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An architectural design competition is a type of design competition in which an organization that intends on constructing a new building invites architects to submit design proposals. The winning design is usually chosen by an independent panel of design professionals and stakeholders (such as government and local representatives). This procedure is often used to generate new ideas for building design, to stimulate public debate, generate publicity for the project, and allow emerging designers the opportunity to gain exposure. Architecture competitions are often used to award commissions for public buildings: in some countries rules for tendering public building contracts stipulate some form of mandatory open architectural competition.^[1]

Winning first prize in a competition is not a guarantee that the project will be constructed. The commissioning body often has the right to veto the winning design, and both requirements and finances may change, thwarting the original intention. The 2002 World Trade Center site design competition is an example of a highly publicized competition where only the basic elements of the winning design by Daniel Libeskind appeared in the finished project.

History

Architecture competitions have a more than 2,500-year-old history. The Acropolis in Athens was a result of an architectural competition in 448 B.C., as were several cathedrals in the Middle Ages. During the Renaissance, many projects initiated by the Church have been decided through design competition. Examples are the Spanish Steps in Rome or in 1419, a competition was held to design the dome of the Florence Cathedral, which was won by Filippo Brunelleschi. Open competitions were held in the late 18th century in several countries including the United States, Great Britain, Ireland, France and Sweden.^[2]

In 19th century England and Ireland there have been over 2,500 competitions in five decades, with 362 in London alone. The Royal Institute of British Architects drafted a first set of rules in 1839 and a set of formal regulations in 1872. The German Regulations were introduced in 1867. In the same period in the Netherlands, an association for the advancement of architecture (Maatschappij tot Bevordering van de Bouwkunst), started organising conceptual competitions with the aim of stimulating architects' creativity.^[3]

Competition for the design of the Peace Palace in The Hague, 1905

Competition entry by Otto Wagner

Entry by Franz Heinrich Schwechten

Entry by Hendrik Petrus Berlage

Building by competition winner Louis M. Cordonnier

Competition types

There are a variety of competition types resulting from the combination of following options:^[4]

Open competitions (international, national or regional) or limited, selected, non-open competitions, depending on who is allowed to participate.
Project competitions or ideas competitions: depending on the intention of building the project or generating new ideas.
Single-stage or two-stage competitions: depending on the scale and complexity of the competition.
Anonymous or cooperative procedures: anonymity supports greater objectivity during the evaluation and award-granting deliberations. In cooperative procedures, the authors are invited to make in-person presentations to the jury in order to explain their design strategies and allow individual discussion.
Seasonal competitions, with periodical calls, such as Europan.
Student design competitions.

Rules and guidelines

The rules of each competition are defined by the organiser; however, these often follow the guidelines provided by the International Union of Architects,^[5] respectively the relevant national or regional architecture organisation. Competition guidelines define roles, responsibilities, processes, and procedures within a competition^[6] and provide guidance on possible competition types, eligibility criteria, jury composition, participation conditions, payments, prizes, publication of results and other aspects.^[7]^[8]

In France and Germany design competitions are compulsory for all public buildings exceeding a certain cost.^[1]^[9]

Major international architectural design competitions

Most significant among architectural competitions are the ones which are internationally open, attract a large number of design submissions, and the winning design is built.

