Common Ruins Competition

Deadline: 2019-01-17
Award: €20,000
Open to: Designers*

The castle of Mothe Chandeniers is a perfect ruin. It is lost in the French countryside. The castle evokes an intimate embrace between history, architecture and nature.

Dartagnans recently purchased the castle thanks to more than 27,910 shareholders’ donations. Today, through YAC, Mothe Chandeniers invites designers to highlight the natural fascination of the castle in order to transform it into a destination of contemplation and relax for tourists and visitors from all over the world.

This competition offers designers the opportunity to dedicate their own design action to one of the most fascinating ruins in the world. They will do so by designing a visitors’ centre aiming at ensuring a unique, spiritual and regenerating hospitality experience.

Architecture itself has to protect the remarkable combination of human action and natural activity that is the fascination of Mothe Chandeniers. Architecture has to save the castle from the erosion of time in order to give it back to the community that purchased it.

This is an unprecedented challenge that invites designers to deal with a place with a surreal beauty able to create oneiric and refined holiday scenarios.