--- title: "GENDO 48: Open Market — 48-Hour Architectural Competition | Gendo" description: "Gendo unlocks Friday 24 April 23:59 GMT. Submissions due Sunday 26 April 23:59 GMT. 48-hour architectural hackathon at Old Spitalfields Market. Free entry, £5,000 first prize." lang: en json-ld: | { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "Event", "name": "GENDO 48: Open Market", "description": "The first Gendo 48 Competition. A 48-hour architectural hackathon at Old Spitalfields Market. Brief drops Thursday 23 April 11:59 GMT, submissions due Sunday 26 April 23:59 GMT.", "startDate": "2026-04-23T11:59:00+00:00", "endDate": "2026-04-26T23:59:00+00:00", "eventAttendanceMode": "https://schema.org/OnlineEventAttendanceMode", "organizer": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "Gendo", "url": "https://www.gendo.ai" }, "offers": { "@type": "Offer", "price": "0", "priceCurrency": "GBP", "availability": "https://schema.org/InStock", "validFrom": "2026-04-01" } } --- [![Gendo](https://assets.gendo.ai/marketing/homepage/gendo-logo-white.png)](/) [Features](/product)[Solutions](/workflows)[Resources](/resources)[Pricing](/pricing) About [Log In](https://app.gendo.ai/sign-in)[Start creating ](https://app.gendo.ai/sign-up) ![Old Spitalfields Market — Victorian iron hall interior](https://assets.gendo.ai/marketing/gendo48-hero.jpg) Open Market · London E1 # GENDO 48 £5,000 First Prize Open to all 48 hours. One Victorian iron hall. The future of East London. The first Gendo 48 Competition. A 48-hour architectural hackathon at Old Spitalfields Market — not a beauty contest, a test of design intelligence. The brief is now live — download the PDF for links to all assets needed. Registration Closed [Download Brief](/GENDO48_OpenMarket_Brief.pdf) Submissions Closed £5,000 First Prize £500 People's Choice +4 Shortlist Prizes Entry Free · solo or team Competition closed — shortlist announced GENDO 48 — Open Market Submissions are closed. The 22-strong shortlist is live. Thank you to every team that submitted across the weekend. Winner, People's Choice and Honourable Mentions will be announced shortly. The shortlisted entries are now published in Resources — each with a live, pannable canvas. [View the shortlist](/resources/gendo48-gallery?filter=shortlist) Timeline ## Key Dates All times GMT. No extensions — work visible on the board after the deadline will not be assessed. Brief Drops 23 Apr 2026 11:59 GMT Competition Period 23–26 Apr 2026 Gendo Unlocked — 48hrs 24–26 Apr 2026 Submission Deadline 26 Apr 2026 23:59 GMT Internal Shortlist Review 27 Apr – 6 May Shortlist Announced 6 May 2026 Winners Announced 11 May 2026 Monday Brief Drops 23 Apr 2026 11:59 GMT Competition Period 23–26 Apr 2026 Gendo Unlocked — 48hrs 24–26 Apr 2026 Submission Deadline 26 Apr 2026 23:59 GMT Internal Shortlist Review 27 Apr – 6 May Shortlist Announced 6 May 2026 Winners Announced 11 May 2026 Monday Essential info — read before you start Access Friday 23:59 GMT — Gendo unlocks Every entrant gets the full Studio plan for the weekend — unlimited renders, no watermarks, no feature locks. Your access switches automatically. Window 48 hours · closes Sun 23:59 GMT How to enter 1. 01 Register Sign up to reserve your spot. Your weekend access is linked to this email. 2. 02 Read the brief Site, programme, deliverables, judging criteria and asset links — all inside the PDF. 3. 03 Submit your entry Upload your board before Sunday 23:59 GMT. One entry per team. The Manifesto GENDO 48: Open Market is the first edition of a recurring architectural hackathon built around the speed and intelligence that Gendo makes possible. We are not looking for the most spectacular render. We are looking for design intelligence. 