PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE

Architectural Design Competition Guidelines

BY NIKITA MADAN, IV YEAR, SEC-A
About design competitions
Architectural Competitions have a long history, and have produced
many extremely successful buildings. They attract great public
interest, and have led to the discovery of new talent and new ideas,
that could only be found by throwing an architectural project wide open
to competition.
The Council of Architecture Competition Guidelines provide a new
uptodate code that safeguards the interests of promoters and of
architects, and bring the system into line with present-day conditions.
To many clients - the choice of an architect presents no difficulty, but
to many others the choice is not easy. The client's desire to see the
sketch designs of several architects before he commissions him is
understandable, but to ask an architect to submit a sketch design is to
ask him to do the essential creative work for which he should be
properly paid.
If more than one or two architects are commissioned payment to each
would be expensive. Architects, however, are allowed to compete
against each other without charging a fee in an open architectural
competition held under Council of Architecture Guidelines.
Competition Guidelines as laid by the Council of Architecture protects
and safeguards the interest of both the promoter and the competitors.
While ensuring the promoter a design of high standard, it also ensures
that each competitor competes on like conditions and within the same
limitations.
The purpose of these Guidelines is to explain the architectural
competitions system, and to help the client who is thinking of
promoting a competition to make up his mind whether a competition is
the right answer to his architectural problem, and, if so, which kind of
competition would be suitable. It also tells, a would be promoter how
competitions are organised, and what are the responsibilities of
promoter.

Purpose of these competitions

Architectural Competitions give the promoters a choice from the best
viable project of high standard with a variety of approaches.

Competition brings out a wide range of ideas and concepts and gives
the promoter the choice of selecting that which fits into his specific
requirements.
 One of the principal aims of the competition is to explore hidden
talents among younger Architects. To many competitors, it often is the
first step to a successful career.

While ensuring the promoter a design of high standard and adjudged

as such by prominent Architects acting as Assessors, it also ensures
that each competitor competes on like conditions and within the same
limitations.

Both the promoter and the competitor are assured by these guidelines
that the entries will be judged only by those who are qualified to
interpret the competitors' presentations and to judge if the design
selected meets with the promoter's requirements.

The guidelines therefore lay considerable emphasis on the mandatory

requirement of Assessors and the qualifications.The appointment of the
Assessors should therefore be the immediate and first step the
moment the promoter decides to go in for a competition.

The President of the Council of Architecture, if so requested by the

promoter, may suggest a panel of names experienced in this type of
project proposed, for appointment as Assessors. Their responsibilities
commence with the approval of the brief of the competition project.
The Assessor may even help to prepare the brief.

For practical reasons, this responsibility is often taken by the Senior

Assessor who would then be available to advise the promoter on all
matters connected with the competition from the promoter's decision
to hold the competition till the final award.

Briefly the Assessors will:

1. Assist in the preparation and approval of the brief.

2. Study and understand the requirements of the Local

Authorities

3. Visit and examine the project site, if necessary.

4. Advise on the appointment of the Technical Advisers, if necessary.

5. Finalise the competition conditions.

6. Prepare the final report/award.

The project brief

The project brief is the most important document. The

success of the competition will depend upon the clarity and
the completeness of the brief. This can be achieved by a very
close cooperation between the Promoters and the Assessors
(or the Senior Assessor) in the preparation and finalisation of
the brief.

Further the participation of the Assessors in the preparation of

the brief will enable them to understand fully the intent of the
promoter. Also as qualified Architects they would be capable
of visualizing the development with reference to the
promoter's requirements, site conditions etc. and in
interpreting the competition entries in these terms.

For complicated projects such as Hospitals, Airports etc. which

are under constant development or projects encompassing
highly technical elements, a Technical Adviser would be
considered necessary in the initial stage to help the Promoter
and the Assessors to draw up the brief and subsequently to
advise the Assessors on the technical aspect of the
competition entries.

Once the promoter's requirements, the site conditions, the

requirements of the local authorities etc. have been
formulated into the competition brief, the Assessors (or the
Senior Assessor) can advise the promoter on the type of
competition that should be promoted.

Schedule 1 of the Competition Guidelines describes in detail

the types of competitions, which could be adopted and
successfully conducted.

The conditions for Architectural competition given in Schedule

3 specifies the procedure to be followed by the promoter for
conducting competitions and these conditions have been
 drawn up to ensure that each competitor competes on similar
conditions, that the selection is based entirely on merit, that
in appreciation of the effort that would be put in by each
competitor suitable and adequate prize monies and honoraria
are assured, that anonymity of the competitor is maintained
during the competition and that each competitor enjoys
Copyright and Right of Ownership.

