# Architectural design competition

An architectural competition is a type of design competition, in which an entity that intends to build new work, or is just seeking ideas, invites architects to submit design proposals. The winning scheme is usually chosen by an independent panel of design professionals and stakeholders (such as government and local representatives, the leadership of a cultural institution, etc.). This process is often used to generate new ideas for building and/or landscape design, stimulate public debate, generate publicity for the project and the commissioning entity, and help emerging designers gain exposure (and potentially win commissions that might be out of reach to them otherwise). Architectural competitions are often, though not exclusively, used to award commissions for public buildings: In some countries, rules for tendering public building contracts stipulate some form of open architectural competition.
Winning first prize in a competition does not guarantee that the project will be realized. The commissioning body often has the right to veto the winning design, and both requirements and finances may change, thwarting the original intention. (Many competitions have been held and won before the financing was even in place.) The 2002 World Trade Center site design competition is an example of a highly publicized competition, in which only the basic elements of the winning design by Daniel Libeskind appeared in the finished project.

## History

Architectural competitions have existed for more than 2,500 years. The design of the Acropolis, in Athens, resulted from an architectural competition in 448 B.C., as did several European cathedrals in the Middle Ages. During the Renaissance, many projects initiated by the papacy or other top religious bodies were decided through design competition. Examples are the Spanish Steps in Rome and, famously, the competition for the dome of the Florence Cathedral, won by Filippo Brunelleschi in 1419. Open competitions emerged in the late 18th century in countries including the United States, Great Britain, Ireland, France, and Sweden.
In 19th century England and Ireland, more than 2,500 competitions were held within five decades, with 362 in London alone. The Royal Institute of British Architects drafted its first set of rules in 1839 and its first formal regulations in 1872. German regulations had been introduced in 1867. In the same period, in the Netherlands, an association for the advancement of architecture (Maatschappij tot Bevordering van de Bouwkunst) started organizing conceptual competitions to stimulate creativity among architects.

## Competition types

Various competition types exist, most prominently the following options or combinations thereof:
* Open Competitions, whose scope might be international, national, regional, or otherwise defined
* Invited, Limited, or Non-Open Competitions, which restrict who may participate (and, in many cases, also provide stipends or honorariums to participants)
* Project Competitions, which seek schemes for specific building and/ or landscape projects that the commissioning entities intend to realize
* Ideas Competitions, which are held simply for the purpose of generating new ideas (in some cases, particularly novel, provocative, or visionary ones)
* Single-Stage Competitions
* Two-or-More-Stage Competitions, many of which invite only short-listed participants, a limited group of chosen semi-finalists, to continue to the next stage(s), for which they typically receive a stipend or honorarium to help cover costs
* Anonymous Competitions, in which the names of participating individuals and firms remain hidden for greater objectivity in the jury process
* Non-Anonymous (or Cooperative) Competitions, in which participants are typically invited to make in-person presentations to the given jury to explain design strategies and allow for individual discussion
* Seasonal or Annual Competitions, such as Europan, which put out periodical calls for entries
* Student Design Competitions

## Rules and guidelines

The rules of each competition are defined by the organizer; they often, however, follow the guidelines provided by the International Union of Architects or the relevant national or regional architectural organization. Competition guidelines define roles, responsibilities, processes, and procedures within a competition and provide guidance on possible competition types, eligibility criteria, jury composition, participation conditions, payments, prizes, publication of results, and other aspects.
In France and Germany, design competitions are compulsory for all public buildings exceeding a certain cost.

## Major international architectural design competitions

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