48 hours on the clock. £5,000 for the best work. Go. [Read the Full Brief (PDF)](/GENDO48_OpenMarket_Brief.pdf) ![Old Spitalfields Market interior — natural light through the glazed lantern](https://assets.gendo.ai/marketing/gendo48-market-interior.jpg) Speculative render — Gendo AI The Challenge ## Propose a new civic institution for East London within the iron envelope of Old Spitalfields Market. Scenario: in 2030, the Spitalfields Market Trust has issued an open brief. The market programme has relocated. The Victorian iron hall is freed — empty of tenants, free of furniture, full of four centuries of possibility. Not a hotel. Not luxury residential. Not a corporate headquarters. Not a museum to its own history. The brief calls for something that serves the public — across many hours of the day and many rhythms of the city. Your proposal must meet five tests 01 ### Civic Publicly accessible. Not primarily commercial. Serves the whole borough, not a demographic. 02 ### Temporal Designed across time — not for a single moment. The heart of the brief. 03 ### Structural The iron structure is the protagonist. Columns, trusses, glazed lantern — not obstacles, the reason this building is extraordinary. 04 ### Historical Coherent with what the building has been. The next chapter, not a demolition of everything that came before. 05 ### Feasible Buildable, fundable, governable by real people in a real city. Ambitious is good. Architecturally impossible is not. The Site ## Old Spitalfields Market 350 years of reinvention · Grade II listed There has been a market on this ground since 1682. The Huguenot weavers, the Jewish traders, the Bangladeshi families, the creative economy — each generation changed what was sold, who sold it, and what the building meant. The iron hall remained. Designed by George Campbell Sherrin and built 1885–1893. Saved from demolition in the 1980s. Renovated by Foster + Partners in 2017. One of the finest examples of Victorian market architecture in existence. Address Horner Square, Commercial Street, London E1 6AA Listing Grade II Listed Built 1885–1893 Architect George Campbell Sherrin Renovation Foster + Partners, 2017 Floor area approx. 9,500 m² covered ![Old Spitalfields Market — exterior on Commercial Street](https://assets.gendo.ai/marketing/gendo48-site.jpg) ![Market hall exterior at dusk](https://assets.gendo.ai/marketing/gendo48-market-exterior.jpg) ![Cast-iron column and truss detail](https://assets.gendo.ai/marketing/gendo48-iron-detail.jpg) The iron is the protagonist. The architectural intelligence of any proposal lies in what you do _with_ the iron, not _instead_ of it. Speculative renders — Gendo AI Fixed — what the competition protects - Cast-iron column grid Columns, capitals, base plates in their existing positions and proportions. - Hybrid roof truss system Bowstring trusses and the continuous glazed lantern above the nave. - External envelope Horner Square perimeter walls and shopfront elevations. - Existing floor level The stone floor plane is the datum. Insertions can sit on, rise from, or be suspended above it. Open — your design domain - All insertions Between, below and above the column grid — new floor levels, mezzanines, platforms. - Interior programme & fit-out What happens in the space, at what time, and for whom. - Light How the glazed lantern is supplemented, modulated, dramatised, or contrasted by artificial and seasonal light. - Connections How the building opens to Commercial Street, Horner Square, Brushfield Street, the surrounding city. - The roof surface Can be activated, walked on, planted, opened to the sky. Cannot be removed. The Second Test — Time ## Designed across time, not for a single moment. The market has never been a single-state building. Your proposal must show it across at least **two distinct temporal states** — the choice of which states is itself a design decision. The brief does not prescribe a programme. It prescribes a quality: the quality of being genuinely alive across time. Cycle 01 ### Daily Traders before dawn, the quiet of midday, the night city outside. The glazed lantern transmits all of it — morning light is nothing like midnight warmth. Cycle 02 ### Weekly