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ECIA Interior Award 2026:

​Responsible Design

For the most forward-looking project in the field of interior architecture/design.

The ECIA Interior Award 2026 focuses on interior architecture projects that champion the theme of Responsible Design. The competition seeks projects in which responsible design is implemented not only as a technical or regulatory requirement, but as a holistic spatial, social, environmental, and cultural approach. Within this broader framework, safety is considered a fundamental aspect of responsible design — expressed through the ways spaces protect, support, and empower the people who use them.

Submitted projects should demonstrate how interior architecture can create environments that encourage trust, comfort, inclusion, resilience, adaptability, and wellbeing while responding to the complex realities of contemporary life. Responsible design may address physical safety, psychological comfort, accessibility, sustainability, social cohesion, care, flexibility, or a sense of belonging.

The award is open to realised projects across all interior typologies, divided into two categories: Residential and Commercial, and at any scale (excluding products and movable furniture). Entries will be evaluated according to the eight criteria of the Davos Quality System, considering the quality of the spatial concept, the coherence between intention and execution, and the way responsible design is translated into materiality, atmosphere, functionality, and user experience.

Responsible Design Within Space recognises interior architecture that contributes meaningfully to more thoughtful, humane, safe, and future-oriented environments across Europe.

The ECIA Interior Award is a non-profit competition exclusively for Interior Architects of the ECIA member organisations.

This competition is a tribute to excellence in European interior architecture and design. The main objective is to identify and disseminate good practices showing the relevance of Interior Architects /Designers in contemporary challenges in the built environment, with a focus on safety.

The value of the Award lies in the exemplary status acquired by the winning projects within the the profession and a wider public. All shortlisted entries will benefit from promotion through various distribution channels, ensuring recognition for their exceptional quality and contribution to the field of interior architecture.