A rchitectural competitions are no longer simply professional praxis for

architects and a recurrent exercise for students at schools of architec-

ture. The competition has also turned into a field of research, and this
book is part of an effort constituting the architectural competition as a field
for studies with scholarly claims. The first doctoral dissertations on competi-
tions were presented in the 1990s in Europe. Another clear manifestation of
research interest is the growth and spread of scholarly conferences on archi-
tectural competitions.
The contributions to the book show in a convincing way that the architec-

Architectural

– Histories and Practice

Architectural Competitions
tural competition is an interesting and rewarding object for research. The
competition processes bear rich empirical findings to which one may refer for
knowledge about architecture as professional practice, as educational subject
and research platform. The architectural competition illustrates processes
of change in society that are technical and organizational as well as social; it

Competitions
shows up constructive dilemmas, the borderline of rationality and the relative,
creative insecurity of knowledge production in architectural projects.

– Histories
Authors
Jonas E Andersson, PhD Kristian Kreiner, Professor
Mats T Beckman, Tekn Lic João Rocha, PhD
Gerd Bloxham Zettersten, Associate Professor Magnus Rönn, Associate Professor
Pedro Guilherme, PhD Candidate Judith Strong, Consultant
Thomas Hoffmann-Kuhnt, Dipl. Ing. Charlotte Svensson, PhD Student

and Practice
Maarit Kaipiainen, PhD Student
 Elisabeth Tostrup, Professor
Antigoni Katsakou, PhD Leentje Volker, PhD
and Magnus Rönn
Gerd Bloxham Zettersten
Editors: Jonas E Andersson

isbn
ISBN 978-91-85249-16-9
978-91-85249-16-9

RIO Editors: Jonas E Andersson

Gerd Bloxham Zettersten
KULTUR
KULTUR
KULTUR
KOOPERATIV
KOOPERATIV
KOOPERATIV and Magnus Rönn
Architectural Competitions
– Histories and Practice
Architectural
Competitions
– Histories
and Practice
Editors: Jonas E Andersson
Gerd Bloxham Zettersten
and Magnus Rönn

The Royal Institute of Technology

and Rio Kulturkooperativ
Buying the book?
Contact: [email protected]
http://www.riokultur.se

architectural competitions – histories and practice

Publishers: The Royal Institute of Technology and Rio Kulturkooperativ
Homepage: http://www.riokultur.se/
Editors: Jonas E Andersson, Gerd Bloxham Zettersten and Magnus Rönn
Authors: Maarit Kaipiainen, Antigoni Katsakou, Jonas E Andersson, Magnus Rönn, Judith Strong,
Pedro Guilherme, João Rocha, Leentje Volker, Kristian Kreiner, Charlotte Svensson, Elisabeth
Tostrup, Thomas Hoffmann-Kuhnt and Mats T Beckman
Cover image by Antigoni Katsakou from the exhibition Concours Bien Culturel
Financial support: Estrid Ericsons Stiftelse, Stiftelsen Helgo Zettervalls fond, Stiftelsen J. Gust. Richert
Stiftelsen, Lars Hiertas minne and Danish Building Research Institute, SBi at Aalborg University
ISBN: 978-91-85249-16-9
Graphic design: Optimal Press
Printing: Nordbloms tryck, Hamburgsund, Sweden 2013
Contents
Editors’ comments 7
jonas e andersson, gerd bloxham zettersten and magnus rönn

Chapter 1: 23
Architectural Competitions in Finland
maarit kaipiainen

Chapter 2: 37
The competition generation.
Young professionals emerging in the architectural scene of Switzerland through
the process framework of housing competitions – a case study
antigoni katsakou

Chapter 3: 67
Architecture for the “silvering” generation in Sweden
– Architecture competitions as innovators for the elderly
jonas e andersson

Chapter 4: 107
Experience of prequalification in Swedish competitions for new housing for the
elderly
magnus rönn

Chapter 5: 135
Prequalification in the UK and design team selection procedures
judith strong

Chapter 6: 159
Architectural competitions as lab
– a study on Souto de Moura’s competition entries
pedro guilherme and joão rocha
Chapter 7: 193
Facing the challenges of organising a competition
– the Building for Bouwkunde case
leentje volker

Chapter 8: 217
Constructing the Client in Architectural Competitions.
An Ethnographic Study of Architects’ Practices and the Strategies They Reveal
kristian kreiner

Chapter 9: 245
Inside the jury room.
Strategies of quality assessment in Swedish architectural competitions
charlotte svensson

Chapter 10: 263

High ideals on a tricky site.
The 1939 Competition for the New Government Building in Oslo
elisabeth tostrup

Chapter 11: 291

The balancing act between historicism and monument preservation
in some international competitions in Germany
thomas hoffmann-kuhnt

Chapter 12: 319

The architecture competition for the Stockholm – Bromma Airport, 1934
mats t beckman
andersson, bloxham zettersten & rönn: editors’ comments

Editors’ Comments
jonas e andersson
gerd bloxham zettersten
and magnus rönn

To be in the position of presenting accounts that are exciting as well as instruc-

tive and informative on the subject of architectural competitions is a pleasure.
Something has happened. Competitions are no longer simply professional
praxis for architects and a recurrent exercise for students at schools of architec-
ture. The competition has also turned into a field of research, and this book is
part of an effort constituting the architectural competition as a field for stud-
ies with scholarly claims. The competition as a field of research reflects a new
phase of development with an inception in an academic interest and in a need
for research. It is surprising that research into architectural competitions has
been so limited until now, in particular when considering the fact that the mod-
ern architectural competition is an institution in function in Europe for more
than 150 years, having played a central role, both for practicing architects and in
architectural education. The introduction of competition rules during the late
19th century and at the beginning of the 20th coincides with architects getting
professionally organized in associations and unions.
The first doctoral dissertations on architectural competitions were appar-
ently presented in the 1990s at institutions for architecture in Sweden and
Norway. Now there are around fifteen academic dissertations and a number of
ongoing doctoral projects in Canada and Europe. Another clear manifestation
of research interest is the growth and spread of scholarly conferences on archi-
tectural competitions. Until now four conferences have been carried out with a
start in Stockholm in 2008, followed by Copenhagen in 2010, and Montreal and
Helsinki in 2012. A fifth scholarly conference focusing on architectural compe-
titions will be taking place in Delft in 2014.
The driving force behind research interest may be found in the deregula-
tion and market orientation of the building constructions sector during the

architectural competitions – histories and practice 7

andersson, bloxham zettersten & rönn: editors’ comments

1980s and the reregulation in the 1990s through the European Parliament and
Council directive (2004/18/EC), regulations that have been transferred into the
national legislation of the member countries. The architectural competition is
seen as a way of benefitting competitive engagement. Through revisions of the
legislation after 1994, the competition has acquired a double role, becoming
both (a) a method for producing good solutions to design problems in archi-
tecture and urban design, and (b) a formal instrument for the procurement of
services for public architecture commissions. The news here is not that prizes in
competitions lead to commissions, but the fact of the directive which is a joint
one for the member countries in Europe. According to Swedish application of
the EU directive the demand for a competition is met if at least three firms or
teams participate. The inner market may also be limited by national language
requirements in public tendering.
A controversial regulation in directive 2004/18/EC is the demand for ano-
nymity in article 74, stating that the jury must not know the identity of the au-
thors of the competition entries. The good intentions behind this demand are
evident. It is the professional qualities of the competition proposals that en-
gender the decision—nothing else. The commission must go to the authors of
the best overall solution to the design problem. A competent jury, detached in
relation to the competing architects, must find the winner on the basis of the
merits of the proposals. The jury members must not allow themselves to be
affected by the reputation, education, experience or financial status of the com-
petitors. But the demand for anonymity has a down side. The organizers begin
to look around for alternative ways of public procuring. The rise of dialogue
competitions in Denmark is a way of bypassing anonymity. Another outcome is
the development of forms of procedure, similar to competitions but outside of
competition rules and the control of the architects’ organizations.
Supported by legislation, organizers can now make far-reaching demands on
the architectural practices in their invitations to prequalification in competitions
with a limited number of participants, but the will to compete within architec-
ture and urban design cannot be forced. That urge is not to be found in regula-
tions or administrative directives, but in the engagement of architects and social
planners. The spirit of competing has a background in the Jesuit schools, known
for their efficient and competitive education. Sancta Æmulatio, the holy urge to
compete, was encouraged by giving each pupil an æmulus with whom he should
compare himself and who had as his task to stimulate learning (Liedman, 2007).

8 architectural competitions – histories and practice

andersson, bloxham zettersten & rönn: editors’ comments

Through continual comparisons the students were to be spurred on to improve

their performance, which was training in being both colleagues and rivals.
We know more about the role of the competition in the French education
of architects in the 18th century, a form of learning that was refined in the
academies and copied around Europe and the US. The essential element of
teaching at the Académie d’architecture and the École des Beaux Arts was the
annual Grand Prix competition (Bergdoll, 1989; Svedberg, 1994; Wærn, 1996).
The students were to make an independent first sketch which was then devel-
oped in studios under the supervision of a master into detailed drawing on
wall charts. The pedagogical point is clear. Through the sketch the individual
abilities of the students were tested to quickly analyse the competition prob-
lem at hand, devising a fundamental idea as a basis for design. The design
proposal was to show if the task had been solved in a qualified way, and this
was crucial for the move up into the next form. The charette method, initiated
at the Paris academies of the 19th century, is a modern variant of the work
method at the École des Beaux Art, denoting the practice of solving complex
design problems in intensive sittings. The competitions gave the academies
a status as an international meeting place in the 18th century. Socialization
into competition culture was started, as we have seen, already during the ar-
chitects’ education when the competition became a central exercise in the
learning process.
Traces of the French tradition of competitions survive in present-day archi-
tectural education in the recurrent student exhibitions of exam projects. The
need to compare the design projects, evaluating their quality, has also laid the
basis for architectural critique as a method for the evaluation and grading of
proposals. In the French tradition jury members were invited to examine and
comment on the students’ solutions of a yearly completion task.
Participating in architectural competitions is associated both with a playful
learning process, delight, collaboration and with competition in dead earnest.
The tension of the chase for the fundamental idea that will resolve the design
project has been testified to among practicing architects. The time for the hand-
ing in of the proposals is approaching irrevocably. When the competition pro-
posals have been sent in and exhibited, the members of the jury walk around in
the room to acquaint themselves with the design solutions. A sense of curiosity
and delight fills the exhibition room. A new world is being opened before the
eyes of the jury. The future is at stake.

