Architecture competitions
Architecture competitions are the open calls that a client makes to the profession to design a building, and they are the way the project is awarded when the client wants the work of several firms weighed against each other before the contract is signed. The competition is the reverse of the usual hire, the client setting the brief and the terms and the panel, and the firms answering with the design, the 3 to 7 shortlisted studios that carry the project to the decision. The entry is the design, the drawing and the model and the concept that the studio sends in, and it is the work judged against the others in the field, the competition being the way the building is chosen by the design rather than by the fee alone.
The 3 kinds of competition
The kinds of architecture competition are the 3 that the field runs, and they differ in who may enter and who pays. The open competition is the first, the one that any firm may enter, the call that the client publishes to the whole profession, and it is the one that the large public project uses, the civic building and the museum that the client wants the widest field on. The invited competition is the second, the one that the client sends to a set of firms it names, the 5 to 10 studios the client invites because of the work they have done, and it is the one that most of the competition is run as, the field the client chooses rather than the one that opens. The pro bono competition is the third, the one that runs without the fee to the entrants, the studio that sends the design for the honour and the record rather than the payment, and it is the one the young studio enters to build the portfolio.
| Kind | Who may enter | Who pays | How the field is set |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open competition | Any firm in the profession | Client pays the winner and the shortlist | Published to the whole profession |
| Invited competition | The 5 to 10 studios the client names | Client pays the winner and the shortlist | Chosen by the client for the work done |
| Pro bono competition | Any firm, the studio enters for the record | No fee, the studio takes the hours | Open to the young studio building a portfolio |
How the entry is judged
The judging of the architecture competition entry runs on the 3 steps the panel takes, and they are the screening, the shortlist and the decision. The screening is the first step, the panel reading every entry against the brief, the check that the design answers the question the client set and meets the terms the call states, and it is the step that cuts the field to those that qualify. The shortlist is the second step, the panel taking the 3 to 7 entries that answer the brief best, the designs that carry the project to the decision, and it is the step where the studio learns it is in the field that decides. The decision is the third step, the panel weighing the shortlisted designs against each other, the ranking that names the winner and the runners up, and it is the step where the contract goes to the one the panel sets first.
| Step | What the panel does | What the studio learns |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Screening | Reads every entry against the brief | Whether the entry qualifies |
| 2. Shortlist | Takes the 3 to 7 entries that answer the brief best | Whether it is in the field that decides |
| 3. Decision | Weights the shortlisted designs against each other | The winner and the runners up |
The 3 steps run in the order the table sets, and the entry moves through them in the field it is weighed in. The panel sets the field at the screening, cuts it at the shortlist to the 3 to 7 that carry the project, and ranks it at the decision, the ranking that names the winner.
The fee and the cost of entering
The fee of the architecture competition is the payment the client offers, and it runs on the 2 figures that set the economics of the entry, the fee to the winner and the expense to the entrant. The fee to the winner is the payment the client sets for the first place, the sum that covers the design and the contract that follows, and it is the figure the call states, the prize that the winning studio takes. The expense to the entrant is the cost the studio pays to send the design, the hours of the work the studio puts in, the drawing and the model and the concept that the entry carries, and it is the figure the studio weighs, the cost of the hours against the chance of the fee. In the open and the invited competition the client pays the shortlist a fee for the entry, the sum that covers part of the hours, and the winner takes the full fee, while in the pro bono the studio takes the cost of the hours for the record.
| Figure | Open competition | Invited competition | Pro bono |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fee to the winner | The full design fee the call states | The full design fee the call states | No fee |
| Shortlist fee | Covers part of the hours | Covers part of the hours | No shortlist fee |
| Expense to the entrant | The hours, partly covered by the shortlist fee | The hours, partly covered by the shortlist fee | The full hours, the record is the return |
The 2 figures the table sets are the economics the studio weighs, and they run on the kind of competition the client offers. In the open and the invited competition the client pays the shortlist a fee that covers part of the hours, and the winner takes the full design fee. In the pro bono the client pays no fee, and the expense to the entrant is the full hours of the entry, the record the studio builds the return.
How a studio decides to enter
The decision of the studio to enter the architecture competition runs on the 3 questions it asks, and they are the fit, the cost and the record. The fit is the first question, whether the brief is the work the studio does, the building and the scale and the place that the studio's portfolio carries, and it is the question that sets the chance, the entry the studio is likely to win against the one it is not. The cost is the second, the hours the entry takes against the fee the call offers, the work the studio puts in against the payment it may take, and it is the question the studio asks when the call is pro bono. The record is the third, the value of the entry to the portfolio, the design that the studio adds to the work it shows, and it is the question that carries the pro bono entry, the record the studio builds for the client it wants later.
The competition sits in the wider profession, and it draws on 4 lines the field runs on, the lines that set the work the entry answers and the record it builds.
- Architecture jobs and careers move through the competition, the winning entry the portfolio carries and the shortlisted work the client remembers, the path from the studio bench to the client call.
- Construction jobs and trades feed the brief, the build the design must carry and the hours the cost must cover, the trades the building needs and the scale the site allows.
- Architecture engineering runs under the entry, the structure and systems the design must stand on, the load the form carries and the service the building runs.
- Architecture vs building is the line the entry crosses, the discipline that designs the building against the building that stands, the work of the studio set against the thing it makes.