly of Indian and international architectural luminaries: Prof. Abhay Vinayak Purohit, President of the Council of Architecture India; Ar. Michele Pasca Di Magliano, Director at Zaha Hadid Architects, London; Ar. Sanjay Singh of Arcop Associates; Jimmy Mistry of Della Townships; and several other distinguished figures. Their international composition brought a global perspective to evaluating solutions designed for deeply local contexts — a duality that increasingly defines the best of Indian architectural thought.
The winning entries, jury observations noted, distinguished themselves through the ability to combine innovation with practical applicability — designs that could plausibly be implemented within real-world constraints of budget, community ownership, and civic governance. From adaptive reuse strategies and tactical urbanism interventions to community-oriented public plazas, the work on display reinforced the idea that the next generation of Indian architects understands architecture not as object-making, but as community service and environmental stewardship.
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