architectural competitions – histories and practice 9

andersson, bloxham zettersten & rönn: editors’ comments

Part of competition culture is making the proposals public through exhi-

bitions, where they become the object of critical review in a form of worthy
emulation of each other. Competition programs, competition proposals and
jury statements are possible to download from home pages. The public pres-
entation of architectural projects in competitions via home pages, journals and
exhibitions lend communal character to knowledge production. Education and
professional praxis combine in the creation of a professional identity where
competitions play a key role with their own rules, secretaries and competition
boards to supervise the conditions of competitions. It is this professional con-
trol that is being challenged by new competition forms and administrative di-
rectives in public procurement acts.
The architectural competition is a future oriented production of knowledge
through architectural projects. From that perspective the competition takes on
an appearance of futuristic archeology. The future is being investigated with
the support of design—not how it is, but how it could be if the proposals were
to be implemented. What is important here is that the proposals contain dif-
ferent modes of solution for the same competition design problem. There is
no given answer, no “correct solution”, but instead the potential of alternative
good solutions to the competition task at hand. For this reason doubt and lack
of certainty is a constant companion in the jury’s examination of the design
proposals.
That architectural competitions generate knowledge is hardly a controversial
statement. Nor is the assumption that the learning process implies the handling
of drawings and illustrations as though they constitute built environment. It is
when we take up the question of the nature of knowledge, how knowledge may
be given form and communicated that the question becomes controversial. It is
characteristic of architectural projects that knowledge is embedded in the im-
age and is communicated via drawings, illustrations and diagrams. The aim is
for the images to be self-explanatory. Sometimes brief explanations in text are
needed. However, the descriptive text has no value in itself, but is intended only
to clarify the knowledge that is already deposited in the images and being con-
veyed through visual impressions. It is an already formed environment which is
being revealed to the observer as design. The pictures transmit experience. The
text on the other hand is intellectual in character, appealing to reason. Conse-
quently, text and image represent two very different understandings of know-
ledge which are both to be found in architectural competitions, and which are

10 architectural competitions – histories and practice

andersson, bloxham zettersten & rönn: editors’ comments

made manifest in the mode of communication and visualization of knowledge

to the observer.
Architectural competitions are based on three fundamental presuppositions:
(a) that drawings and visualizations may transmit credible knowledge and (b)
that quality in architecture is something that may be seen and transmitted via
images. And in a principal view, (c) that architectural projects is a practicable
method for investigating the future and testing ideas. Through visualizations
the observer gets a fast and clarifying, efficient and easy to grasp overall pic-
ture of the architectural projects. Learning lies in the meeting with the image.
The idea of efficient evaluation, too, is included in the competitions tradition. A
group of competent practitioners is assumed to be able to read the imagery of
architecture, understand the architectural projects and point to qualities, omis-
sions and non-clarities in the proposals. That is how the basis for jury proce-
dure looks.
Faith in the architectural competition as a professional tool for the produc-
tion of knowledge assumes that organizers may trust the judgments made by
competent members of a jury, in spite of the fact that the proposals represent
only a certain number of possible visions of the future. It is not examples of
“real” environment but visualized proposals that are being tested. However,
computer graphics make it possible for the illustrations of an architectural pro-
ject to have photographic precision, looking like pictures of real built environ-
ment. We are easily fooled by the degree of detail. Therefore good judgment
is central in the evaluation of proposals in competitions and their simplified
interpretations of the future. Good judgment is the product of experience, ex-
amples, praxis and training. We cannot read up on good judgment; instead a
rich repertoire of cases is required that may be reused as experience, principles
and patterns for the development of solutions in new situations.
Thus there is a movement in competition processes that makes the trans-
mission of knowledge shift between text and image. The centre of gravity varies.
The introductory invitation to architectural practices is a brief text description
of the competition’s design task and its conditions. The competition programs,
too, convey information as text on the task at hand with a supplementary mate-
rial of maps and pictures of the site. The competition proposals on the other
hand employ the image as their principal source of knowledge. So there is a
clear displacement of the centre of gravity. The proposals for solutions to the
design problems are visualized in drawings, illustrations and models. At this

architectural competitions – histories and practice 11

andersson, bloxham zettersten & rönn: editors’ comments

stage the image is the central element in the transmission of knowledge. With-
out images, no design. After that the text takes over. The jury statement is a
written report accounting for the outcome of the evaluation. Visualizations of
awarded proposals are included, but only for the purpose of illustrating the
conclusions of the jury. The text is the medium for transmission of informa-
tion. It is by reading the jury statement that we learn which of the architectural
projects in the competition that has been awarded 1st prize.
As matters stand, in text-based communication images are used to illustrate
the knowledge that is deposited in written language. The text is king, power
lies in the word. Architectural projects represent a diametrically opposed con-
ception of knowledge. Now it is the image that transmits knowledge about the
future. Knowledge is being visualized. The eye is given the deciding function.
Seeing the quality in an architectural project has priority to the descriptive text.
In order to be successful in architectural competitions the competing archi-
tects must catch the attention of the jury, and that is not done through written
language, but by design. In the meeting with the proposals the jury sees the
architectural projects as a built environment with qualities, non-clarities and
omissions. In a mental process, the jury members enter the imagery, trying to
experience the drawings as real-life environment.
A common denominator for most article contributions in this book is that
they describe an epistemological axis activated through the competition pro-
cess. The epistemological axis in competitions encompasses both text and im-
agery as empirical findings. This combined knowledge, which the texts and the
images supply, makes it possible to define a typology, in which the architectural
projects of the competitions describe principal solutions to specific design
problems. Through this analysis, we may point to patterns, lines of develop-
ment and breaks in trends.
Therefore we open the book by bringing out competitions as viewed from
a national horizon. The first contribution by Maarit Kaipiainen is a survey of
architectural competitions in Finland. Since the 1870s about 2000 competitions
have been organized in Finland. Kaipiainen’s contribution is based on a cata-
logue that was compiled for the exhibition on architectural competitions shown
at the Museum of Finnish Architecture in Helsinki in 2008. Here we have an
overall description of the competitions system. An interesting difference from
other European countries is the fact that the competition rules contain a spe-
cific paragraph laying down the handing over of the competition material to the

12 architectural competitions – histories and practice

andersson, bloxham zettersten & rönn: editors’ comments

museum of architecture. The wording goes: “In a design competition, the con-
ditions and the judges’ report, including attachments, but with the exception
of classified portions, shall be filed in a reliable way. In the case of architectural
competitions the competition material shall be filed by the Museum of Finn-
ish Architecture” (SAFA Competition Rules, 2008). Since the rules are the same
ones for architects and their clients, this paragraph may be interpreted as a sign
that the competition results are viewed as a collective source of knowledge that
needs to be documented and made available to research.
The second article is an investigation of the contemporary competitions cul-
ture in Switzerland. Antigoni Katsakou gives us a tale of success. Every year c.
200 competitions are carried through in Switzerland. From the point of view of
architecture this country is inspiring and instructive. Through Antigoni Katsa-
kou’s contribution we get an insight into a specific competitions system mak-
ing it possible for young architects to win competitions, start up architectural
practices and begin to build their professional careers. Switzerland has a long
tradition of competitions and an advanced competitions system that evidently
encourages professional renewal. But here, too, external forces challenge the
tradition. One threat is the changeover from open competitions to invited ones,
making it hard for young architects to succeed in the competitive battle against
established architectural offices with good references and a sound reputation.
The competition as a tool for tendering makes for an administrative and legal
displacement of the centre of gravity. Katsakou also points to the new modes of
representation, computer-based images, as an internal challenge. The contest-
ants produce visualizations that are increasingly true to life in their architec-
tural projects of future examples of environment, which makes clients believe
that the conceptual proposals are ready to be built. The competition projects
are rendered as elaborated ones before the jury has chosen the winner and the
organizer has given the 1st prize winner the design commission. The new ways
of visualizing architectural projects have a photographic precision that affects
both the image and the understanding of its contents.
The third contribution to the book gives an account of the way in which the
architectural competition in Sweden has been used as a sociopolitical instru-
ment in the development of appropriate dwellings for an aging population, a
challenge that Sweden shares with many welfare states. Jonas E Andersson de-
scribes a national drive in Sweden in 2011-2012 that focused on housing for the
elderly and that used the architecture competition as a professional laboratory

architectural competitions – histories and practice 13

andersson, bloxham zettersten & rönn: editors’ comments

in order to generate innovative solutions and creative proposals for the task.
Supported by a governmental program, three invited competitions were carried
out in the municipalities of Burlöv, Gävle and Linköping. Andersson gives a
survey of the competition processes and an analysis of the winning architec-
tural projects. The architectural competitions illustrate two ways of meeting the
needs of the aging society. One way presupposes the inclusion of apartments
for the elderly in common residential building. This housing type is intended
for continued living in a familiar environment, i.e. aging in place. The other way
is to design special housing for frail elderly people who are in need of care and
caring around the clock, i.e. the assisted living concept. However, the second
type of housing is not freely available on the market; but instead, access depends
upon an assessment made by the municipal administration for eldercare of the
older person’s need of assistance and care, motivated by a diagnosis or a medical
condition. This type of housing combines the deeper meaning of home with
the demands on an appropriate work environment for the care staff. Whichever
the orientation, the conclusion of the three competitions is that appropriate
housing for the aging society should be provided with universal architectural
qualities and general accessibility and usability, in line with the concept “Design
for all” or “Universal Design”. The fundamentally different types of architecton-
ic solution may at best be combined, integrated in common residential areas.
The fourth and fifth contributions deal with prequalification, which is a se-
lective procedure in competitions with a limited number of participants. The
prequalified competition is now a dominant form. Its spread may be viewed
as a result of the organizers’ wish for control, administrative rules and the de-
mand for a cheaper, faster and more efficient process, from invitation to pro-
gram work and the contract offered to the 1st prize winner. The rationale of such
demands may, on good grounds, be questioned in the light of the long life of
buildings.
Magnus Rönn opens the discussion on the basis of experience of a selection
of architectural practices for three competitions for dwellings for the elderly
that were carried through in 2011-2012. A total of 120 design teams sent in their
applications in expectation. Eleven teams were invited. Obviously the battle
for places in the competition was very hard. Only 9% could proceed. That is
a standard figure, for Sweden. Through their invitation to prequalification the
organizers had access to a large number of applications from competent archi-
tectural offices with good references and a good reputation within the sector.