Sundays packed; Wednesdays breathing. Different communities occupying different rhythms within the same week. Cycle 03 ### Seasonal December's Christmas market; Ramadan on Brick Lane; the June solstice flooding the lantern; Spitalfields Music Festival outside. Cycle 04 ### Historical The Huguenots, the Jewish traders, the Bangladeshi families, the creative economy — each era brought its own hours, its own claim on the space. Cycle 05 ### Unplanned Pandemic. Political upheaval. Collective grief or celebration. What this building becomes when the city needs something it did not plan for. > "The great civic buildings of history are not the ones that function best on a comfortable Tuesday at noon. They are the ones still useful, still open, still meaningful when something unexpected happens in the world." How to Work — The Gendo Canvas ## The board is the submission. Not a PDF. Not a presentation deck. The Gendo canvas you build over the 48 hours — the decisions, the iterations, the pivots, the annotations — is the work. Start from the iron. Area 01 ### The Working Area Your sketchbook, your wall, your pin-up board — shared in real time with your team. Generate ideas. Try things that don't work. Explore a material and abandon it. Use sticky notes liberally to show your workings. Not captions — thinking. The working area should tell the story of how the proposal was found, not just what it became. Area 02 ### The Final Boards A clearly separated section of the canvas where your final proposal is laid out as you want it to be seen. What judges assess. What gets shared. What becomes the record. Composed with the care of a studio crit. The final boards must contain 01 ### The Building as Found At least one image establishing the iron structure in its existing state — columns, glazed lantern, spatial depth. The before. Sets the terms. 02 ### The Design Proposal Your intervention. At minimum one image showing the iron and the new together at a scale that communicates the relationship. 03 ### The Temporal Narrative The most important requirement. Your design across at least two distinct temporal states — day/night minimum, but the strongest entries go further. 04 ### The Design Thinking Sticky notes — brief, in your own words — explaining the why. Not captions describing what we can already see. The Starter Pack All registered teams receive the following on 24 April when the brief drops: Interior 3D model Competition-ready model of the iron column grid, hybrid trusses, and glazed lantern. Floor plan Architectural plan at ground level — column grid, perimeter, nave. Sections Longitudinal and cross-sections establishing the vertical geometry. Historical image pack Archival photographs and drawings across the building's history. Current image pack Contemporary photographs of the iron structure at different times of day. The Jury ## Judged by practitioners, not spectators. Six judges from practice, product, and AI — assessing ideas that hold up under real architectural scrutiny. [ ![Andreas Palfinger](https://assets.gendo.ai/marketing/judges/andreas-palfinger.png) ### Andreas Palfinger Architectural Designer Zaha Hadid Architects ](https://www.linkedin.com/in/andreas-palfinger-b71700192) [ ![George Proud](https://assets.gendo.ai/marketing/judges/george-proud.png) ### George Proud Co-Founder Gendo ](https://uk.linkedin.com/in/george-proud) [ ![Ismail Seleit](https://assets.gendo.ai/marketing/judges/ismail-seleit.jpg) ### Ismail Seleit Head of Applied AI Gendo ](https://www.linkedin.com/in/ismailseleit/) [ ![Oliver Thomas](https://assets.gendo.ai/marketing/judges/oliver-thomas.png) ### Oliver Thomas CEO & Founder Archi-Tech Network ](https://www.linkedin.com/in/oliver-thomas-45457938) [ ![David Basulto](https://assets.gendo.ai/marketing/judges/david-basulto.jpeg) ### David Basulto Founder ArchDaily ](https://www.linkedin.com/in/dbasulto/) [ ![Krina Christopoulou](https://assets.gendo.ai/marketing/judges/krina-christopoulou.png) ### Krina Christopoulou Architect ARB at Heatherwick Studio Lecturer at The Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL ](https://www.linkedin.com/in/krina-christopoulou-677b30a7/) Criteria ## Four criteria. All assessed together. All four criteria are assessed together — a proposal cannot win on imagery alone, and cannot win on process alone. The best work is coherent across all of them. 35% ### The Idea The design concept is original. The programme is convincing and genuinely civic. The brief is answered as a proposition for how a building and a city can work together. 