Love them or hate them, design competitions elicit strong emotions from architects and design professionals. But very little hard data exists to guide the people who enter them or those who organize them. “Some designers complain about competition organizers who write vague briefs, don’t respect intellectual property, and make everyone work for free,” says Van Alen Institute (VAI) competitions director Jerome Chou, adding, “But designers also tell us competitions offer opportunities to take on interesting challenges, to experiment, and to work in new sectors.”
Over the course of its 120-year history, VAI has organized hundreds of competitions and, as Chou says, “sees both the positive and negative sides of the system.” This week the New York–based organization, in partnership with Architectural Record, is launching a Design Competition Survey to formally identify those pros and cons. The survey also invites suggestions to improve the practice.
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