14 architectural competitions – histories and practice

andersson, bloxham zettersten & rönn: editors’ comments

That is one reason for the seclusion of young architects and newly established
practices. Magnus Rönn makes a critical investigation of the prequalification
process through interviews and an analysis of documents in the archives. In or-
der to be invited the candidates had to satisfy a number of “must have” demands
referring to prescriptions in the Swedish Public Procurement Act, LOU. It is a
prerequisite for being allowed to proceed in the evaluation. The professional
merits of the candidates are then tested on the basis of criteria for design ability,
creativity, competence and resources. It is in this evaluation that the organizer
appoints the design teams selected to participate in developing solutions to the
competition design task.
Judith Strong carries on the discussion by investigating selection procedures
in England and their influence on the competitions tradition. She describes
attempts to develop alternative procedures as a way of softening the negative
effects of the prequalified competition, as well as the difficulty experienced by
smaller architectural practices in getting invited, the bureaucratization through
legislation and the demand for anonymity which makes the organizer hesi-
tant regarding competitions as a form. According to Strong the open compe-
tition has vanished, in principle, in England. But this is not just an effect of
the demands for anonymity. A strongly contributing factor is privatization. No
longer is there a public sector organizing open architectural competitions for
new housing, hospitals, schools and buildings for municipal activities. The new
methods of selection began to be developed in England in the 1990s. In her
article Strong examines the different ways of selecting architects for commis-
sions. Here there are dialogue-based methods that start out from simple inter-
views and presentations at meetings, to go on to scrutiny that may be likened
to examination, short-listing of candidates based on references and analyses of
competition programs for complex design tasks. Increasingly often the compe-
tition problems call for multidisciplinary design teams.
From the competition as an instrument for selection and procurement we
turn our eyes to a Portuguese architect who has gained international reputation.
Pedro Guilherme and João Rocha present in their contribution Souto de Moura
and a selection of his competition projects. Souto de Moura is an architect with
star status operating on the international stage. During the period 1979-2010
Souto de Moura participated in fifty national and international architectural
competitions. In fourteen of these competitions he was awarded 1st prize, and
in particular in the national competitions organized in Portugal. Guilherme

architectural competitions – histories and practice 15

andersson, bloxham zettersten & rönn: editors’ comments

and Rocha describe and analyse some fundamental traits in Souto de Moura’s
design ideas in four competition projects used as case studies. We may watch
how design evolves in the architectural projects via sketches, models and im-
ages used for reference. In the centre of the case studies there is an attempt at
identifying an architectural grammar in Souto de Moura’s work. The cases are
analysed in terms of authenticity and reuse, readability, simplicity and clarity, as
well as materiality and time. The competition proposals are used in the article
as sources for understanding of his idiom.
What could be a better competition design task than a school of architec-
ture? Leentje Volker gives us an account of the competition for a new archi-
tecture school at Delft University. The background is dramatic as the school
was hit by devastating fire in 2008. The directorate at once started planning for
a competition for a new architecture school. It is this design task and its web
page for communication that Leentje Volker deals with in her contribution.
The intention was to give young architects a chance to show their potential,
inspiring them to great exploits. The medium was the open ideas competition,
using English as the competition’s language. The competition resulted in 471
proposals, most of which came from Europe and the US. The awarded projects
were carried out by architects native of the Netherlands, France, Belgium and
Finland. Several of the awarded architects had been exchange students at Delft,
apparently giving them an advance understanding of the competition task. The
organizer communicated with the contestants via a website, requesting digital
submission of the proposals. This facilitated the administration of the com-
petition process, probably also contributing to the large number of submitted
projects. Volker notes, too, that digital submission simplified the jury’s assess-
ment of the proposals. Through the digital submission request the competition
resulted in a data base that may easily be made accessible to future research.
The architecture school at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm,
too, has been damaged by fire and will be given new premises. The new school
is planned to become one entrance to the campus. But instead of a competi-
tion, the directorate chose in 2007 to organize a parallel assignment procedure
together with the client and the Swedish Association of Architects, inviting four
architectural practices, three from Sweden and one from Japan. In comparison
with the process at Delft, the directorate of the Royal Institute of Technology
gives an appearance of caution with its investment in safe cards and security
instead of supporting a curiosity-induced search for a new school building.

16 architectural competitions – histories and practice

andersson, bloxham zettersten & rönn: editors’ comments

Kristian Kreiner discusses the design phase from the horizon of the ar-
chitectural practice. The demand for anonymity in competitions results in a
one-way communication process which he names “shadow dancing”. With the
program as their point of departure the contestants must dance with an absent
client in their development of proposals as solutions to the design task. It is a
logical consequence of the demand for anonymity which means a prohibition
against dialogue in the design phase. The designing teams get no direct com-
munication with the organizer and the jury. So with the competition program
as their base the participant architects are forced to invent a picture of both the
competition design task and the organizer. In such a construction the program
may be read in several ways. It is both a description of the competition design
task, a presentation of the conditions that apply to the competition, a source of
inspiration and a challenge to the design team. Embedded in the task is a stra-
tegic interpretation, in understanding the clients’ intentions and what are cen-
tral directives for planning that may not be exceeded, compared to negotiable
demands. In the Nordic tradition, it is the jury determining what may be seen as
a minor deviation constituting a permissible change of the competition rules.
Kreiner points out that it is the response by the design teams to the competi-
tion design task that gives the jury good reason for developing in retrospect the
competition program’s criteria for assessment of the architectural projects. In
effect the competition proposals throw an illuminating light on the competi-
tion design task. Here is a creative moment in competition processes seen to
emerge only when the jury gets acquainted with the proposals; consequently it
can not be predicted, neither by the organizer, nor by the jury or the individual
competing teams. To the organizer, creativity is revealed in the form of surpris-
ing solutions to a design problem.
Charlotte Svensson takes us into the jury room in her contribution. The
jury’s charge is to identify, among the submitted projects, the one proposal of-
fering the best solution to the competition design task, also when the world
outside the jury room asserts itself. According to Svensson, the jury’s evaluation
of the architectural projects may be seen as a meeting between rationality and
architectural critique. This is a consequence of the jury’s composition, of mem-
bers representing differing interests, knowledge and professional background.
Appointing a winner through a rational decision process, or alternatively,
through an architectural critique method, represents two different ways of find-
ing a winner. The jury embodies both methods. Politicians and officials are used

architectural competitions – histories and practice 17

andersson, bloxham zettersten & rönn: editors’ comments

to a basis for decision-making that holds in it a quantification of qualities. Al-

lotting a score to an offer through measurable criteria, as a basis for a decision
on procurement of services, is seen as being rational. Quantification conveys a
picture of objectivity. Whereas the architects on the jury instead seek the best
overall solution through a series of evaluations based on architectural critique.
The qualities of the competition proposals are tested when an architect jury
member enters the visualized solutions, interpreting them from out of profes-
sional apprehension and experience. In this case, what determines the choice of
a winner is a co-balancing of aspects forming a general picture. Svensson claims
that the work of the jury in competitions is a creative process that ends with the
jury normally agreeing on a winner, in spite of the fact that the jury members
make use of different strategies to identify quality in competitions, and that
they represent different interests, parties and professions. Evidently the wish for
consensus has strong status within this tradition of competitions.
Elisabeth Tostrup discusses the competition in 1939 for the Government
Quarter building in Oslo, and the rebuilding of it after the terrorist bombing
in 2011. Preservation of the government buildings must be combined with a
deeper understanding of the 1939 competition. Tostrup’s contribution to the
book is a reconstruction of the architectural ideals in that competition. The
jury consisted of five members, three of whom were architects. Two of the ar-
chitects were appointed by the National Association of Norwegian Architects
that had also approved the competition program. The competition was open
to Norwegian architects and generated 49 proposals. The competition projects
show that the architectural profession in Norway was dominated by a modernist
stance that had won a hegemonic position within a short space of time. Four
proposals were awarded, but the jury could not agree on a winner, and therefore
it proposed a new competition. The renewed competition was never realized
due to World War II. Instead a committee was appointed in 1946 charged with
the selection of a winner from among the awarded architectural projects in the
1939 competition. Erling Viksjö was awarded 1st prize and was asked to develop
his competition proposal. At the same time ideals were beginning to change. It
was no longer a matter of self-evidence to create space for new buildings in a
modernist idiom by tearing down buildings in the city. A growing interest in
preservation and adaptation called for a reworking of the competition propos-
al. It was only in 1958 that the construction of the Government Quarter could
start. According to Tostrup irresolution regarding the winning proposal and

18 architectural competitions – histories and practice

andersson, bloxham zettersten & rönn: editors’ comments

the change in architectural ideals have affected the design decisively, something
which is now a returning discussion about the function or mission of architec-
ture after the 2011 terrorist bombing of the Government Quarter in Oslo.
The last two contributions to the book, too, represent a historic context.
Thomas Hoffmann-Kuhnt starts by discussing the use of historicisms in Ger-
man architectural competitions on the basis of four case studies. The back-
ground for the competitions is the destruction of cities during World War II
and the wishes to rebuild historically important monuments. Common to the
four cases is that the competitions have been presented in the German journal
of competitions, wettbewerbe aktuell (wa). The first case concerns the reconstruc-
tion of the Berlin City Palace. After the reunification in 1989, the Parliament
decided in 2008 to announce a competition that prescribed a recreation of the
Baroque facade of the building. This was an open competition that generated
129 proposals. The second case is the reconstruction in 2010 of Herrenhausen
Palace in Hanover. The aim of the architectural competition was to recreate
a museum in this place. Fifteen architectural practices were invited after pre-
qualification. The third case is the competition for new premises for an archive
and for art exhibitions in Beeskow Castle in the city of Beeskow which is a
centre for music and culture. This competition, too, was organized in 2010 as a
prequalified competition with fifteen invited participants. The fourth case is the
transformation of the Moritzburg Halle in Magdeburg into a new art museum.
In 2004 an architectural competition in two steps was organized to design a
museum in the historic building. The first step resulted in 300 proposals, of
which seven were taken further as invitations in the second step. Hoffmann-
Kuhnt formulates two principal conclusions after having compared the cases.
First, he claims that the awarded competition proposals illustrate fundamen-
tal strategies in the design of contemporary additions in a historical context.
Secondly, Hoffmann-Kuhnt is of the opinion that the brief is a key document,
specifications is a limiting factor and a more general description of the task
seems to increase the variety in the teams’ design proposals. According to this
hypothesis the program has a steering function in competition processes.
The book’s final contribution is Mats T Beckman’s study of the architectural
competition in 1934 for the first land airport in Stockholm, at Bromma. In the
year 2000 the airport was given the status of a national, protected historical mon-
ument through a government decision. Ten years later the same status was given
to some of the airport structures by the Stockholm county administration. It may

architectural competitions – histories and practice 19

andersson, bloxham zettersten & rönn: editors’ comments

be said that this demand for protection is a sign of the long-term significance of
the competition. Beckman describes the background planning. The future of air
travel lay open, and Stockholm needed an airport. Four young architects, known
internationally from work on the Stockholm exhibition in 1930, were invited.
In the biographies of the architects the commission is described as a competi-
tion. But there is no evidence of an invited competition in the archives. Nor does
the program show any references to competition rules. That, too, is surprising.
Therefore there is good reason to suspect that the competition was not organ-
ized on the basis of current competition rules, nor that it had been approved by
the architects’ local association of Stockholm. The Swedish national association
of architects was formed only in 1936, but the competition rules have been op-
erating since the beginning of the 20th century. Designing an airport for inter-
national traffic was a future oriented task which had the prerequisites of putting
Stockholm on the map. The task must have seemed to be very attractive. The
competition program is a brief document of four pages lacking aesthetical ambi-
tions. Beckman analyses the four competition proposals in a model that has two
axes, where one axis moves from well-tried solutions to new ideas. The other axis
runs from rational simplicity to complex structures. According to this model, the
winning architectural project is one that the jury perceives as being practical and
possible to develop, using well-tried solutions. Therefore it appears as if the jury,
before an uncertain future, chooses security before the spectacular, the untested
and the innovative. The modernist architecture in the winning proposal repre-
sents a kind of aesthetic rationalism of the day.

