Architecture students are preparing for sleep deprivation as they count down to Superstudio, a 24 hour design ideas competition, which kicks off tonight.

This weekend students from Victoria University, Auckland University and UNITEC will gather at Victoria's School of Architecture and Design to compete, with the top prize of return airfares to the Venice Architecture Biennale to spur them on.

Teams of three in eight venues across New Zealand and Australia will receive a secret brief on Friday night and work towards presenting their design concept the following evening. To encourage the studio environment there will be lectures relating to the brief's topic at the beginning of the event, tutors to assist students throughout the studio, and a jury to critique the student's responses at the end of the studio. "This isn't about pitting universities against each other," says Matt Watson, President of the Student Architecture Network New Zealand (SANNZ), which organises the competition in New Zealand. "We mix up the teams and encourage them to be collegial and share ideas."

Superstudio is designed to encourage debate, critique and investigation into an architectural issue. It is also designed to allow students to engage with each other and with architects and designers outside the confines of architecture school.

Superstudio started as a competition at the University of Sydney and was made a national event in Australia by Student Organised Network for Architecture (SONA) in 2006. In 2007 Superstudio went international for the first time with the event being held in Australia and New Zealand simultaneously.

Note: Members of the public are welcome to come in over the course of the competition. The presentation of the designs will be held at the Victoria University School of Architecture and Design from 6-7pm on Saturday 1 August, with the winners announced at 8.30pm.