Created and developed by Zavod BIG, BIG SEE is a platform connecting architects, designers, and creative communities across Southeast Europe through a wide range of programmes, events, and initiatives. From recognising outstanding achievements in architecture and design to creating opportunities for exchange, presentation, and collaboration, BIG SEE brings together different parts of the creative ecosystem.

One of the platform’s focuses is supporting emerging architects and young practices by connecting local creative scenes with wider professional communities. Through BIG SEE In Events, BIG SEE Perspectives, and the BIG SEE Festival, this process creates a pathway from local discovery and recognition to international presentation and exchange.

Architecture and design are shaped by the environments in which they emerge. Across Southeast Europe, young architects and emerging practices are developing distinctive ideas influenced by local cultures, landscapes, materials, and contemporary challenges. Yet many of these voices remain known primarily within their own communities.

By engaging with local creative scenes, BIG SEE creates opportunities to discover new voices, highlight emerging approaches, and connect promising practices with a broader regional and international audience.

BIG SEE In Events: discovering emerging voices in local communities

The process begins with BIG SEE In Events, a new series of local professional events created to connect emerging architecture and design practices with established professionals, businesses, media, and decision-makers in cities across Southeast Europe.

The first editions of the initiative are BIG SEE In Tirana and BIG SEE In Bucharest, bringing the BIG SEE platform closer to local architectural and design communities and creating direct connections with the people shaping each creative scene.

Each edition starts from its specific context, the practices, projects, and questions that define the local environment. Through presentations, discussions, and exchange, BIG SEE In Events create a space where emerging and established practices meet, ideas are shared, and new professional connections are formed.

By engaging directly with local contexts, BIG SEE strengthens its understanding of the diversity of architectural and design scenes across Southeast Europe while creating opportunities for promising practices to become part of a wider regional and international network.

BIG SEE Perspectives: bringing young practices into a wider dialogue

Within the BIG SEE platform, BIG SEE Perspectives is dedicated to emerging architects, young practices, and creative voices from Southeast Europe.

The programme identifies and highlights new generations of practitioners through a network of local nominators: architects, designers, professors, curators, and other professionals who recognise promising voices within their own countries and creative communities.

Selected by this network, BIG SEE Perspectives participants gain visibility within a wider professional context and become part of an international exchange connecting different countries, approaches, and architectural cultures.

The focus is not only on completed projects, but also on the ideas, values, and perspectives behind the work, the ways in which emerging architects and designers respond to their environments and contribute to the future of the field.

The newly developed BIG SEE In Events initiative supports this broader mission by strengthening connections with local architectural and design communities across Southeast Europe. By creating spaces for dialogue, exchange, and visibility within individual countries, BIG SEE In Events contribute to a stronger connection between local creative scenes and the wider BIG SEE platform.

BIG SEE Festival: presenting emerging talent on an international stage

The journey reaches its international context at the BIG SEE Festival, where selected creators and awarded projects become part of a broader professional gathering of architects, designers, experts, companies, and the wider creative community.

As part of the Festival programme, BIG SEE Perspectives Awards recognise emerging architects and designers, providing them with visibility and an opportunity to present their work within an international environment.

The Festival brings together BIG SEE Awards, Innovations Trade Show, Conference, exhibitions, and professional exchange, creating a meeting point where emerging practices can connect with established professionals and the wider architecture and design community.

From regional discovery to international visibility

The connection between BIG SEE In Events, BIG SEE Perspectives, and the BIG SEE Festival represents a continuous process: exploring local creative scenes, supporting emerging practitioners, and creating opportunities for international recognition.

By travelling into different communities across Southeast Europe, BIG SEE identifies and connects with new voices that contribute to the future of architecture and design in the region.

The strength of this approach lies in creating a bridge between local contexts and international dialogue, allowing emerging architects and young practices to move from being discovered within their own environments to becoming part of a wider creative community.

From local recognition to international visibility, BIG SEE creates connections that help emerging architects and young practices find their place in the wider architectural and design conversation.