***

In conclusion: The contributions to the book show in a convincing way that

the architectural competition is an interesting and rewarding object for re-
search. The competition constitutes a source of knowledge of both width
and great depth. The competition processes bear rich empirical findings to
which one may refer for knowledge about architecture as professional prac-
tice, as educational subject and research platform. In the competition we may
therefore investigate in fruitful ways how organizers, juries and competition
teams produce, communicate, visualize and evaluate images of future built en-
vironment. It is the task of research to problematize this field of knowledge.
The architectural competition illustrates processes of change in society that

20 architectural competitions – histories and practice

andersson, bloxham zettersten & rönn: editors’ comments

are technical and organizational as well as social; it shows up constructive di-

lemmas, the borderline of rationality and the relative, creative insecurity of
knowledge production in architectural projects. The collated articles point to
the capacity in competition culture of thinking, despite a given framework, in
innovative ways, passing by habitual notions; the holy delight in competing is
still a resource to be exploited. The power of architecture to form and make
space for individual life targets and communal societal visions is of pressing
importance for many, and stands out as a necessity for society.

References
Bergdoll, B., 1989. Competing in the Academy and Marketplace: European Architecture Competi-
tions 1401-1927 in Lipstadt H., (Ed.) The experimental Tradition. New York: Princeton Architec-
tural Press.
Liedman, S., 2007. Sancta Æmulatio, “Den heliga tävlingslusten”. Om kvantiteternas roll i ett his-
toriskt perspektiv, in Strannegård, L., (Ed.) Den omätbara kvaliteten: Nordstedts Akademiska
förslag (Norge 2007).
Svedberg, O., 1994. Arkitekternas århundrade. Värnamo: Arkitektur förlag AB.
Wærn, R., 1996. Tävlingarnas tid. Borås: Arkitektur förlag AB, Arkitekturmuseet.

Internet
Competition Rules, 2010, available 2013-03-20 at:
www.arkitektforeningen.dk/english/competitions/competitions-rules

Directive 2004/18/EC, available 2013-03-20 at:

eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:32004L0018:en:NOT

SAFA Competitions Rules, 2008, available 2013-03-20 at:

www.safa.fi/eng/architectural_competitions/nbspnbspcompetition_rules/

architectural competitions – histories and practice 21

pedro guilherme & joão rocha: architectural competitions as a lab

Abstract
International competitions reflect the architect’s personal design beyond controlled sys-
tems of social relations, comfort zones, age, gender or even expertise, in a fast and risky
sublimation process. At the same time they generate publicity and a public recognition
which may surpasses the investments in time, energy and financial resources.
Based on the work of the 2011 Pritzker laureate – Portuguese architect Eduardo Souto de
Moura – we put forward the hypothesis that international competitions act as an intersection
between research and practice evolving through the nature of individual architecture.
Souto de Moura follows Alvaro Siza Vieira and the Oporto’s School design practice.
From 1979 to 2010 Souto de Moura submitted 50 competition entries, more than half inter-
national, of which 26 competitions were realized between 2007 and 2010.
International competitions, besides acting as a refraction of a working method for a spe-
cific proposal provide an important resource for personal reflective practice and are seldom
considered, compiled or jointly analysed.
This paper will collect, document and outline the epistemology of the professional prac-
tice associated to the phenomenon of internationalization of this Portuguese architect. We
will illustrate two competitions – “Salzburg Hotel” (1987-89) and “The Bank” (1993) – and one
built project in Oporto – “Burgo Tower” (1991-95 Phase 1; 2003-04 Phase 2; 2007 Construc-
tion) – that share a progression of methodological imagery, clarity and innovation from
primordial immateriality towards the built form.
Souto de Moura’s work relentlessly and repeatedly searches for the solution that serves
the program and the task at hand taking risks and challenges as stimulation for creativity,
conveying reflection in theory and culture and, at the same time, remaining obsessive to-
wards specific themes. Souto de Moura is permanently a scientist in a lab: satisfying client’s
needs (or as acting as one), creating beauty, elegance and solving riddles, thus addressing
competitions with qualified rhetoric.
We conclude proposing that competitions provide a theoretical corpus of knowledge, be-
sides what is specific and unique to each one individually, which infer the existence of an over-
lapping and intertwined, complex system of projects. Consequently, competitions constitute
an optimised interface for the continuity of research for the architectural author where design
statements put forward in proposals transcend the boundaries of the competition.

Key words: Architectural Research, Competitions, Eduardo Souto de Moura, Portugal

Contact:
Pedro Guilherme, PhD Candidate João Rocha, PhD
[email protected] [email protected]
CHAIA, Univ Évora, FA, Univ Tecn Lisboa, CIDEHUS, Univ Évora, Portugal
Portugal

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pedro guilherme & joão rocha: architectural competitions as a lab

Architectural competitions
as a lab
– A study on Souto de Moura’s competition entries
pedro guilherme, co-author joão rocha

introduction
The initial assumption that supports this investigation is that competitions
provide the time and the place to develop a research on individual practice.
This research is often used and perfected in the works that follow. Thus, we
put forward the hypothesis that competitions may act as an intersection be-
tween research and practice evolving through the nature of individual archi-
tecture.
This research follows a mixed approach. The findings in the article are based
on a literature review of relevant architecture studies and analyses about archi-
tectural competitions.
The investigation starts by pointing out the specific and highly complex na-
ture of the internationalization of Portuguese architecture and its architects.
We will frame and focus on the 2011 Pritzker laureate: architect Eduardo Souto de
Moura. We will present the case studies including two competitions - “Salzburg
Hotel” (1987-89) and “The Bank” (1993) – and one built project in Oporto – “Burgo
Tower” (1991-95 Phase 1; 2003-04 Phase 2; 2007 Construction) – that share a pro-
gression of methodological imagery, clarity and innovation from primordial
concept immateriality towards the built form. The competition entries, quotes
from jury reports and interviews illustrate the research questions and how the
competition can be understood as a research tool. We propose to identify some
results that can be observed from the presented case studies and elaborate on
Souto de Moura’s architectural grammar of knowledge.
Although architectural competitions in Portugal and entries of Portuguese
architects abroad have never been subject to any systematic research, this study
gathers evidence of an epistemology of the professional practice associated with
the phenomenon of internationalization of this particular Portuguese architect.
Following these results we base our discussion on the evidence of a link between

architectural competitions – histories and practice 159

pedro guilherme & joão rocha: architectural competitions as a lab

investigation and practice by the use of competitions. We briefly identify some

types of mechanism that may lead to knowledge during the architectural design
(Alexander, 1965, 1971; Darke, 1978; Attoe, 1978; Lawson, 2001, 2004, 2005; Hill,
1998, 2003, 2006; Till, 2005a; b, 2009, 2011) and introduce the “reflection-in-action”
(Schön, 2003, first edition 1983) as expressive “knowing” and part of the “lab” pro-
cess. The literature review is used to put the case studies in a research context
(Lipstadt, 1989a, 2006; Nasar, 2006; Strong, 1996; Tostrup, 1999, 2010).
Finally, the paper summarises the outcome of our investigation and formu-
lates possible conclusions and some doubts to be answered.

theorethical frame of reference

The Internationalization of Portuguese Architecture
From 1960 onward portuguese foreign policy gradually renouced the overseas
territories (Angola, Mozambique, São Tomé and Príncipe, Portuguese Guinea
and Portuguese Timor) and changes focus towards the European market, gain-
ing exterior visibility and interest. Nuno Portas1 (1934-) participates in the ar-
chitectural “Small Congresses” in Spain organized by Oriol Bohigas (1925-) in
Tarragona in 1967 and in the following year he brings Álvaro Siza Vieira (1933-)
to Victoria’s Small Congress. This becomes the initial moment for the interna-
tional recognition of Portuguese architecture.
Together, Siza Vieira (deeply influenced by Alvar Aalto architecture2) and
his work, the intellectual and political activity of Nuno Portas and the interest
1 Nuno Portas, architect, researcher, teacher, politician and critic, was since 1957 editor at the
Portuguese magazine “Arquitectura”. In 1974, he assumed the position as Secretary of State for
Housing and Town Planning, a post he held through the first three Interim Governments. He
promoted the creation of housing cooperatives and of local support offices (GAT), created the
SAAL and started the processes leading to the adoption of the Municipal Master Plans.
2 In 1949 Siza begins his training at the School of Fine Arts (later FAUP). In 1950 Carlos Ramos
arrives to the school with an envisioned “reform in teaching architecture (…) and a major change in
the level of information (…) a certain openness (…)” (Conversation between Álvaro Siza and Eduardo
Souto de Moura, 2011, p.53). A young teacher Fernando Távora opens up to travelling and to maga-
zines: “First it was Corbu[sier]. But times were changing and things started coming from abroad. New
publications gave notice of what was going on, where, how and by whom. (…) Távora appeared, with a
sparkle in his eyes and a book in his hand: “Brasil builds. (…) Other magazines suddenly disappeared
(monographs of Gropius, Neutra, Mandelson, Mies) they were mysteriously substituted. (…) later our
eyes opened to marvellous architectures, arriving from all four corners of the world. Merged one after
another in turmoil, mixing, resting in the subconscient, waiting.” (Siza and Morais, 2009, p.371). This
opening was only possible then and as English magazines became available, then Italian and later

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generated by SAAL (Serviço de Apoio Ambulatório Local / Local Ambulatory

Support Service) architectural operations (1974-1976) become the subject of the
permanent attention of Oriol Bohigas, Bernard Huet (1932-), Vittorio Gregotti
(1927-) and Kenneth Frampton (1930-) in Spain, France and Italy throughout the
70s and the 80s.
After the 25th of April Revolution of 1974 Siza Vieira embraces a solid and con-
tinued, national and international, activity. Between 1979 and 19903 competitions
were of the utmost importance for his international recognition. Souto de Moura
(1952-) is deeply influenced by his assumed master’s practice and embarks in his
own personal venture much earlier in his career. Souto de Moura uses competi-
tions as potential research opportunities relevant for subsequent projects.