25% ### Design Adherence The iron structure is legible and made more powerful by the design. The columns, trusses and glazed lantern are present and deliberate in the final boards — not incidental, not erased. 25% ### The Temporal Narrative The proposal is genuinely designed across time. The boards show the building in different states — hours, seasons, world conditions — specific to this building, this programme, this city. 15% ### The Process The working area tells a design story. The thinking is visible. The pivots are shown. The sticky notes explain the decisions. This is a pin-up, not a portfolio. Prizes ## £5,000 for the best work. Recognition for all. Every entrant gets unlimited access during the competition period. The strongest work earns prize money, platform exposure, and social media coverage. 01 ### First Prize — £5,000 Awarded to the strongest design intelligence. 02 ### Finalists — 4 entries Full feature profile and an annual Gendo Studio subscription. 03 ### People's Choice — £500 Most-shared board on social media. £500 cash prize. 04 ### Honourable Mentions — up to 5 Gendo merch box and permanent inclusion in the competition gallery. 05 ### All Entrants Free entry. Unlimited renders. Portfolio-ready boards. Finalists ## The GENDO 48 shortlist 11 entries selected by the panel from the inaugural weekend competition. Open any finalist to step into the live design canvas. [View full gallery](/resources/gendo48-gallery) ![Richard Mulamootil, Nimra Butt — GENDO 48 canvas](https://assets.gendo.ai/marketing/gendo48-entries/84ce89f8-e327-4eb6-9aee-6a90372121cc.jpg) Shortlist Richard Mulamootil, Nimra Butt [](https://app.gendo.ai/project/84ce89f8-e327-4eb6-9aee-6a90372121cc) [Open canvas ↗](https://app.gendo.ai/project/84ce89f8-e327-4eb6-9aee-6a90372121cc)[Details](/resources/gendo48-gallery/richard-mulamootil-nimra-butt) ![Marcin Stós — GENDO 48 canvas](https://assets.gendo.ai/marketing/gendo48-entries/4dc90913-999a-4e35-93b7-47505703267c.jpg) Shortlist Marcin Stós [](https://app.gendo.ai/project/4dc90913-999a-4e35-93b7-47505703267c) [Open canvas ↗](https://app.gendo.ai/project/4dc90913-999a-4e35-93b7-47505703267c)[Details](/resources/gendo48-gallery/marcin-stos) ![Adrien Tolaini — GENDO 48 canvas](https://assets.gendo.ai/marketing/gendo48-entries/56ce1a98-1c64-40ce-8438-96d315fb3da0.jpg) Shortlist Adrien Tolaini [](https://app.gendo.ai/project/56ce1a98-1c64-40ce-8438-96d315fb3da0) [Open canvas ↗](https://app.gendo.ai/project/56ce1a98-1c64-40ce-8438-96d315fb3da0)[Details](/resources/gendo48-gallery/adrien-tolaini) ![Fabio Ramundo, Nadia Ferraioli, Federica Misseri — GENDO 48 canvas](https://assets.gendo.ai/marketing/gendo48-entries/82bc2d2d-d87c-4f96-948f-09a6b81fb821.jpg) Shortlist Fabio Ramundo, Nadia Ferraioli, Federica Misseri [](https://app.gendo.ai/project/82bc2d2d-d87c-4f96-948f-09a6b81fb821) [Open canvas ↗](https://app.gendo.ai/project/82bc2d2d-d87c-4f96-948f-09a6b81fb821)[Details](/resources/gendo48-gallery/fabio-ramundo-nadia-ferraioli-federica-misseri) ![Keerthana Udaykumar — GENDO 48 canvas](https://assets.gendo.ai/marketing/gendo48-entries/3165d30b-7875-4fbe-baf9-06491f77299f.jpg) Shortlist Keerthana Udaykumar [](https://app.gendo.ai/project/3165d30b-7875-4fbe-baf9-06491f77299f) [Open canvas ↗](https://app.gendo.ai/project/3165d30b-7875-4fbe-baf9-06491f77299f)[Details](/resources/gendo48-gallery/keerthana-udaykumar) ![AbdelRahman