21/07/2026
Competition 2 of the Build Verdis Competition has been completed! We are proud to announce the winner, Arina Gnusareva.
The Build Verdis Competition was created to encourage Verdis’ community to visualise what the country could look like in the future. The program has just completed the 2nd competition, moving from 2D visualisations, to 3D. Competition 3 will be moving from 3D visualisations into an explorable, realistic map where the community can walk around and experience proposals of the country’s future.
Throughout Competition 2, participants created 3D masterplans of Verdis, inspired by the concepts developed during Competition 1. This includes transport hubs, accommodation, civic and government districts, public spaces, and other essential elements.
The submissions we received showed a wide range of approaches to 3D visualising the country’s future.
However, as outlined in the Build Verdis Competition terms and conditions, all submissions must meet a specific professional standard in order to be eligible for submission. While we greatly appreciate the effort and enthusiasm shown by all participants, the majority of entries did not meet this standard. As a result, there will be no second or third place winners for Competition 2.
Thank you to all participants for your contributions and we congratulate Arina Gnusareva on her outstanding work.
The Winning Entry
Arina Gnusareva provided an outstanding 42 page architecture statement, and a 56 page masterplan entry surrounding her visualisation of what Verdis could look like in the future, taking inspiration from the winners in Competition 1. She particularly focused on protecting Verdis’ nature, being a regenerative city-state.
Section 19 of Gnusareva’s Architecture Statement – Closing Statement
Verdis is proposed as an architecture of the regenerative city: low-tech on the skin and high-tech in the bone, quiet and green to the touch and intelligent underneath. It is built from a single, disciplined language that any building in the nation can speak, drawn from the vernacular and the materials of the Danube, and designed to grow more beautiful as it ages.
The analysis in this statement shows that the vision is not only evocative but achievable: the land divides to protect nature while housing a nation; the density and unit mix deliver around five thousand residents in humane, walkable neighbourhoods; the movement network removes the car; the materials and structure cut embodied carbon substantially; and the whole can be delivered, phase by phase, over the coming decades.
It is, above all, a city the size of a human being — roughly one and a half kilometres end to end, on foot, without cars, where everything that matters is within a short walk and every home has its piece of the outside. The architecture does not stand apart from that ambition; it is how the ambition is delivered, brick by timber by stone.
– Arina Gnusareva
You can view Gnusareva’s presentation and architecture statement using the links below.
Architecture Statement
Presentation
Competition 3 registrations open!
Competition 3 (3D visualisation to explorable) registrations will be opening immediately, with the same prizes offered in Competition 1 and 2. The competition officially starts on 22 July 2026, with the deadline being 22 August 2026. Registrations to participate will remain open until 22 August 2026.
First Place
- Chance to apply for citizenship
- 500 Euros cash prize
Second Place
- 150 Euros cash prize
- Free e-Residency Plus (1 year)
Third Place
- Free e-Residency Plus (1 year)
You can register at https://build.vrdgov.org/compete
Verdisian Government