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La Henrik Frode Obel Foundation has announced Systems’ Hack as the focus of the Obel Award 2026, the international architecture prize that recognizes outstanding projects oriented toward the common good and social and ecological sustainability, highlighting architecture as an agent of concrete change.
With the aim of fostering dialogue around today’s emerging issues, the theme invites architecture to engage critically and concretely with the systems that sustain contemporary society — from infrastructure and energy to food, water, education, and information.
Established annually by the OBEL Jury, the focus is not merely a curatorial theme but a true conceptual framework that guides the foundation’s activities and stimulates debate on emerging challenges. Following the theme Ready Made (2025), dedicated to material resources and reuse, Systems’ Hack radically expands the scale of intervention: no longer only how we build, but within which systems — and with what consequences.
The term “system” is understood as a set of interacting elements, governed by logics that are often invisible yet deeply influential. “Hack,” meanwhile, does not signify destructive disruption, but rather a critical and strategic practice: understanding how a system works in order to manipulate it, adapt it, and make it more equitable, resilient, and regenerative. By addressing how these systems can be adapted or “hacked,” OBEL encourages architectural approaches that prioritize long-term resilience, regenerative relationships, and collaboration with natural systems.
In this sense, Systems’ Hack is an invitation for architecture to move beyond conventional problem-solving and to intervene in the very mechanisms that generate environmental crises and social inequalities. Founded in 2019, the Henrik Frode Obel Foundation stands out precisely for this expanded vision of architecture: a plural practice capable of making a concrete contribution to global social and ecological development. Through awards, programs, and cultural activities, the foundation supports ideas and approaches that can sow the seeds of future transformations, while also promoting debate and architectural education.
Among the distinctive features of the OBEL Award is the way its international jury operates: in addition to selecting the prize winner, the jury also decides the theme of the competition through an exchange of ideas among its members. Each year, the jury changes its composition, ensuring both alternation and continuity: from one year to the next, only some members — who have already served for several editions — step aside, passing the baton to new entrants.
The focus of the 2026 edition, Systems’ Hack, was determined by the outgoing 2025 jury, chaired by Nathalie de Vries of MVRDV and composed of Sumayya Vally (founder and director of Counterspace, Johannesburg, South Africa, and London, UK), Aric Chen (general and artistic director of the Nieuwe Instituut, Rotterdam, the Netherlands), Xu Tiantian (founder of DnA, Beijing, China), and Anne Marie Galmstrup (founder of Galmstrup Architects, London, UK).
The winner of the OBEL Award 2026 will be announced in May of this year and selected by the current jury, in which the outgoing member Xu Tiantian has been replaced by Manuel and Francisco Aires Mateus (co-founders of Aires Mateus, Lisbon, Portugal).
>>> Discover the winner of the OBEL Award 2025
All images courtesy of OBEL Foundation