El-Khashab, Omar Abdulmoniem, Omar AboKefo — GENDO 48 canvas](https://assets.gendo.ai/marketing/gendo48-entries/e34ef9fe-e35a-41b5-b368-f0df12443216.jpg) Shortlist AbdelRahman El-Khashab, Omar Abdulmoniem, Omar AboKefo [](https://app.gendo.ai/project/e34ef9fe-e35a-41b5-b368-f0df12443216) [Open canvas ↗](https://app.gendo.ai/project/e34ef9fe-e35a-41b5-b368-f0df12443216)[Details](/resources/gendo48-gallery/abdelrahman-el-khashab-omar-abdulmoniem-omar-abokefo) ![Marco Fabri — GENDO 48 canvas](https://assets.gendo.ai/marketing/gendo48-entries/14befcaa-d3c0-46b0-8f9b-73717156ff6a.jpg) Shortlist Marco Fabri [](https://app.gendo.ai/project/14befcaa-d3c0-46b0-8f9b-73717156ff6a) [Open canvas ↗](https://app.gendo.ai/project/14befcaa-d3c0-46b0-8f9b-73717156ff6a)[Details](/resources/gendo48-gallery/marco-fabri) ![Utkan Yonter, Sara Olmez — GENDO 48 canvas](https://assets.gendo.ai/marketing/gendo48-entries/bb462c68-a05c-4802-955e-c8a9ebfd3b0a.jpg) Shortlist Utkan Yonter, Sara Olmez [](https://app.gendo.ai/project/bb462c68-a05c-4802-955e-c8a9ebfd3b0a) [Open canvas ↗](https://app.gendo.ai/project/bb462c68-a05c-4802-955e-c8a9ebfd3b0a)[Details](/resources/gendo48-gallery/utkan-yonter-sara-olmez) ![Joseph John, Rakesh Nair — GENDO 48 canvas](https://assets.gendo.ai/marketing/gendo48-entries/0b70e7e9-a38f-4f18-a0b4-782c6da7085f.jpg) Shortlist Joseph John, Rakesh Nair [](https://app.gendo.ai/project/0b70e7e9-a38f-4f18-a0b4-782c6da7085f) [Open canvas ↗](https://app.gendo.ai/project/0b70e7e9-a38f-4f18-a0b4-782c6da7085f)[Details](/resources/gendo48-gallery/joseph-john-rakesh-nair) [See all 11 finalists](/resources/gendo48-gallery/category/shortlist) Team Rules ## Designed for the way architecture is actually practised — in collaboration. ### Team size Solo entries are allowed, but teams of 2 or more are strongly preferred — the multiplayer canvas is the premise. Maximum team size is 5. ### Gendo accounts All team members must have active Gendo accounts before the brief drops on Thursday 23 April. Gendo Studio is not required. ### One submission One board URL per team, submitted via the competition form on the Gendo platform. The board is locked at the deadline. ### The iron must be legible Columns and the glazed lantern must appear clearly in your final images. Submissions where the iron has been entirely replaced or obscured will be disqualified. ### Free entry No entry fee. No credit limits. Gendo is fully unlocked for the 48 hours — generate, iterate and explore without restriction. ### No extensions Submission deadline is 23:59 GMT, Sunday 26 April. Work visible on the board after this time will not be assessed. ### Sharing Post your board on Instagram and LinkedIn with #Gendo48 and @gendo\_ai. People's Choice is tracked by board link reach over the competition period. ### Hashtag Tag #Gendo48OpenMarket to enter the conversation specifically about this edition. Why Enter ## Build your portfolio in public. Work like real practice. A competition designed around how architecture actually works — collaborative, constrained, and rewarding. 01 ### Free entry No cost to register or participate. 02 ### No render limits Unlimited Gendo canvas access for the full competition week. 03 ### Portfolio-ready work Every submission becomes a shareable, presentation-quality board. 04 ### Real practice conditions Constraints, deadlines, collaboration — the way architecture actually works. 05 ### Platform exposure Shortlisted work featured across Gendo's architect community. 06 ### Team flexibility Assemble a team of 2–5. Any mix of skills. ## 48 hours. One iron hall. Go. The competition is now closed. Shortlist announced 6 May 2026 — winners announced Monday 11 May 2026. Competition Closed Registration Closed [Download Brief](/GENDO48_OpenMarket_Brief.pdf) Submissions Closed ![Gendo](https://assets.gendo.ai/marketing/homepage/gendo-logo-white.png) [Terms & Conditions](/gendo-48/terms) © 2026 Gendo. All rights reserved.