The Retail Experience is an open ideas design competition with no intention to execute the proposals submitted in any form. It is open to all — architects, interior designers, design students, spatial thinkers, and visual storytellers, regardless of profession, age, or location.

You are asked to design a retail interior as an experience space — a place where design serves discovery, desire, and brand experience. The competition is not about selling a product; it is about designing the feeling that makes someone want to stay and come back. The typology, brand, site, scale, and story are all yours to choose.

Any designed space where people encounter a brand, product, or service in a physical environment. This includes (but is not limited to) a boutique or flagship store for any product category; a showroom for furniture, automobiles, or luxury goods; an experiential space for a brand such as tech, fashion, wellness, or food; a heritage or artisanal craft store; a concept store, pop-up, or multi-brand retail space; or a brand experience centre. If it is a space designed around the relationship between a brand and its customer, it qualifies.

No. The brief is deliberately open-ended. You may choose any retail typology, style, or era — contemporary, heritage, futuristic, or vernacular. The only constraint is that the space must be a retail interior.

No. You may design for a real brand, a fictional one, or a brand you invent yourself. What matters is that the brand and its story are clearly communicated through the space.

Yes. The competition actively encourages this. A new design created for this brief, an academic project, or an executed professional project are all welcome, as long as the project captures a thoughtful retail experience and the relationship between brand, space, and human emotion.

No size restrictions. A micro boutique and a multi-floor flagship are both welcome. Scale your ambition to your concept.

Yes. Any location in the world. You may also design a site-agnostic space if your concept demands it.

Yes. The space may be a new-build, a renovation, or an adaptive reuse of an existing structure. What matters is the quality of the retail experience you create, not whether the shell is new.

This competition is about the retail interior, so the interior experience is the heart of the submission. How much technical detail you show is your choice — the jury looks for a clearly communicated spatial experience, not exhaustive working drawings.

Email your proposal to submission@archdais.com with your Team Code (UIC) as the email subject line — e.g. TRXXXXX. Attach your A1 sheet as a JPG/JPEG file (maximum 10MB), named after your Team Code (e.g. TRXXXXX.jpg).

The proposal must be presented on one landscape-oriented A1 sheet (841 × 594 mm), saved as a JPG/JPEG file with a maximum size of 10MB.

No. The competition accepts only one landscape-oriented A1 sheet. This ensures all submissions are evaluated on a consistent format and scale.

No. Each entry is a single A1 sheet — one sheet equals one project. Plan your layout so the complete idea reads clearly within that one sheet.

The retail interior must be the core of the submission. You may include the exterior, façade, entrance, or surrounding context where it strengthens the brand experience and helps explain the design, but the interior experience should remain the heart of the proposal.

Yes. The anonymity rule applies to you as the participant — your name, college, firm, contact details, or personal watermark must not appear on the sheet. The brand you are designing for is part of the project, so its logo, identity, and storytelling can and should be expressed within the design, as long as nothing identifies you or your team.

No. Unlike some Archdais competitions, The Retail Experience requires only the single A1 sheet. No separate area statement, technical drawing set, or supporting document is required.

The project explanation should be up to 300 words, excluding nomenclature and headings. Staying within this limit helps the jury read your narrative quickly and clearly.

The Team Code (UIC) must appear at the top right-hand corner of the A1 sheet. If it interferes with your layout, you may adjust the design around it, but the position cannot change.

Yes. You may use any representation technique — sketches, diagrams, 3D visualisations, model photographs, CAD drawings, or a combination — as long as the idea is clearly communicated on the single A1 sheet.

You will receive confirmation of your submission within 4–5 working days after the official submission deadline closes.

The jury panel is currently being finalised and will be announced soon. Please keep an eye on the competition page and Archdais' official channels for the announcement.

Yes, there is an entry fee, and it varies by registration stage. The complete fee structure — Early, Standard, and Late registration, for both Indian and Foreign nationals — is detailed in the competition brief.