Competitions by Portuguese architects

It is possible to find individual winning projects or referenced entries in mono-
graphs of Álvaro Siza Vieira, or Souto de Moura. We may also find some com-
petition entries in some Portuguese or foreign serial publications. However, no
coherent study on competitions has been made up to now.
In 2006 the Ordem dos Arquitectos (Portuguese Chamber of Architects) con-
ducted a survey (Cabral and Borges, 2006) to better understand architects, how
they began their professional lives, how they exercise their profession, as well as
their main values and attitudes within their profession.
The survey reaches three main conclusions (Cabral and Borges, 2007): (1)
the main characteristic of the ethos of architecture lies in a recurrent tension
between vocation and profession due to its artistic dimension which, in turn,
distinguishes it from other liberal professions; (2) secondly, the “jurisdiction”
imposed by Portuguese architects over the practice of architecture is weak; and
(3) finally, the “liberal professional” continues to be the type ideal for architects to
work in Portugal.
Japanese. Short trips abroad became also possible and Siza goes to different cities in Spain and to
Paris. Carlos Ramos recommends Siza to find Nordic architects and he bought some Architecture
d’Aujourd’hui (among them the monographic issue about Alvar Aalto – n.191, June 1977). It was the
beginning of a great passion for Alvar Aalto).
3 We can see a first period between 1979 and 1980 with the Bonjour Tristesse, Schlesisches Tor,
Berlin, Germany (1980); a second period between 1980 and 1983 with the Kulturforum, Berlin,
Germany (1983); and a third period between 1985 to 1990 with Campo di Marti, Giudecca, Venece,
Italy (1985), La Defensa, Madrid, Spain (1988-1989) and the Bibliotheque de France, Paris, France
(1989).

architectural competitions – histories and practice 161

pedro guilherme & joão rocha: architectural competitions as a lab

In accordance to this study male architects take part 14% more than female
architects in competitions and obtain double the number of prizes (23% against
12%). Only one third of Portuguese architects compete in open national archi-
tectural competitions, and only 7% in more than one competition. A smaller
number of architects (15%), usually older and male architects, enroll in rectrict-
ed national architectural competitions. Almost half of all architects questioned
state that office size is fundamental to winning architectural competitions.
It is relevant that only a very limited number of architects (7%), identified and
described by Cabral and Borges as “the profession’s elite”, participate in foreign
architectural competitions.
This so called “professional elite” definitely includes both Pritzker Prizes (Ál-
varo Siza in 1992 and Souto de Moura in 2011) and their work in competitions is
relevant for international recognition of their professional quality and of Por-
tuguese architecture.
During the last decade several exhibitions confirm that most incursions by
Portuguese architects in foreign territory (Coelho, 2009; Carvalho, Tostões and
Wang, 2009; Gadanho and Pereira, 2003; Metaflux, 2004) are in competitions
and seem to share identical objectives of research and recognition.
Architectural competitions (winnings) and the recognition of an authorship
are described by Cabral and Borges as being linked to the personal success in the
profession in relation to peers and in society in general. Gender (weight 0.11) and
age (weight 0.25) contribute to a career of success which provides both personal
satisfaction (weight 0.22) or status and financial satisfaction (weight 0.34).
Based upon this data and examples from unquestioned architects, one may
confirm if competitions for Portuguese architects, both in Portugal and abroad,
provide a strategy to obtain professional recognition, and if competitions serve
as a research lab to architects.

Souto de Moura – professional profile

Souto de Moura was born in Oporto on the 25th July 1952, studied sculpture and
graduated in architecture in 1980 at the School of Fine Arts of the University of
Oporto (later FAUP).
From 1974 to 1979 he worked with Álvaro Siza Vieira at his architectural prac-
tice and in 1980 he began his career as an independent architect, after winning a
design competition for “Casa das Artes” (Vilar de Allen Viscount Mansion / “Arts
House”, in Oporto, Portugal, 1981-1991).

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pedro guilherme & joão rocha: architectural competitions as a lab

Souto de Moura’s early commissions

were modest residential houses, mainly
in Portugal. Later, he was commissioned
with shopping centres, schools, art galler-
ies, and a cinema, in Spain, Italy, Germa-
ny, United Kingdom, and Switzerland.
Between 1989 and 1997, Souto de Moura
spent eight years on the rehabilitation of
Santa Maria do Bouro, a half-destroyed
12th-century monastery in Amares, trans-
forming it into a Hotel (Pousada). More
recently he built the Braga Stadium Fig. 1. Souto de Moura pictured over Casa das
(2000-04), the Casa das Histórias Paula Histórias Paula Rego, Cascais.
Rego (2006-09) and the Burgo Tower
(1991-95 Phase 1; 2003-04 Phase 2; 2007 Construction).
From 1981 to 1990, Souto de Moura was assistant professor at his alma mater,
and was later appointed Professor at FAUP, the Faculty of Architecture at the
University of Oporto. Along with Fernando Távora and Álvaro Siza, he is one of
the well-known names of the Porto School of Architecture. He has been a visit-
ing professor at the architectural schools of Geneva, Paris-Belleville, Harvard
University, Dublin, ETH Zurich and Lausanne, and has participated in numer-
ous seminars and given many lectures both in Portugal and abroad. His work
has appeared in various publications and exhibitions.
Souto de Moura was awarded the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 2011 and in
the jury nomination we can read “During the past three decades, Eduardo Sou-
to de Moura has produced a body of work that is of our time but also carries

Fig. 2. Early drawings by Souto de Moura illustrating design ideas.

architectural competitions – histories and practice 163

pedro guilherme & joão rocha: architectural competitions as a lab

Fig. 3. Catalogue of Exhibition. Eduardo Souto de Mou- Fig. 4. Floating Images. Eduardo Souto de
ra – Competitions 1979-2010. Moura’s Wall Atlas.

echoes of architectural traditions.” And further, “His buildings have a unique

ability to convey seemingly conflicting characteristics — power and modesty,
bravado and subtlety, bold public authority and a sense of intimacy — at the
same time.” (Media Kit: announcing the 2011 Pritzker Architecture Prize Lau-
reate, 2011).
Álvaro Siza, the first Portuguese architect to consistently work abroad in the
late 70s (Berlin after 1979, La Haya after 1983, Venice after 1985 and Salzburg
after 1986), and Souto de Moura share a national, inherent, conditional ability
to read the context of the site and to recreate it with added materiality.
Souto de Moura’s international recognition reflects not only the growth of
the architectural profession in Portugal after the 1974’ Revolution and the in-
tense interest in its architects during the 80s, but also an architectural quality
based on a critique of undifferentiated values of global civilizations and the
development of the values implicit to local cultures and to materials.

Competitions by Souto de Moura

In a recent exhibition (Barata, Campos and Oliveira, 2011) all relevant work on
competitions by Souto de Moura from 1979 to 2010 were displayed in the Gallery

164 architectural competitions – histories and practice

pedro guilherme & joão rocha: architectural competitions as a lab

Table 1 - Competition Statistics from Exhibition “Competitions 1979-2010”.

Data (Barata, Campos and Oliveira, 2011) # %
Number of competitions between 1979 and 2010 50 100%
Number of national competitions 24 48% (24/50)
Number of international competitions 26 52% (26/50)
Number of international competitions – Europe 24 92% (24/26)
Number of international competitions – Non Europe 2 8% (2/26)
Prized competitions (first and second places) 16 32% (16/50
Winning (1st place) competitions in Portugal 11 46% (11/24)
Winning (1st place) competitions abroad (international) 3 12% (3/26)

at the FAUP and later published (Barata, Campos and Oliveira, 2011). This exhibi-
tion illustrates the international recognition of Souto de Moura and establishes
an initial inventory of his competitions both in Portugal and abroad.
From 1979 to 2010 Souto de Moura participated in 50 competitions. He ob-
tained relevant positions (1st and 2nd prizes) in 16 competitions. 26 competi-
tions were completed between 2007 and 2010. Some relevant statistical infor-
mation is presented in table 1.
The first conclusion we may draw is the growing importance of competi-
tions to guarantee a commission4 in the last 5 years.
From the exhibition data we may conclude that most competitions deal with
significant urban buildings (cultural, health, sports and religious programs
make up 31 out of 50 competitions) or directly related to urban developments (7
out of 50) and only a few (4 out of 50) deal with the housing theme, half of which
are hotel programs.
Souto de Moura has a low rate of successful competitions (32% of all compe-
titions obtain the first or second prizes), and he is, statistically, more successful
in Portugal (he won 11 out of 24 competitions) than abroad (3 out of 26 competi-
tions). As Souto de Moura says “50% of all [my] designs are never built. So many
buildings are not built … today alone I lost two tenders! Two!”(Rangel, Martins,
Sá and Faria, 2009b, p.91)
Competitions are either won or lost, and even if Souto de Moura wins it does
not mean that the project will be built. There are bureaucratic, economic and
4 Yet, with the date collected, it is unclear the true economic relevance of competitions over
direct acquisition of architectural services.

architectural competitions – histories and practice 165

pedro guilherme & joão rocha: architectural competitions as a lab

Fig. 5. Initial Study, Salzburg Hotel (1987). Fig. 6. Final Study, Salzburg Hotel (1989).

other steps that have to be overcome with diplomacy and compromise. This ef-
fort is not always successful.

the case studies

Salzburg Hotel (1987/89)
This is an urban project where the location is the foundation of the idea. The
periphery of the site and its urban relations give structure to his proposal.
The triangular site is situated between a residential area and the great mass
of rock which cuts right through the city. The project tries to conciliate the
various areas, programmes and legal impositions and presents a two volume
building that separates the private areas from the public areas.
Souto de Moura’s success in this competition is due to his response to the
theme, in an urban context, and to his experience in the interplay of volumes
and shapes.
Three years after (1989) Souto de Moura submits the final proposal to the
Council. Some important changes to the initial design were made in the vol-
ume, construction scheme and materials: concrete, stone and iron.
Between the initial (competition, 1987) to the final proposal (1989) there is a
change in the attitude of the architect. In the first scheme the “(…) wilful (deformed)

166 architectural competitions – histories and practice

pedro guilherme & joão rocha: architectural competitions as a lab

Fig. 7. View of the model, Salzburg Hotel. Fig. 8. View of the model, Salzburg Hotel.

axiality and its urban adornment achieved through contrast of materials and gi-
gantic flag poles, a mise en scene of prudent urban and compositional continuity
with the Mitteleuropäisch city read by means of the tools of neo-academicism. The
second project is an object that constitutes itself, in terms of a rigorous logic of
construction and material, at the cost of making worse the urban articulation which
it felt obliged to establish in the first version.” (Anon, 1998, p.17)
In the final proposal the problems of form are settled in the shape of an
isomorph and infinite building.
The design references for this project are piles of overlapping elements, such
as wood, concrete or iron. It is unclear when Souto de Moura collected these
references, but they emerge at an early design level as if they were pre-design
immaterial objects that communicate the project to the architect and help him
to keep focused on the idea.
There is some research and selection among the images, some unspoken
narrative that keeps images and project linked together. Souto de Moura re-
flects and acts swiftly in the brief moment of the competition. He selects the
images from his Wall Atlas (Bandeira and Tavares, 2011) and applies them as
scientific experiments to the project. The images are so strong that they convey
the hidden (personal) moment of conception to others. These images say it bet-
ter and say it sooner.
These everyday objects that Souto de Moura uses as figurative transposition
research “(…) the minimal structure which permits the greatest possible combina-
tion of interpretations, with the idea that if something gets changed in the combi-
nation of materials, in the phase of adaptation to the new function, evidently it was
not essential to be exactly as planned. In this way the evocative force of the form
overcomes that of the function for which the object was created, permitting the

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Fig. 9. Design references for the Salzburg Hotel project.

degree of flexibility necessary for the sort of interpretation required by a society in

continuous evolution.” (Angelillo, 1996, p.21)
These images are not arbitrary, but premeditated in the sense that they are
compulsory, collected on a daily basis by Souto de Moura, reflecting some kind
of personal filter. These images become affective, expecting to be used, and will
be used and reused in other projects.
To someone evaluating the competition these images say what Souto de
Moura would have liked to say.

