Perusing ArchDaily the other day, I was struck by an interesting post from Charles Holland, architect and principal of London-based office FAT.
Here is the link: http://www.archdaily.com/80663/dear-other-architects/
Holland tells us that it is a bad idea to enter design competitions. In summary, he suggests that competitions create unnecessary stress and work, that it is silly to give away your work and ideas for free, that working in this way creates a culture of expectation and entitlement amongst the people who would otherwise pay for what you do, and that the entire system of conventions regulating design competitions are inherently flawed.
While I imagine that much of what Holland says is true (as a second year student I don't really have any experience in the brutal world of architecture offices), I thought it might be interesting to give a point-by-point list of how competitions might benefit the architectural profession and people in general, even if there isn't a quantifiable outcome at the end of it.
So: Why design competitions are good. Or at least, why they aren’t bad.
- It’s like training. Following the brouhaha upon release of Malcom Gladwell’s ‘Outliers’, the figure of ‘10,000 hours’ was banded around by various forms of media as they key to any kind of success. After all – practice makes perfect, right? The same goes for architecture. While a successful outcome is what most people are after in a competition situation, especially if you’re trying to make a buck, design competitions are an opportunity to test elements of process, design and representation that can be used in other projects. So even if an entry isn’t a total success, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the process behind it was a total failure.
- Exposure. Perhaps the number one reason why firms enter architecture competitions is the chance to get noticed. Take this competition for a museum in Rio de Janeiro for example – even though DS+R were the eventual winners, the work of other entrants is displayed with just as much emphasis. For a younger, smaller firm working its way up through the ranks, there aren’t many better opportunities where architects are able to successfully display their work and ideas at the same level as more established practitioners, to such a wide audience, outside of built work and commissioned projects. http://www.archdaily.com/31828/diller-scofidio-renfro-win-competition-for-the-new-image-and-audio-museum-in-rio-de-janeiro/.
- Architecture is a discourse. One of Holland’s main points was that we shouldn’t give away our work for free, or work for free on something that we’re just going to give away. Work equals time equals money. This split in priorities – between output and outcome - characterizes the shifting nature of architecture as a profession. The problem occurs when process-driven constructs like competitions become monetized and adversarial. If you view every unit of work as an object to be billed, it seems natural that you would not ‘work’ for ‘free’. However, I’m not entirely sure that it is good to look at the design process as a series of transactions. In order for architecture to progress as a discipline it needs to reflect upon itself and respond to various stimuli outside of the monetary boundaries imposed by an incentivised market system. Ideas are as much the product of discourse as they are a form of currency – one cannot exist without the other. Competitions exist as a platform for such discourse to take place, within and amongst both architects and the wider public sphere. Despite the financial outcomes, competitions are both a discussion a process of elimination.
Admittedly, I only came up three four points to Holland’s thirteen, and perhaps this is all just from an idealistic student. It’s great for me to talk about how great it is to design a space station that critiques deconstructivism and American foreign policy when I don’t have kids to feed and bills to pay. I still think that there is some value in competitions though. It’s important that architecture retains something slightly outside of the real and the everyday to maintain its relevance.
All that said – I also know enough about all-nighters and lack of sleep that I could totally go for a comfortable 9-5, with my boss taking me down to the pub at the end of the day when I’m done with school here.