Response from well established Architects as well as large

number of young Architects to an open competition can best
be assured by wide publicity. This is all the more essential for
projects which are of public interest.

Publicity could begin with the invitation of Architects to

participate through widely read media. This could be followed
by press conferences and finally by the publication of the
Assessor's report and public exhibition of all the entries.

Guidelines

ARTICLE 1 : ELIGIBILITY TO COMPETE:

Participation in any and all competitions shall be open to:

1. Architects i.e those who are registered with the Council of Architecture
under the Architects Act, 1972 on the date of announcement of the
competition and thereafter.

2. Firms in which all the partners shall be registered with the Council of
Architecture under the Architects Act, 1972 on the date of
announcement of the competition and thereafter.1

3. Students of a Teaching Institution, the qualifying examination of which

is recognised by the Council of Architecture provided that no member
of the staff of the said institution is the sole Assessor or in a jury of
three or more Assessors, only one Assessor is from the staff of the said
institution.

4. Neither the Promoter of the competition, Assessor/s engaged for the

competition nor any of their associate, partner or employee shall
 compete, assist a competitor or act as an architect or joint architect for
the competition project.

Competitor may be requested to submit a proof of qualification, copy of his

valid Registration certificate issued by the Council of Architecture, and in
case of a student, a certificate from the head of his institution which is
qualified as per 3 above.

ARTICLE 2 :Competition

1. The word 'Competition' shall apply to any competition described in

Schedule 1 and participation shall be open only to those qualified as
per Article 1.

2. The draft competition conditions including time table, registration fees,

prize monies/honoraria, board of assessors, the programme etc. of
competitions shall have been finalised within the framework of the
guidelines prescribed by the Council of Architecture before any
announcement is made by the promoter of the competition.

3. The conditions of the competitions shall clearly give:

Conditions based upon guidelines prescribed by the Council of
Architecture.
Type of Competition.
Purpose of the competition and intentions of the promoter.
Nature of the problem to be solved.
All practical and mandatory requirements to be met by the
competitors.
Number, nature, scale and dimensions of the documents, plan and/or
models.
Estimates if required in standard form issued with the conditions.
Nature of prizes.
Names of Assessors.
Necessary information required for conducting the competition.

4. The competition shall be conducted in English.

5. All competition designs shall be submitted anonymously.

ARTICLE 3 :BOARD OF ASSESSORS:

The Board of Assessors shall at all times include Architects who are
registered with the Council of Architecture and shall be in a majority of
atleast one.

ARTICLE 4 : Prizes, Honoraria & Mentions :

No competition shall be conducted without adequate premium/honoraria and
the competition conditions and the media announcements must state the
amounts and number of prizes for the open competition and the amount of
premium or honorarium to each competitor in a limited competition and in
the second stage of a two stage competition.

ARTICLE 5 : Copyright & Right of ownership :

Each competitor shall retain Copyright in his own competition design.

Each competitor shall retain the right of reproduction of his own

competition design.

ARTICLE 6 :
All competition designs including those disqualified by the Board of
Assessors shall be exhibited for atleast one week, together with a copy of the
signed report of the Board of Assessors. The exhibition shall be open to
public free of charge.

Registration Procedure

It is extremely important for competitors who may be asked to pay

substantial registration fees to know exactly when they are registered and
under what conditions the registration fee will be refunded. It is also
important for intending competitors to receive sufficient information when
they are invited to apply for the competition conditions to enable them to
judge whether the competition falls within the guidelines for architectural
competition of the Council of Architecture and whether they are capable of
tackling the problem set by the competition.

The Council of Architecture recommends 3 parts Procedure:

PART I

A descriptive leaflet and / or an advertisement in general and professional

media. These should include the following information:

1. Name of the Promoter

2. Purpose and nature of the competition. This should be carefully worded

to give a clear idea of the scope of the project whether it is a project or
an ideas competition, single or 2 stage competition and the type of
material that a competitor would be asked to submit.
 3. The prizes (or honoraria)

4. Names of Assessors

5. Persons eligible to compete

6. An approximate time table

7. The procedure for registration, the last date for registration and the
date by which the competition conditions would be made available by
the promoter.

Copies of this leaflet with a registration form attached (see model form)
should be available from the promoter.

PART II

An intending competitor makes an application the bodies listed in the

advertisement/leaflet for the registration form, completes the registration
form as per the instructions given on the form and sends it by registered post
to the promoter together with the registration fee (if any).

The registration form should be sent by the intending competitor within the
time stipulated. It will establish his eligibility to compete. The registration is
only complete when the promoter accepts the competitor's eligibility by
placing his name on the competition register and informs him in writing
accordingly.

PART III

The competition condition will be sent to the intending competitor by the

promoter only when his eligibility is established and his name is entered in
the competition register.