On September 1, 2026, the jury behind the SHARE Architecture Awards 2026 starts reading. Submissions are closed. What’s left now is deciding which of this year’s projects make the finalist shortlist, due September 20, 2026.
Quick facts: the SHARE Architecture Awards 2026 evaluation runs September 1–14, finalists are announced September 20, and the in-person jury round takes place December 3–4 at the Barbican in London, ahead of the December 4 gala.
The entries came in between May and August, from architecture firms and studios spread across Central and Southeast Europe, the Caucasus, and Central Asia. They land in three sections: Completed Projects, Ready to Build (Permitted Projects), and Interior Experience.
What this year’s categories show
The numbers tell a category story more than a geography one. Completed Projects, the largest section at just over half of all entries, isn’t a housing story: Culture & Heritage is its single biggest subcategory, ahead of Office & Mixed-Use and Single House, which are tied right behind it, with Adaptive & Retrofit close on their heels. In Ready to Build, Residential & Hotels leads, but Masterplanning, City Planning & Urban Landscape and Culture, Education & Display together come close to matching it. Interior Experience splits almost evenly between Residential and Bars & Restaurants/Hotels, a single project apart, with Workplace, Retail & Community right behind both.
Add it up across all three sections and roughly 1 in 6 submissions this year is built around a cultural or heritage anchor: a restored building, a museum still on the drawing board, an interior fitted into a space with its own history.
Where the projects come from
Geographically, no single country carries the list. Romania, Uzbekistan, and Slovenia sent in the largest numbers of projects, but entries to the SHARE Architecture Awards 2026 reach across the whole SHARE network, from Central and Southeast Europe to the Caucasus and Central Asia.
Key dates and the 2026 jury
From here, the jury checks every project against the SHARE evaluation criteria through September 14, 2026. Finalists are named on September 20, 2026. Selected projects then travel to the Barbican in London for in-person presentations and jury assessment on December 3–4, ahead of the SHARE Architecture Awards gala on December 4, 2026. This year’s SHARE Architecture Awards jury is chaired by Martha Thorne, former Executive Director of the Pritzker Prize, and Peter Murray, former Chairman of New London Architecture and the London Society, alongside architects from firms including BIG, Zaha Hadid Architects, Hassell, Kohn Pedersen Fox, PLP Architecture.
Florin Mindirigiu on this year’s submissions
Florin Mindirigiu, founder of SHARE Architects, sees the shape of the numbers as the real story this year.
“What matters to me this year is the spread. No single market carries the list on its own, and that already tells me how far this network reaches. I’m also glad the numbers don’t just point to housing. Culture & Heritage leads the Completed Projects section outright, urban and cultural work sits right behind residential in Ready to Build, and interiors are split almost evenly between homes, hospitality, and workplaces. Architects here are building across the full range of what a city needs, not just where the market is easiest.”
The finalist list for the SHARE Architecture Awards 2026 goes public on September 20, 2026.