The Retail Experience offers a total prize pool of INR 2,00,000, along with certification and publication for selected entries. The complete prize breakdown — cash prizes, gift vouchers, and honourable mentions — is detailed in the competition brief.

You will receive your Team Code only after completing the registration process. You can also find it in your profile under My Orders.

The Team Code must be used in the email subject line, file names, and on the submission sheets as specified. It is the only identifier used during evaluation.

Yes, multiple entries are allowed. However, each entry must be registered separately using a unique email ID and will receive a separate Team Code.

Please first check your spam or promotions folder. You may also find your Team Code in the My Orders section under your profile on the Archdais website. If you still do not receive it within 24 hours of payment, kindly write to us at competition@archdais.com and share your payment confirmation or screenshot. Our team will assist you further.

Please email us at competition@archdais.com and we will guide you with alternate payment methods.

Your Team Code is your only identification for the competition. It must be used wherever requested by the organizers, including on your submission sheets and in file names, as mentioned in the submission guidelines.

Participants may use either metric or imperial units. Ensure dimensions are clearly marked wherever required.

The official language of the competition is English. All explanatory text in submissions must be in English.

Participants are requested not to publicly share their competition proposal before the winners are officially announced, to maintain anonymity and fairness.

Yes. All participants receive a digital Certificate of Participation irrespective of winners.

A promo code is a special discount code that may be offered for certain competitions. It is not mandatory for registration, and participants can register without one at the regular fee. Promo codes, when available, may be shared through Archdais’ official social media handles. If any offer is active, the promo code can be applied during registration to avail the discount.

Yes, a group discount is available for a minimum of 5 teams registering together. While registering, you can keep adding teams and their team members under the same registration process. Once the minimum requirement is met, the group discount will be applied automatically. After registration, each team will receive a separate Team Code. If you face any issue while availing the group discount, please write to us at competition@archdais.com and our team will assist you.

Submissions that do not follow the required format, anonymity rules, file naming, or submission limits may be disqualified.

No. The registration fee is non-refundable.

All Terms & Conditions and updated rules are available on the Archdais website under the competition page.

Only if absolutely necessary, Archdais may make limited changes to the competition timeline, submission requirements, or related guidelines. In such cases, the updated information will be shared through the official competition page and/or Archdais’ official communication channels. Participants are advised to check the competition page regularly for any important updates.

No. The competition follows an anonymous evaluation process. Your submission sheet must not contain your name, logo, college name, firm name, watermark, or any other identifiable mark. Any such information on the sheet may lead to disqualification

You may use any clear and readable font style in your submission. There are no specific restrictions on fonts; however, participants are advised to avoid overly decorative or hard-to-read fonts, especially where clarity of information is important for evaluation.

Yes. Team members may be updated or changed any time before submission. To request a change, please write to us at competition@archdais.com, and our team will guide you further.

Yes. You may add a team member after registering, provided your total team size remains within the maximum team limit allowed for that competition. To request this, please write to us at competition@archdais.com, and our team will guide you further.

If you have made the payment twice by mistake, please write to us at competition@archdais.com and share screenshots of both payments. Our team will review the details and assist you further.

Yes. Hand-drawn submissions are allowed, provided they are neatly scanned and submitted in the required format mentioned in the brief.

Yes. Please name your submission file using your Team Code only.

All competition deadlines and timings are based on Indian Standard Time (IST), regardless of the participant’s country or time zone. Participants are advised to convert the deadline accordingly from IST to their local time zone to avoid missing any stage.

No. To ensure a fair and anonymous evaluation process, only your Team Code is shared with the jury. Participants are requested not to contact jurors directly regarding the competition or their submission.

Yes. Registered participants do receive deadline reminders through email and/or Archdais’ official communication channels. Participants are also advised to check their spam or promotions folder in case any email is missed.

Yes. Group discounts are available for five or more teams registering together. The teams may be from the same college, different colleges, or even from different disciplines, as long as the required minimum number of teams is met during registration.

Yes. For any competition-related queries or clarifications, participants may write to competition@archdais.com. They may also use the “Ask us a Question” section available on the Archdais website after logging in.