The Unreal House 2025–2026
Mind Rain
📌About the Event
The Unreal House 2025–2026 is an international architecture and design competition by Mind Rain that invites undergraduate students to imagine a home unconstrained by real-world limits. Participants must design a visionary residence for the fictional Vance family—Mr. and Mrs. Vance and their two children—using architecture as a medium for storytelling, experimentation and world-building. The house may exist anywhere, from another planet or a floating city to an underground habitat or an entirely invented environment.
ℹ️ Event Details
- Edition: Edition 06
- Competition type: International architecture and imaginary home design competition
- Mode of conduct: Fully online
- Submission language: English
- Main challenge: Design an imaginative yet internally functional home for Mr. and Mrs. Vance, their son and their daughter.
- Competition site: There is no fixed physical site. Participants must select or create a hypothetical location for the house.
- Design freedom: There is no prescribed limitation on the project’s scale, materials or technology.
- Participation format: Individual entry or a team of up to three members.
- Award tracks:
- Group A: Participants competing for monetary awards
- Group B: Participants competing for exposure and recognition without monetary awards
- Registration and submission: Participants must register on the Mind Rain platform and upload their final PDF through their competition profile.
📅 Important Dates
- Late registration period: June 1 to June 25, 2026
- Last date to register: June 25, 2026
- Last date for submitting entries: June 30, 2026
🎯 Eligibility & Rules
- Eligibility:
- Open to undergraduate design students.
- Architecture and design students from institutions worldwide may participate.
- Participants may enter individually or in a team of up to three students.
- Group A, which includes monetary awards, is available to Indian and international participants.
- Group B, which does not include monetary awards, is available only to Indian nationals.
- Competition categories:
- Category 1: First- and second-year students
- Category 2: Third-, fourth- and fifth-year students
- Presentation method:
- Category 1 entries must be hand-drafted.
- Category 2 entries may be prepared digitally
🏆 Benefits for the Participants
- Total prize pool: ₹50,000
- Category 1 – First- and second-year students:
- First prize: ₹11,000
- Second prize: ₹8,000
- Third prize: ₹6,000
- Category 2 – Third-, fourth- and fifth-year students:
- First prize: ₹11,000
- Second prize: ₹8,000
- Third prize: ₹6,000