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Fig. 10. Plan, Salzburg Hotel. Fig. 11. Basement Plan, Salzburg Hotel.

Fig. 12. First Story Plan, Salzburg Hotel. Fig. 13. Second story Plan, Salzburg Hotel.

Fig. 14. Sections, Salzburg Hotel. Fig. 15. Exterior views, Salzburg Hotel.

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In this case these images serve yet another purpose of explaining the skin of
the building, the facade design, which is unexplained by the design programme.
Souto de Moura states: “As often occurs in my projects, the question of the
system of construction became a kind of obsession. Design is increasingly de-
termined by budget, schedule, dimensions and building codes. The role of the
language to be deployed is restricted to the surface, a field open to all sorts of
dangerous artistic gestures. The result aimed to achieve a clear implantation of
a harmonious volumetry within a container-type facade, capable of diluting the
impositions of a five story structure onto a street lined by neo-classical villas
displaying their volutes, cornices and entablatures with dignity.” (Peretti and
Bortolotti, 1999, p.113)

The Bank (1993)

This was a private, restricted competition by invitation held by Olivetti in 1993.
The Bank is a fictitious project with a fictitious program, and without a fixed
location, “(…) based on ideas, which are necessarily the fruit of reflection and
research” (Capezzutto, 1994, p.30). Souto de Moura’s (1952) studio in Oporto was
invited, along with David Chipperfield (1953) based in London and Jacques Her-
zog (1950) & Pierre de Meuron’s (1950) studio from Basel.

The reasons for the choice of these architects were:

• they belonged “(…) to the same generation born around 1950 (…)”and
represented “(…) a relatively homogeneous group of architects … who
aim to become great masters” (Capezzutto, 1994, p.33);
• they were “European architects, with comparable social roots and cul-
tural backgrounds” (Capezzutto, 1994, p.33);
• they “are among the best in the world” (Capezzutto, 1994, p.33);
• they “would form if not a movement or a trend, then at the very least a
group of friends” (Capezzutto, 1994, p.33).

Souto de Moura is described as having trained at Oporto School of Architecture

and having “worked for Fernando Távora and Álvaro Siza, from whom he de-
veloped his attention to the site, his construction knowledge, his sensitivity to
the materials used and his ability to condense even the most complex architec-
tural theme to essential terms. His research into architectural types has led him,
through a painstaking pursuit for perfection, to propose a series of exciting,

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Fig. 16. Sketches, design principles, after Tàpies. Fig. 17. Plan and section for the Bank.

innovative and at the same time logical modifications. Souto de Moura’s great
attention to detail is not affectation, but the consequence of a process of refine-
ment and elimination of the superfluous” (Capezzutto, 1994, p.34).
Unlike usual competitions, there were meetings between the architects and
the Olivetti jury. This is a feature seldom seen in competitions but brings to
bear an exchange of ideas between the client and the architect.
The task was to design a medium sized bank branch building in a provincial
European town, whose location was left to the individual choice of the architect
in a 25x25 square meters floor area and three stories.
Souto de Moura addresses the competition as the construction of an object:

This is not a competition or a project, but the construction of a model of a possible

building with no specific location. The project, in the sense of a catalogue for the
implementation of an idea, is limited to the construction drawings and its trans-
portation case. What is left is a sort of material archive which gradually turned
into a final idea as it was developed. (Capezzutto, 1994, p.74)

Somehow the unspecified project location is in contrast to the attention to the

site initially praised as a characteristic of Souto de Moura’s architecure by the jury.
Souto de Moura addresses this question again taking use of his imagery atlas. This
time he selects an image of Tàpies, a painting that becomes the origin of the plan.
By resembling early drawings from Team X with collage and lithography
Souto de Moura explores his first hypothesis, based on four symmetrical corner

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Fig. 18. Collage concept for the Bank project.

units on the square plot, and variants address the requirements of each level.
The free space within shapes a square, empty courtyard.
Reference images, like those from the work of Tàpies, also provide research
material for facades and detailed sketches or models. Souto de Moura research-
es the ideograms, which tell all without articulation, and the images, which elab-
orate the possible construction. Again, from initial stacks of concrete beams, to
stacks of iron elements, to overlaps of wood stacking systems, images are used
as project material and potential structures capable of originating space.
All these images sometimes preceding the idea are connected by an unwrit-
ten narrative of obsessive nature.

Fig. 19. Sketches by Souto de Moura for the Bank project.

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Fig. 20. Exterior view, the Bank model. Fig. 21. Bank model of the courtyard and section.

From the moment of the first sketch to the final moment of the drawing of
the project there is time to reflect upon the nature and ethos of the building.
With the same need to erase the stories, Souto de Moura uses the same prin-
ciple of the “container facade”. The height of the building is artificially tempered
and contaminated by the materiality chosen, as if buildings could restore the
nature of the material in Souto de Moura’s images.
This is in fact a project research about overlappings, a theme initiated in the
Salzburg Hotel and continued at the Burgo Tower, which is the final object of
our investigation.

The Burgo Tower (1991/95 Phase 1; 2003/04 Phase 2; 2007 Con-

struction)
The Burgo tower was the first large building that Souto de Moura designed; he
mocks “I always say that I moved from one floor to twenty. I never built three
or four floor buildings, I moved from one to twenty.” (Rangel, Martins, Sá and
Faria, 2009d, p.58)
The site is located at Boavista Avenue in Oporto and the building consists of a
level platform and two volumes which are designed at different scales. The lower
building allows for the enclosure of an urban square and a sculpture5 gives mean-
ing to the place. The tower rises up from the platform, near the lower volume. This
two volume solution clearly responds to the site complexity with simple geometry.
The same images, once again, serve as motto for the design of the outer layer
of the facade. This construction, later detailed in the execution project, follows
5 Sculpture by Ângelo de Sousa.

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Fig. 22. References for composition of the facade, Burgo Tower.

Fig. 23 (left). Souto de Moura reuses this concept as prototype for a bar unit.
Fig. 24 (middle and right). Design reference and detail of facade construction.

a path of research only possible with the long timespan (1978-1993, or 1978-2007
including implementation) available to Souto de Moura since Salzburg. The
image remains an iconic symbol of the construction to be erected.
In an interview with El Croquis, he explained, “I find Mies increasingly fas-
cinating ... There is a way of reading him which is just to regard him as a mini-
malist. But he always oscillated between classicism and neoplasticism ... You
only have to remember the last construction of his life, the IBM building, with
that powerful travertine base that he drilled through to produce a gigantic door.
Then on the other hand, he arrived in Barcelona and did two pavilions, didn’t

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he? One was abstract and neo plastic and the other one was classical, symmetri-
cal with closed corners ... He was experimenting. He was already so modern.”
(Key projects by Eduardo Souto de Moura, 2011, Media Kit: announcing the 2011
Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate)
Souto de Moura acknowledges the Miesian influence, speaking of his Burgo
Tower and answering an Italian architectural critic, Francesco Dal Co, stated “it’s
better not to be original, but good, rather than wanting to be very original and
bad.” (Key projects by Eduardo Souto de Moura, 2011)
In this project there is a clear connection to the Salzburg Hotel and to the
Olivetti bank project. At that time (1993) Souto de Moura was in Switzerland
and was deeply influenced by Swiss architecture (Diener & Diener, Herzog & de
Meuron or Zumthor) in a hybrid mix between tradition and modernity, monu-
mentality and deception.
The volume was predefined: the maximum height was fixed by the firemen
and the width (span) by the engineers. Therefore the design had to focus on the
skin and the pictorial materials, not for fashion but as natural consequence.
For some reasons the initial project could not be built for 17 years and had
to be revised mainly due to economic restrictions, in fact it had to be “adapted
to the current situation. Because the situation changed, it is a kind of second
project.” (Rangel et al., 2009b, p.90).
Precision and truth (or deception) are constantly at stake. “Burgo is an au-
thentic building because it is a mirror of the lie it really is (…) it is not a stack or
it would not have columns.” (Rangel et al., 2009d, p.60) This deception reflects a
condition of modernity with which Souto de Moura must work.

Fig. 25. Inside scale vs outside layer: sketches and construction section, Burgo Tower.

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Fig. 26. Burgo Tower, Oporto, Portugal.

Then I thought that the building should be the result of a superposition of floors (…)
as stacked things, that permit to distort the scale in a way one could not understand
if each superposed element corresponded to one or two levels. (Maza, 2004, p.230)

Two huge modules of simple geometric shape, with traces of straight lines,
break the architectural landscape and house the largest office building in the
city.
There is a clear intention of masking the number of stories, materialized as
construction details. One cannot tell at a distance the number of stories; the
height of the building loses sense and turns into an abstraction. As Souto de
Moura says “I have a trauma about abstraction. I happen to love realistic paint-
ings and sculpture, but I feel somewhat reluctant to use conventional domestic
forms because I cannot design them. When I attempt to make them, they seem
ridiculous and fragile to me (…).” (Rangel et al., 2009d, p.60)
Within buildings of urban relevance, such as this one, Souto de Moura research-
es the visible qualities of architecture through the use of the facade as mediation
between exterior and interior: transparency and reflection. Thus he reflects upon
the novelty of visual elements, as did the Baroque architects, too, centuries before.

