The Open Architecture Challenge is an international design competition that's hosted every two years.  This year, Architecture for Humanity and Orient Global hosted the competition to bring the architecture, design, and engineering community together with students and teachers to envision the classroom of the future.  After receiving over a thousand designs, each submission was rated on feasibility, sustainability, innovation in design, and overall design quality.  Now, after four rounds, there are eight finalists and one of these will win in September.  Check these designs out and tell us which is your favorite:

Project: Teksing Bamboowood School
Design team: Petr Kostner, Martina Sobotkova, Sona Huberova (Czech Republic)

Project: Classroom for the saltpan community
Design Team: Rajesh Kapoor, Prashant Solanky, Bharat Karamchandani, Kiran Vaghela (Gujarat, India)

Project: Adaptable Hillside Classrooms
Design Team: Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios & Architecture for Humanity UK; Engineering Team: Buro Happold

Project: Teton Valley Community School
Design team: Section Eight Design (Idaho, United States)

Project: A Sustainable Community Classroom
Design Team: Gifford (London, UK)

Project: House In The Wood
Design team: Built Form, LLC / Northwestern University Settlement House (Chicago, United States)

Project: Justified Architecture in a Landscape of Transformation
Design Team: Arquitectura Justa – Wolfgang Timmer, Fabiola Uribe, T. Luke Young (Bogota, Colombia)

Project: The Blurred Classroom
Design team: Gensler (New York, United States)

You may recall, there's another school design out there that's been designed to be the classroom of the future, too.  Project Frog is on to something with their design — the company has funding and is building a net zero energy school in Connecticut as we speak.  But that's another story …