Competition Name	Location	Year	Winner(s)	Design entries
White House	Washington D.C.	1792	James Hoban	9
Walhalla memorial	Donaustauf	1816	Leo von Klenze
Houses of Parliament	London	1835	Charles Barry	98
Vienna Ring Road	Vienna	1858	Ludwig Förster - Friedrich August von Stache - Eduard van der Nüll and August Sicard von Sicardsburg	85
Hofoper	Vienna	1860	Eduard van der Nüll and August Sicard von Sicardsburg
Paris Opera	Paris	1860	Charles Garnier	171
Rijksmuseum	Amsterdam	1863	P.J.H. Cuypers
Law Courts	London	1866	George Edmund Street	11
Reichstag	Berlin	1872	Paul Wallot
Beurs	Amsterdam	1884	Hendrik Petrus Berlage
World Exhibition tower	Paris	1889	Gustave Eiffel
Austrian Postal Savings Bank	Vienna	1903	Otto Wagner
Stockholm City Hall	Stockholm	1903	Ragnar Östberg
Helsinki Central railway station	Helsinki	1903	Eliel Saarinen	21
Peace Palace	The Hague	1905	Louis Marie Cordonnier and J.A.G. van der Steur
Tribune Tower	Chicago	1922	John Mead Howells and Raymond Hood	260
League of Nations Building	Geneva	1926	Henri Paul Nénot & Julien Flegenheimer; Carlo Broggi; Camille Lefèvre; Giuseppe Vago	377
Lenin Library	Moscow	1928	Vladimir Shchuko
ANZAC War Memorial	Sydney	1929	Charles Bruce Dellit	117
Termini Station	Rome	1947	Leo Calini, Eugenio Montuori, Massimo Castellazzi, Vasco Fadigati, Achille Pintonello and Annibale Vitellozzi
Town Hall and Church	Seinäjoki	1950	Alvar Aalto
Sydney Opera House	Sydney	1955	Jørn Utzon	233
Toronto City Hall	Toronto	1956	Viljo Revell	500
Amsterdam City Hall	Amsterdam	1967	Wilhelm Holzbauer, Cees Dam, B. Bijvoet and G.H.M. Holt	804
Supreme Court	Tokyo	1968	Shin-ichi Okada	217
Centre Georges Pompidou	Paris	1971	Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers	681
San Cataldo Cemetery	Modena	1971	Aldo Rossi and Gianni Braghieri
Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank	Hong Kong	1979	Foster Associates
Parliament House of Australia	Canberra	1979	Romaldo Giurgola	329
Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie	Paris	1980	Adrien Fainsilber and Sylvain Mercier
La Grande Arche de la Défense	Paris	1982	Johan Otto von Spreckelsen	420
Parc de la Villette	Paris	1982	Bernard Tschumi	471
Opéra Bastille	Paris	1983	Carlos Ott	750
Carré d'Art	Nîmes	1984	Norman Foster	12
Shonandai Cultural Centre	Fujisawa	1985	Itsuko Hasegawa	215
New National Theatre	Tokyo	1984	Takahiko Yanagisawa and Tak Associates	228
Tokyo International Forum	Tokyo	1987	Rafael Viñoly	395
Kansai Airport	Osaka	1988	Renzo Piano Building Workshop	48
Jewish Museum	Berlin	1989	Daniel Libeskind	165
Bibliotheca Alexandrina	Alexandria	1989	Snøhetta	523
Bibliothèque Nationale de France	Paris	1989	Dominique Perrault	244
Centre for Japanese Culture	Paris	1989–1990	Masayuki Yamanaka, Kenneth Armstrong & Jennifer Smith	453
Guggenheim Museum Bilbao	Bilbao	1991	Frank Gehry
Kiasma Contemporary Art Museum	Helsinki	1992	Steven Holl	516
Austrian Cultural Forum	New York	1992	Raimund Abraham	226
Royal Danish Library	Copenhagen	1993	Schmidt Hammer Lassen	179
Osanbashi Yokohama International Passenger Terminal	Yokohama	1995	Foreign Office Architects	660
Felix Nussbaum Museum	Osnabrück	1995	Daniel Libeskind	296
Millennium Bridge	London	1996	Norman Foster, Sir Anthony Caro, and Ove Arup	200
Federation Square	Melbourne	1997	Lab Architecture Studio	177
GeoCenter Møns Klint	Møn Island	2002	PLH Architects	292
Philharmonie de Paris	Paris	2011	Jean Nouvel	98

References

^ ^a ^b Jacques Cabanieu: Competitions and Architectural Excellence, in Places 9:2, MIT, 1994, retrieved 2009-09-25
^ 130 Years of Finnish architectural competitions, retrieved 2009-09-23
^ De Jong, Cees and Mattie, Erik: Architectural Competitions 1792-1949, Taschen, 1997, ISBN 3-8228-8599-1
^ "Guidelines for Architectural Design Competitions" (PDF). Australian Institute of Architects. October 2003. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 12 September 2013.
^ UIA competition guide Archived 14 July 2009 at the Wayback Machine, retrieved 2009-10-10
^ Canadian competition rules Archived 9 October 2009 at the Wayback Machine, retrieved 2009-10-10
^ Finnish competition rules Archived 13 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine, retrieved 2009-10-10
^ Indian competition guidelines Archived 12 December 2009 at the Wayback Machine, retrieved 2009-10-10
^ German competition guidelines Archived 25 September 2015 at the Wayback Machine, retrieved 2015-09-24

External links

Architectural Competition - Nordic Symposium
Canadian Competitions Catalogue
DesignCompetition.com^{[permanent dead link]}, list of design competitions
DCC Directory of Architecture and Design Competitions, Awards, Associations and Design Residencies.[1], list of 1500 architecture and design competitions
CABE: Making Competitions Work
RIBA Competitions, the Royal Institute of British Architects dedicated RIBA Competitions unit
Wettbewerbe Aktuell, a German journal specialized in architectural competitions
Handbook of Architectural Design Competitions, American Institute of Architects (AIA)
[2] The Competition Project, Inc., a world-wide resource on competitions since 1990 with the periodical publication, COMPETITIONS (1991-2010) and COMPETITIONS Annual (2010-)