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Fig. 27. View of the Burgo Tower. Fig. 28. View from the main access road, Burgo Tower.

results
In this period (1979 – 2007) Souto de Moura gives us a glimpse of the interdisci-
plinary debate following the cultural changes of 1968 and the social and political
agenda it influenced (which was relevant at SAAL). From a “grand narrative”, a
sense of social decorum, a commitment to the cause (larger than the architectural
profession) and an ideological concept of progress, Souto de Moura continues
the old modernist love for honest constructions and pursues scientific progress
(in construction) by collaborative research with other professionals.
He states “(…) architecture can’t just be the answer to a problem that is called
construction, not architecture. Architecture is construction plus some added
value which is creating sensations that make people feel good. It can never be
premeditated, if it is, it is a disaster.” (Rangel, Martins, Sá and Faria, 2009c, p.30)
He constructs a systematic approach to the project at hand by researching,
not only – as Aldo Rossi proposes in the “architecture of the city” – how to take part
in the history of the city, but also in the desacralization of history and academi-
cism – as Venturi’s “complexity and contradiction” proposes – or the transparency
and simplicity of architecture – as Donald Judd speaks in “architektur”.
Antonio Angelillo6 (1996, p.13) states Souto de Moura’s “(…) pursuit of a new
interpretation (subjective-environmental rather than analytical-rational) of the
context (…)” which gives credit to his “(…) restitution of artistic practice to the
6 Antonio Angelillo (Gorizia, Italy, 1961) worked with Alvaro Siza at Oporto (1988-89) and, be-
tween 1989 and 1997, was the chief editor of the international magazine “Casabella” under Vittorio
Gregotti direction.

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design process, in the rediscovery of the values of concreteness and realism im-
plicit in architecture, in the belief in a certain inherent objectivity in the con-
struction.” (ibidem)
Souto de Moura relentlessly gathers bits and pieces of information to
induce thinking and drawing as he constructs his atlas of important ideas
(Bandeira and Tavares, 2011). This is an important part of his research as he
uses and reuses the same images along three projects separated by almost 14
years (1979-1993).
With no shame he says “Architecture can be copied. It is fine if it is copied
unconsciously. If it is deliberate, it is disastrous.” (Rangel et al., 2009d, p.62)
Within this applied research to the project at hand he gathers influences
from historic architects, specific artists, poets or writers. He gathers images of
personal consequence in a personal narrative.
Following a Vitruvian and old modernist ethos of integrated utility (utilitas),
beauty (venustas) and construction (firmitas), Souto de Moura unites architec-
ture and design to post-completion performance.

I think my architecture might not be too well suited for magazines or too fashion-
able but it is developed with conviction. It has a mission that is to give an answer
to certain problems. (Rangel et al., 2009b, p.91)

With little spectacle, but with profound labour, he stands out from the grow-
ing sensational and individualistic built images. By doing so he goes against the
increased rhetoric and image-making that exacerbated the subtle homogeniz-
ing effect of the “special ones” or “star architects”.
He says “contradictions and all complex information cannot be visible.
We cannot massacre the users. If the public has the minimum idea of my
effort, then my work is not properly done. If has failed. It is like in a book:
when the reader understands exactly which books the writer read. The reader
gets disappointed”. (Afonso et al., 1998, p.32)

Architectural Grammar
Souto de Moura uses his projects, and in particular competitions, as starting points
and fundamental opportunities to further investigate his architectural grammar.
We can observe the “relation between wall and ground” in the Braga Market
(1980-84) or in the Cultural Centre Casa das Artes (1981-91); the “question of the

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habited-table” in Quinta do Lago (1984-89) or in the House at Cascais (2001-02);

the “importance of the section” or the landscape in the stairs and quarry of the
Braga Stadium (2000-04); the “condition of the ruin” in Baião (1990-93) or in
the Pousada de Santa Maria do Bouro (1988-97). (Abrantes, Rangel and Martins,
2009)
Based upon these two competitions and one completed project presented
as case studies it is possible to propose a grammar for competitions with ad-
ditional key points:

Authenticity and (re)use

These projects address the issue of authenticity and its deceptions. The rig-
our and truth of materials and construction is, sometimes, simply not possible.

Fig. 29. Braga Stadium. Fig. 30. Design reference, Sanctuary of Asklepios at
Epidaurus.

Fig. 31 (left). The Burgo Tower, Oporto.

Fig. 32 (right). Design reference, Mies Van Der Rohe, Hochhaus am Bahnhof Competition, 1922.

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Fig. 33. Stairways from the Braga Stadium, Braga. Fig. 34. Design reference, National Assembly Building
of Bangladesh / Louis Kahn.

Souto de Moura often has to reach compromises and the un-truth (different
from the lie) becomes also a theme for investigation.
“It is interesting but it is false. It can be interesting because it is false.”
(Abrantes, Rangel and Martins, 2009, p.7) He acknowledges the same un-truth
in some of Mies Van der Rohe work and finds it fascinating.
Souto de Moura uses these two competitions as early studies on how to
camouflage the number of stories and then he is able to apply it at Burgo
Building.
From time to time Souto de Moura flashed back, revisits, subverts and reuses
principles formerly used in past projects. But also from others: “You never begin
from scratch. It would be silly. It would be unnatural. I have to use things that have
been done by others and adapt them to specific situations. This task must be per-
formed unconsciously so that there is no analogy or similarity, otherwise it would
look ridiculous.”(Rangel et al., 2009d, p.62) Also “I copy from all my previous detail
designs. I know which ones don’t work. I have corrected and tested them. (…) It is
the principle of intelligence: do not waste energy”. (Rangel et al., 2009b, p.94)

Readability, Simplicity and Clarity

The main idea in a competition must be quickly readable and apparent. All
projects are different but they all are quite simple in terms of an idea and how
to deal with the site, with the city and with the program.
His ideas are adequate to the place and to the program. The relation to the
materials becomes evident. There is an apparent simplicity in the “climax” of
the process of research – the Burgo tower – as Souto de Moura hides a complex
building. Quoting Souto de Moura “the concept of simple is very complex. There

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is a rule (…): the more simple it looks, the more complex is the process it hides”.
(Santillán and Sargiotti, 2008)
Within the research the subject becomes clearer. In the Burgo tower Souto
de Moura is able to synthetize the quest he long pursued in a clear architectural
concept materialized and constructed.

Materiality and time

Recurrent images formulate the materiality of the project. The exterior detail of
the facades often hints what the project is going to be like, and in competitions
preference may be given to those who are not vague about the construction of
the exterior layer or facade.
But time allowed for competitions is so limited that only a fraction of work
is humanly possible. Souto de Moura says: “Designs have to be completed by
tomorrow and there is no time to think about solutions (…)” (Rangel, Martins,
Sá and Faria, 2009a, p.14).
The length of time from initial drawing to final detailed plan gives Souto
de Moura the time he lacks in competitions. This explains why projects from
competitions to final solutions are so often modified. Not in the concept but
through a remarkable review and optimization of construction. This can be eas-
ily observed in the Burgo building as Souto and his team of engineers optimize
the container facade along the height of the building, differentiating the con-
struction details of the stacking facade of the lower floors from the upper ones.

discussion
On Investigation in Practice
The discussion on design activity by itself as research medium following scien-
tific method to some degree can be dated from the 60s. Relevant work was done
by Christopher Alexander (1979) on “image” and “language”, by Jane Darke (1978)
over the “primary generator” cited by Lawson (2004, 2005, 2001), by Wayne Attoe
(1978) followed by Friedman (1997, 2003) and by Schön (1983, first edition). More
recently Jonathan Hill (1998, 2003, 2006) has discussed the frame and boundaries
of the actions of architects (and architecture) while Jeremy Till (2009, 2011, 2005b;
a) has debated upon the interactions of researching in architecture.
Although one might consider a controversial choice we will pursue Schön’s
view in this paper since it is more focused upon the relevance of the continuous
process of acquiring and producing knowledge within practice.

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In fact, architecture, not like other exact disciplines, is not simply the exact
result of a specific deductive method, but rather a product of a “reflection-in-
action”. As Schön believes “competent practitioners usually know more than
they can say. They exhibit a kind of knowing-in-practice, most of which is tacit
(…) [they] often revel [in] a capacity for reflection on their intuitive knowing in
the midst of action and sometimes use this capacity to cope with the unique,
uncertain, and conflicted situations of practice” (Schön, 2003, pp.viii, ix).
This “knowing” is composed of a systematic knowledge of architecture, al-
though highly professionalized due to its specialized field of expertise, firmly
bounded, scientific and standardized corpus (Schön, 2003, p.23) although in-
creasingly entangled within a broad spectrum of other competences. Bounda-
ries among architectures are continuingly shifting (Hill, 2003, 2006) and even
between architects clearly identified with the same school (like Souto de Moura
is identified with the Oporto School) there are many variations (either subtle or
fundamental) in the exercise of the profession.
As Heylighen and Neuckermans (2000) state “Architects’ greatest impact
therefore comes during the early stages of the design process, when they must
come up with one or a few ideas, powerful enough to encompass the differ-
ent aspects. These ideas are known to architects by many names, (…) but most
often are called the ‘parti’ or ‘concept’ [Lawson, 1994]. Such a concept does not
necessarily require the addition of an extra ingredient. In fact, every component
already present in the design situation, e.g. a special feature of the site or a curi-
ous trait of the client, may qualify for this focal role. Moreover, underlying ideas
are rarely found in the singular.”
But it is undeniable, as Schön (2003) shows, that there is a reflection in practice
that, following a systematic approach by means of scientific method, constructs
theories based in “deliberate and idiosyncratic constructions (…) [continuingly]
put to test” (Schön, 2003, p.59). This reflection is obviously personal and based
upon the individual (repetitive) experiments and is as varied as the opportunities
to reflect.
One may think over the norms of judgments, the strategies or theories of
some pattern of behaviour or situation, or upon the divergences of practice.
These occurrences may be unique or unstable and serve as a critique to the
initial understanding of the problem, serving to construct a new description
and providing the opportunity to renew experimentation and testing. Addi-
tionally, these occurrences may constitute an appreciation, which can serve to

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Fig. 35. The architect’s presence, hands of Frank Lloyd Wright, Le Corbusier, Mies Van Der Rohe and Alvar
Aalto, postcard by Souto de Moura, Christmas 2011.

frame a role and value it, either morally or ethically, in relation to others and
by others.

For Eduardo Souto de Moura the laboratory is possible when the project, freed
from contingencies alien to the object of research becomes a blank sheet of paper.
The pragmatic simplification of the statement – program, context, client – into
elementary rules defined as preamble and thence unalterable, determines the limits
of the available sheet. And then the project becomes a necessary instrument, a field
of experimentation, the backdrop. (Clement, 1999, p.11)

Quoting Schön (2003, p.68):

When someone reflects-in-action, he becomes a researcher in the practice context,
He (…) constructs a new theory of the unique case. His inquiry is not limited to a
deliberation about the means which depend on a prior agreement about ends. He
does not keep means and ends separate, but defines them interactively as he frames
a problematic situation, He does not separate thinking from doing (…). Because

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his experimentation is a kind of action, implementation is built into his inquiry.

Thus reflection-in-action can proceed, even in situations of uncertainty or unique-
ness, because it is not bound by the dichotomies of technical rationality7.

In the case of art related professions, we may assume that for some architects
reflection-in-action is the core of practice. It is within the epistemology of prac-
tice – as one usually refers to the (architectural or personal) method – that the
dilemma of rigour and relevance is settled. It links the art of practice in uncer-
tainty and uniqueness to the scientist’s art of research.

