An international student contest is being held for a series of three landmark new architectural installations at the Carrires du Boulonnais quarry in northern France (Deadline: 14 March)The PRIMA competition, organised by Paris-based Atelier 37.2 on behalf of French minerals company Groupe CB, invites individuals or pairs of students to propose a permanent micro-architectural work for the enormous industrial site located around 15km south of Calais.Now in its sixth edition, this years competition invites participants to explore ecological interaction and the potential of creating environments for both humans and non-human living organisms. Concepts may use stone, concrete and steel along with locally available natural elements such as soil, water, plants, seeds, fungi, or bacteria.2023 winner: Memento by Solena Citerne from Ecole de Cond NiceCredit:Image by Nicolas GuiraudThe call for proposals is free and open to all architecture schools in France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Switzerland, Spain and the United Kingdom. Each school may submit a maximum of five paired student projects. A total of 15 concepts will be shortlisted and three overall winners will be constructed in 2025.According to the brief: This year's edition emphasises the interconnectedness of all living organisms and their environments, highlighting the intrinsic connection and dependence between humans and the broader community of life.Students are asked to design a space that invites and hosts diverse life forms, fostering opportunities for coexistence for human and non-human bodies. The proposed micro-architectures should aim to create the conditions to accommodate humans and non-human living organisms, allowing for proximity, intimacy, observation and potential interspecies exchanges.Projects may explore various levels of cohabitation, from simple coexistence, to symbiotic relationships, such as mutualism or commensalism, to more complex ecological interactions.On the fringes of Ferques, the 500-hectare Carrires du Boulonnais quarry was created in the late nineteenth century and is now the largest single open-pit quarry in the country producing around six million tonnes of limestone aggregates every year.The PRIMA project aims to forge new links between emerging design talents and the aggregates industry through an unprecedented art model built on the merging of clear artistic goals with an entrepreneurial strategy. It is organised by Atelier 37.2, an emerging Paris-based practice which has constructed a variety of unique architectural installations in culturally-significant landscapes across Europe and two pavilions on the PRIMA site.Participants must harness recycled or low-carbon materials in their proposal and consider how their structure can be occupied as a form of micro-architecture while also responding to important environmental issues raised by the anthropocene the present geological era in which human activity has fundamentally changed life on earth.2023 winner: Gravit by Margaux Croixmarie of ENSAP BordeauxThe first edition of the competition, launched in late 2019, received 114 entries from 202 students representing 41 schools of architecture and design from six countries France, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, and the United Kingdom.Winners of the 2024 call for concepts included Second Souffle by Emilie Marzougui from Ides HOUSE in Lausanne, Switzerland; and Fragment by Ho Chun Au-Jeung and Weathering Pavilion by Tim Formgren both from the AA School of Architecture in London.The competition is planned to be held every year for several years resulting in around 2025 permanent installations being created on the site. Winning students, to be announced in March or April, will receive technical assistance from Atelier 37.2 and be invited to attend a residency on site to deliver their schemes in September.How to applyDeadline: 14 MarchCompetition funding source: Not suppliedProject funding source: Not suppliedOwner of site(s): Not suppliedContact details: da@prima-cb.comVisit the competition website for more information2025-03-05Merlin Fulcher Share