Going to be in New York City this week? You absolutely have to carve out time to start your Halloween festivities at the Center for Architecture's seventh annual Pumpkitecture competition.

Leading architecture and design firms in New York go "goard to goard" to create imaginative, structurally inspired pumkins in this lively, in-person event.

Judge the "gourd-geous" projects for yourself as the public is invited to cast their votes as the carvers compete for bragging rights and the coveted Pritzkerpumpkin!

Before unveiling the reigning champions and the masterpiece that "squashed" last year's competition, let's first explore the origins of pumpkin carving—when it began and why it became such a cherished tradition.

Beyond the beloved Irish coffee, we owe another tradition to the Emerald Islanders: pumpkin carving. This festive practice began in the U.S. during the 19th century.

They adapted their tradition of carving turnips and other root vegetables into lanterns to ward off spirits, switching to pumpkins because they were native to America and easier to carve.

The practice is rooted in the legend of Stingy Jack and the Celtic festival of Samhain, but pumpkins became central to the tradition in America around the mid-to-late 1800s.

The first published image of a pumpkin jack-o'-lantern appeared in 1867 (Harper's Weekly, Nov 23, 1867. Library of Congress, Washington, D.C., LC-USZ62-8391), but the tradition became widespread and directly tied to Halloween by 1886.

Pumpkin jack-o'-lanterns are now an iconic part of Halloween celebrations, used for both decoration and spirited fun.

Some of the most memorable architecturally carved pumpkins combine creative design, precision, and direct references to iconic architecture or urban motifs.

The Great Jack O'Lantern Blaze (also in New York) creates dazzling structures from over 10,000 hand-carved pumpkins, including a pumpkin Statue of Liberty, a 20-foot carousel, and pumpkin planetarium displays that mimic building façades and urban landmarks.

(c) 2013 Flickr user quintanomedia. Licensed under CC BY 2.0

Boston architectural illustrator Jeff Stikeman is renowned for narrative pumpkin carvings that depict buildings and elaborate city scenes without stencils, marrying architectural draftsmanship with Halloween creativity.

Back to Pumpkitecture 2025.

The first Pritzker Pumpkin went to SITU Studio for its "pumpkin-shaped void cast in concrete." Their team beat out some very notable ones, including AD100 firm Rockwell Group, Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG), and Studio Gang.

The current champions are Quennell Rothschild & Partners (competing as QReePY), who last year created The Mighty Carbon Cruncher.

Click the image to scroll through all the event images.

QReePY won't be creeping in to defend their title tonight from 6:00 to 8:30 pm, but get ready for a gourd time! SITU Studio, the OG pumpkin king, will be carving out its spot in a spooky showdown against eight other firms.

This year, the Archtober festival theme Shared Spaces isn't just a theme; it's a design brief.

Carvers are instructed to create joyous pumpkin public places and spaces!

Tickets are $15 and may be purchased through the Center for Architecture. 🎃👻