Tamayouz Excellence Award is proud to announce the launch of the 5th cycle of the Rifat Chadirji Prize, an internationally recognised open-ideas architecture and landscape competition dedicated to advancing innovative design responses to global challenges.
The 2026 competition focuses on a critically relevant theme: The Right to Landscape, exploring how landscape can support recovery, resilience and dignity in post-war environments.
Following previous cycles of the award in Mosul, Baghdad, Sharjah and Cairo, this year’s cycle turns its attention to Al-Khiam in South Lebanon, expanding the geographical and thematic scope of the prize while continuing its commitment to addressing urgent social and spatial challenges across the region.
Competition Theme: The Right to Landscape – Reclaiming Land and Sustaining Lives in Sahl Al Khiam, Lebanon
The 2026 cycle invites architects, landscape architects, planners, designers, academics and students worldwide to propose visionary landscape-led strategies for Sahl Al Khiam, The valley, an agricultural lifeline endured occupation and recurrent bombardment, remains vital to the livelihoods, ecology, and identity of Al-Khiam community. Despite extensive damage, the Sahl survives as a rare space of continuity and refuge.
Participants are asked to investigate how landscape interventions can restore livelihoods, protect ecological systems, and reinforce communities’ right to dignified; sustainable environments post war.
The 2026 competition focuses on a critically relevant theme: The Right to Landscape, exploring how landscape can support recovery, resilience and dignity in post-war environments.
Following previous cycles of the award in Mosul, Baghdad, Sharjah and Cairo, this year’s cycle turns its attention to Al-Khiam in South Lebanon, expanding the geographical and thematic scope of the prize while continuing its commitment to addressing urgent social and spatial challenges across the region.
Global Collaboration with Leading Institutions
This cycle is organised in collaboration with Beirut Urban Lab and the American University of Beirut, the International Federation of Landscape Architects (IFLA) and the IFLA Middle East Region. These partnerships bring exceptional academic depth and global professional expertise to the 2026 prize.
A Prestigious International Landscape Competition
The Rifat Chadirji Prize is among the most respected ideas competitions in the world, offering a platform for innovative proposals that explore the role of architecture and landscape in addressing social, environmental and spatial challenges. Designers from around the world are invited to participate in this cycle and contribute to the evolving discourse on landscape, post-war reconstruction, and community resilience.
Who Can Participate?
The competition welcomes: Architects, Landscape architects, Urban planners, Designers, Academics and researchers, Students and emerging practitioners
Registration is now open for the 2026 Rifat Chadirji Prize. We invite participants from all regions to join this international competition and help shape meaningful design visions for Sahl Al-Khiam and similar post-conflict landscapes.