Create an object, installation, building or urban intervention that plays on the idea of scale, to create wonder, drama or even shock. Using SterlingOSB Zero as a material for transforming spatial perception, you could win £2,500
In 1977, the American architects Charles and Ray Eames released a groundbreaking film. It was based on Dutch educator Kees Boeke’s 1957 book Cosmic View, which looked at our universe, planet – and us – in an attempt to visualise the world we see, the inner world we can’t, and the distant ones we can barely comprehend.
The result was a nine-minute film, Powers of Ten. Opening with a couple lying on a picnic blanket in a park, it is a study in orders of magnitude, zooming out exponentially to the edges of the universe, then zooming back into their bodies to the size of an electron. The Eames’ clever scale shifts take us from a 1:1 understanding of reality, to revealing the complexity and magic of existence.
Architects have had a technical fascination with scale ever since the Renaissance, when the idea of drawing buildings as a prerequisite to building them resulted in an abstraction that effectively brought the modern profession into being. They still occupy this territory, albeit with contemporary technology: like the Eames’ film, architects can ‘zoom in’ or ‘zoom out’ of their drawings ad infinitum, with no loss of detail.
Creating drama in scale
In our competition’s 10th anniversary year, we are asking you to utilise SterlingOSB Zero board to investigate the nature of scale.
Take inspiration from Borromini’s arcade at the Palazzo Spada – a sophisticated perspectival play on scale – or Thomas Chippendale using elements of grand classical architecture and incorporating them at far smaller scale in his famous 18th-century furniture. Using mirrors, in 1909, architect Adolf Loos made a tiny Vienna bar look enormous, while in 1970s Italy, practice Superstudio ran black and white grids on their Quaderna furniture and imagined extending them to cover the world. And what about Frank Gehry’s binoculars?!
What would YOU do? Using SterlingOSB Zero as your base material, we want to see you putting your imagination and ingenuity to use, to create your own physical meditation on the nature of scale.
It might be a model, sculpture, piece of furniture, mise-en-scene, a building, a folly – or even a monument! What we’d really like is to get a sense of how you are playing with the principles of scale to intrigue, amuse or confound the viewer, using the simplicity of SterlingOSB Zero, with other materials, perhaps, to create something that is captivating and illusory.
Who can enter
We welcome entries from experienced architects, emerging architects, those in Part I and II professional training, diploma and undergraduate architectural students. Applying to all, we want the emphasis to be on imagination and fun – so enjoy yourselves!
Judging
Chaired by the RIBAJ, judges will look for imaginative responses to the brief that make best use of SterlingOSB Zero. We anticipate other materials and surfaces will form an integral part of any proposition, but expect SterlingOSB Zero panels to be the main constituent of the design. Since this is a conceptual brief, we do not require entrants to meet building codes or standards.
In this competition, the winning proposal will be the one that in the judges’ view proves the most imaginative, intelligent or playful response to interrogating the nature of scale. It may have a context – or none – but we expect it to be theoretically buildable and that a construction strategy could be evidenced.
You should also be able to explain the specific benefits that using SterlingOSB Zero brings to your proposal – whether that be in terms of structure, space-forming, sustainability or aesthetics. Find out more about the nature of SterlingOSB Zero at
ribaj.com/osb-properties
Judges
To be announced. The panel will be chaired by Jan-Carlos Kucharek, RIBAJ deputy editor, and include Claire Ironside, marketing executive at West Fraser UK.
Deadline
Entries should be received no later than 14:00 BST, Monday 23 June 2025
To enter
Go to ribaj.com/powers-of-ten
Entries should be submitted on no more than two A3 sheets, supplied electronically as PDFs and uploaded to the official entry website.
How you choose to describe your proposal is up to you but may include:
- Plans and sections explaining the proposal nature, its structure and material choices.
- 3D or perspectival images that communicate how any play on scale is being achieved.
- Any supplementary images (such as model shots or visualisations) which entrants feel would best convey the proposition.
- An explanation of no more than 500 words should be uploaded to the website entry form, describing the proposal and in what way it claims to meet the brief.
Notes
- The judges’ decision is final. No correspondence will be entered into by organisers or judges regarding entries or winners.
- First prize of £2,500; three Commended prizes of £500.
- Shortlisted entries will be notified in writing, with entrants subsequently invited to the winners’ announcement and prize-giving event, which will take place on 25 September 2025.
- By entering this RIBAJ competition, West Fraser has your agreement to using your name/company name and collateral produced by our marketing agency – videos, interviews, case studies, images – for our company’s website, social media, digital and print media titles.
- Please email questions to ribaj.powers-of-ten@riba.org