On competitions
International competitions test architect’s capacities (Lipstadt, 1989a; Santos Fi-
alho, 2002, 2007; Tostrup, 1996, 1999, 2010) beyond controlled systems of social
relations, comfort zones, age, gender or even expertise, in a fast sublimation
process (Gil, 2008; Ramos, 2009), as well as induce a recognition and publicity
that surpasses the investments in time, energy and financial resources, forcing a
(re)interpretation of the role of the architect (Nasar, 2006).
As Hélène Lipstadt states in her opening text:
For at least 2,500 years, architecture competitions have been employed to choose
one architect or one design among many, to distinguish excellence in appearance
and in function, to award commissions, and to educate young architects. (…) Com-
petitions are battlegrounds of opposing and antagonistic solutions, giant archi-
tecture class-rooms with invisible boundaries and, often, open enrollments. They
provide the forum for struggles for one’s personal best, team efforts forged in cama-
raderie, debilitating taxes on body and pocket, and, for the happy few, joyous public
triumph. Competition encourages those who only observe, including the public, to
applaud or admonish architects as if designers were contending in a public tourna-
ment. (Lipstadt, 1989b, p.9)

Competitions are a standard administrative method for procuring design ser-

vices and reflect the equitable distribution of design commissions, the need
for openness in the distribution of public funds, the quest for better design,

7 Technical rationality “consists in instrumental problem solving made rigorous by the application of
scientific theory and technique” (Schön, 2003, p.21). It assumes three components: an underlying dis-
cipline or basic science; an applied science or engineering; skills and attitudes that induce perfor-
mance of services.

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further public participation and an overall improvement of the built environ-

ment. They further represent:

Vehicles for the release of creativity, vitality, new talent and new ideas (…) creat-
ing opportunities for renewal and change in the built environment. Competitions
open way to the art of architecture and creative freedom, though within a set of
rules and programmes, and through disciplined and expert procedures. (Strong,
1996, p.29)

Each participant in a competition – sponsor, client, competitor, architect, jury and

the public – has his own definition of the cultural and symbolic qualities of the
building type, site and design and has, to some degree, a fair expectation of the
innovative architectural design (which may or may not prove to be successful).
There seem to be two major interests, sometimes opposed, at stake in a
competition. The first is the client (public or private promoter) to whom com-
petitions offer the opportunity of multiple choices in design solutions, pro-
vide awareness and public opinion (although controversy may arise), permit to
gather prestige and recognizance for its patronage, or to obtain the best quality
design possible within the available budget. The jury serves (or ought to serve)
the interests of the client. The second is the competitor – architect – who wishes
to win a commission (although it is clear that competitions consume an inor-
dinate amount of time, money and effort with no guarantee of return) since it
should provide an equitable access to the market (even to young architects), to
obtain, provide or increase status (within the class of architects) or, in business
terms, to bind the client to a design proposal, often in that connection insuring
the desired freedom for the author’s creativity, and may provide an opportunity
to explore new themes and extend areas of expertise.
In fact “it may provide a firm [or an architect] with the opportunity to think
about ideas it would otherwise not explore on a day-to-day basis” (Collyer and
Berk, 2004, p.13).
Both national and international competitions reflect the architect’s personal
design beyond controlled systems of social relations, comfort zones, age, gender
or even expertise, in a fast risky sublimation process. “In general, competitions
can bring out the best in people” (Nasar, 2006, p.23) and generate publicity and
a public recognition which may surpass the investments in time, energy and
financial resources.

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Fig. 36. Pages from the Eduardo Souto de Moura’s Wall Atlas.

International competitions assume a stronger and unconstrained position

that can help in focusing the concept and the discourse whilst assuming the
distance and the reference to the site (locus).

Many architects are aware of pitfalls they may face when entering a competition in
their own country and calculate their chances accordingly. Whereas competitions
in Europe, which are administered either under the auspices of the national asso-
ciations or on a non-regional basis according to EU rules, are relatively transpar-
ent (…) (Collyer and Berk, 2004, p.12).

Eduardo Souto de Moura provides testimony to an insight of how competitions

lead to experimentation in design and investigation in architecture, proving
that it is relevant for his own on-going work.

conclusion
In the two recent exhibitions of Souto de Moura’s work, following the 2011
Pritzker Prize, the first focusing on competitions (Barata, Campos and Oliveira,
2011) and the second focusing on his personal imagery atlas (Bandeira and Ta-
vares, 2011), it is clear that his work knowledge embraces a varied experience (“O
que aprendi com a arquitectura?”: Eduardo Souto de Moura, 2009), far beyond
the usual rigid limits of architecture – humanistic and cultural. All flow of mul-
tidisciplinary and artistic information is channelled towards the architectonic
thought either as product or as cultural production.
The competition project, with its drawings, texts and images, constitute the
end of research. Schön (2003, p.81), quoting Quist, makes references to “draw-
ing and talking [as being] parallel ways of designing and together make up what

186 architectural competitions – histories and practice

pedro guilherme & joão rocha: architectural competitions as a lab

[he] calls the ‘language of designing’”. These verbal and non-verbal dimensions
are closely connected. Taking into consideration Tostrup’s research (2001) we can
clearly identify drawing (both present in Souto de Moura and Álvaro Siza) as
visual rhetoric, which, in conjunction with other means of communicating the
idea (verbal rhetoric), tend to shape the argumentation of reflective action. Quot-
ing Souto de Moura “drawing is a research” (Santillán and Sargiotti, 2008) and
quoting Álvaro Siza, Souto de Moura recalls “drawing is researching for lucidity”.
(ibidem)
Although “artistic ways of coping with these phenomena [uncertainty,
uniqueness, instability and value conflict] do not qualify, for them [positivists],
as rigorous professional knowledge” (Schön, 2003, p.42), it is clear from the ex-
amples presented here that, on specific occasions, the project, most frequently
in competitions, assumes the condition of scientific research or “reflection-in-
action”.
Angelillo confirms that in “small works, installations and interiors, furni-
ture design thus becomes experimental laboratories for the study of structure
and space.” (Angelillo, 1996, p.21) And Marie Clement concludes, “We need only
think of the project for the Salzburg Hotel to imagine a paradigm of this sys-
tem. The passage from the first project, an attempt to articulate the conservative
city and an interpretation of its orography, to a plan simply designed by the nec-
essary program, makes the building available, ready to establish the ‘container
type facade’8, as with the University of Aveiro, the Olivetti contest or the Burgo
Tower. This obsessive concern in a triangular quest which weavers between dis-
cipline, language, and construction, establishing within the succession of these
projects, the principle of a ‘contamination’, expressed without false modesty in
the ‘blue notebook’9. Each one of these projects, a complete fragment, takes on
the preceding events and already contains within itself the embryo of the fol-
lowing one. Contaminated and contaminant.” (Clement, 1999, p.11,13)
The one million dollar question would be if this “contamination” could be
possible without competitions?
I can only assume it could. We cannot deny seeing research in other Souto
de Moura’s work. It is clear that during the time he worked with Álvaro Siza at
SAAL (1974-1976) he gathered experience and did research on dwelling that was
used to further develop his personal commitment to the habited box, which
8 That erases the stories, therefore the very principal visual element of a building’s height.
9 From Aldo Rossi, “Il mio libro azzurro”, 1960.

architectural competitions – histories and practice 187

pedro guilherme & joão rocha: architectural competitions as a lab

he developed obsessively in his following single-family houses. Angelillo (1996,

p.19) confirms this view stating “Domestic architecture has always been an im-
portant field of experimentation for the architects of Oporto”.
However, it is also quite clear that he chooses competitions as prime envi-
ronments for experiments and investigations. It is apparent that it is within
competitions that Souto de Moura addresses questions most intimate to his
“course” and “discourse”. Competitions therefore seem to be the optimal place
for him to innovate and to deal with all that cannot be dealt with on a daily basis.

Acknowledgments
To Eduardo Souto de Moura and his office (Joana Correa) for all support given to this research
and all graphic material provided.
To Centre for Art History and Artistic Research (CHAIA, Univ Évora, Portugal) and Faculdade
de Arquitectura (FA, Univ Tecn Lisboa, Portugal) for all support.
This Ph.D research was funded by POPH – QREN Portugal 2007-2013 (4.1 Typology – Ad-
vanced Education) and by the national budget – MCTES (SFRH / BD / 45345 / 2008).
To my supervisors, João Rocha and José Callado, to the Centre for Art History and Artistic
Research (CHAIA, Univ Évora, Portugal) and Faculdade de Arquitectura (FA, Univ Tecn Lisboa,
Portugal) for all support.

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Credits
Photographic credits and copyright Figure
Francisco Bahia Nogueira (photograph) 1
FAUP, R2 (Design) 3
Tiago Casanova (photograph) , Lars Müller Publishers & Integral Lars Müller (Design) 4
Editorial Gustavo Gilli S.A. 22, 23, 24
Dafne Editora & Souto de Moura, João Faria @ drop.pt (Design) 36
Luís Ferreira Alves (photograph) 26, 27, 28, 31
Ian Volner 29
Federica Leone | UNESCO 30
Naquib Hossain 34
All other referenced graphic material included, photographs and edited material, including published by 2G
and Olivetti are copyright of Souto de Moura and ESM Archive.

architectural competitions – histories and practice 191

editors
Jonas E Andersson, PhD
[email protected]
Danish Building Research Institute, SBi at Aalborg University, Copenhagen, Denmark

Gerd Bloxham Zettersten, Associate Professor

[email protected]
Chalmers University, Gothenburg, Sweden and University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Den-
mark

Magnus Rönn, Associate Professor

[email protected]
Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden

authors
Jonas E Andersson, PhD
[email protected]
Danish Building Research Institute, SBi at Aalborg University, Copenhagen, Denmark

Mats T Beckman, Tekn Lic

[email protected]
Independent Architecture & Planning Professional, Stockholm, Sweden

Pedro Guilherme, PhD Candidate

[email protected]
CHAIA, Univ Évora, FA, Univ Tecn Lisboa, Portugal

Thomas Hoffmann-Kuhnt, Dipl. Ing.

wa wettbewerbe aktuell, Freiburg, Germany
[email protected]

Maarit Kaipiainen, PhD Student


[email protected]
Aalto University, Helsinki, Finland
Antigoni Katsakou, PhD
[email protected]
University College London, London, England

Kristian Kreiner, Professor

[email protected]
Copenhagen Business School, Copenhagen, Denmark

João Rocha, PhD

[email protected]
CIDEHUS, Univ Évora, Portugal

Magnus Rönn, Associate Professor

[email protected]
Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden

Judith Strong, Consultant

[email protected]
a+ap consulting, London, United Kingdom

Charlotte Svensson, PhD Student

[email protected]
Town planning Office, Kristianstad/Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden

Elisabeth Tostrup, Professor

[email protected]
Thor School of Architecture and Design, Oslo, Norway

Leentje Volker, PhD

[email protected]
Delft University of Technology, Delft, Netherlands