London, UK – The World Architecture Festival and PechaKucha (www.pechakucha.com) join forces to launch a virtual 2020 ideas competition. 'Isolation Transformed' asks architects, designers, and engineers to reimagine post-virus environments that would mitigate, improve, or offset current community distancing and isolation. 

Given today's necessary social distancing requirements for individuals, families, and communities, the question for the design community now is: how do we use design to alleviate or improve physical and psychological contexts in which we live, work, and play? How can we mitigate effects of future pandemics through design? A new focus is needed to address the collective spaces we inhabit and use in our everyday life.

World Architecture Festival and PechaKucha invite international architects, designers, engineers, and students to submit ideas that address the topic of social distancing at all scales in respect of geography, social context, and temporary or permanent conditions. Ideas can range from mitigation to transformation and include product design, interior design, housing designs, transport facilities, workplace architecture, open-space design, and urban initiatives including landscape interventions. Entries are judged on strength of concept, delivery, universality of application, and economy.

Entrants are asked to present their ideas via PK Create using the PechaKucha format – 20 slides, with 20 seconds of commentary per slide. 

All entrants are judged by a panel of esteemed experts including previous RIBA president and architect, Sunand Prasad; designer and creative director of INSIDE, Nigel Coates; CEO of Maggie's Centres, Dame Laura Lee; Co-Founder of Architecture Is Fun and President-elect of the American Institute of Architects (AIA), Peter Exley; and previous WAF health category winners, Ralph Johnson and Sharon Davis. 

Shortlisted designers will be invited to present their ideas at the World Architecture Festival 2020, 2 to 4 December 2020, in Lisbon, with contribution to travel and accommodation. The winner will receive up to £1,000 towards travel costs, two nights' accommodation in Lisbon, and a trophy presented at the WAF Gala Awards Dinner on the evening of Friday, 4 December 2020. 

For more information, visit www.worldarchitecturefestival.com/isolation-transformed-competition.