They are also good opportunities to test the strength and the efficiency of our team. We believe it is a good way to push ideas and abilities beyond the standard architectural practice, therefore increasing the freedom of thinking widely.
Virginia Pozzi and Alessandro Minotti from Italy! It is also a unique platform that allows young architects to express themselves. Johann Evin from New Zealand! It is an incredible chance to step away from the conventional means of execution, and present a different perspective to a broader audience. We believe competitions are a great venue for experimentation, and a laboratory to unpack and test design philosophies.
It is also an opportunity to think about more global challenges, to go beyond student design. Daria Studneva and Julia Studneva from Belarus! We believe that vision competitions offer a space free from too many constraints where some of the most excitingly fantastical ideas can emerge. Ideas are flowing freely and nothing is filtered. In this specific competition we were especially interested about the site, the city of Rome, a historical and cultural environment where Camilla and Rafaela had lived.
It creates a platform upon which to develop new narratives in hand with provocative designs. George Guida from Italy! When participating, one is pushed into thorough research, clear communication as well as questioning and refining the material produced. I am trained in the mechanics and engineering of structural engineer system, but I have not received the orthodox study of architecture. I try to study bridge architectural aesthetics through self-study, investigation and project practice.
I want to discuss and communicate with architects all over the world through this competition, and express a reasonable and beautiful understanding of bridge scheme as a bridge engineer through my work. Wang Fan from China! Zhong Cai from Canada! They are great opportunities as well to launch your career and establish yourself on global markets. Giorgi Maisuradze from Italy! There really is no better way to hone your skills than to be shut away in a room with collaborators discussing brazen ideas and acting on them.
A completed competition entry will often exemplify the soul of an architectural idea untarnished by the decision committees of the real world. They also give us an opportunity to playfully exercise our design skills and develop effective methods of collaboration and communication. I like to believe they improve my employability. Inness Yeoman from United Kingdom! We also work in industrial design and have developed the organic design bark for the Italian firm Alessi, and also for our office house "casa boucquillon" bathed in the heart of Tuscan nature.
We could not have imagined a better integration into nature this organic motif that represents the tree bark in Gauja National Park. Michel Boucquillon and Donia Maaoui from Italy! Paul Kaloustian from Lebanon!
Abraham Fung from Australia! In all fields of design, when working for clients, ideas can get lost in translation or dismissed all together. It comes with the territory. With competitions, we gain a therapeutic sense of freedom to create on our own terms. This type of work should be a constant in the work of architects, as they enhance their creativity and quick problem-solving.
Within the framework given by the brief, one has the opportunity of constructing a narrative that is true to their beliefs and to test it.
Alexandra Berdan and Ancuta Costandache from Romania! I considered this experience as a chance to put myself out there, no matter the result, while unleashing my creativity.
I find these competitions a great way to have a nice confrontation with other experts while having fun. Davide Franchi from Italy! We find participating in these competitions is also a great way to contribute to the design culture on an international scale and connects us with designers worldwide. Rachel Fay and Liv Green from Australia!
Marianne Ventre and Anthony Spennato from France! The challenge is to get together and create something that is engaging and appreciated by our peers and architectural enthusiasts alike.
The necessity to get involved in the cultural, geographical, climatic and other aspects of designing competitive objects in different parts of the world - is the best way to develop the professional level. Julia Shemchuk from Ukraine! You have little chance to implement what you imagine. In this respect, competitions are a platform which set the designers free. In this ambiance, the designer could show his own style easily and force his limitations. Firstly, it is a rare opportunity for me to think in different ways from the normal work in school.
Secondly, I am pretty interested in designing the flamingo observation tower. Min Liu from China! Participating in conceptual architecture competitions offers the opportunity to escape from the strict limitations that a real commission carries and allow for exploring freely new ideas.
Furthermore, they often give architects the opportunity to expand their experience and portfolio on non-conventional projects that extend internationally beyond the regions of a country.
Panagiotis Dimakidis and Rafail Gkaidatzis from Netherlands! We target specific subjects that help us expand our portfolios and where we can implement our research in complex geometries and sustainable design. Bryan Fan and Shelley Xu from Australia! Hiroyuki Gondo from Japan! It is a perfect opportunity to let our imagination go, and to do research about cultures, architecture, materials, and so much more.
We probably want to be challenged a bit and feel the adrenaline of a short-term project. Moreover, vision competitions allow us to imagine a poetic vision for a project and gives us the opportunity to develop more theoretical ideas, which is mostly neglected in traditional competitions. They force you to explore different concepts and cultures and simply are an amazing experience in themselves.
Agata Mila from Poland! They are driven by concepts and vision, providing the freedom to experiment. They are refreshing, motivating and remind me why I started studying architecture. Margaux Loubser from South Africa! Taking part in this competition was a great opportunity for us to explore a new typology, context and approach.
Katharina Kocol and Olga Bialczak from Germany! It is a way for us to practice agile thinking, a chance to play, a way of developing a collective thinking and of connecting to a larger international architecture community. We always enter with the goal of winning. It is also an excellent opportunity to re-evaluate yourself and compare your ideas with architects from all over the world with a much larger variety of design strategies and ideas than you could ever find in a single university or work environment.
Daniel Brigginshaw from United Kingdom! The work produced in these competitions is a good way to explore new ideas in a public forum which may go on to inspire others in their own design work.
Joseph Watkins from United Kingdom! For instance, Mandira has wanted to design and build a meditation cabin for a very long time. A prospective client with a site, a program of requirements with room for change, and a deadline challenges her out of her comfort zone to do it. Mandira Sareen from United States! Nicholas Horvath from United States!
Competitions are to architecture as peer review is to other fields; a competition can be a testing ground for design ideas before they are implemented. Andrii Koval and Olha Laktionova from Ukraine! In general, it is a good way to present your new ideas about the topical issues on architecture to a broader public. They provide the freedom for testing alternative ideas. David Florez and Stefani Zlateva from Austria! It not only allows us to see other approaches to one single topic but also gives us a chance to work purely on our terms without any limit to creativity, which we find extremely stimulating as thriving architecture students.
A simple question posed to a room of creatives will bring an abundance of different responses, all correct in their own interpretation. By truly including nature and society in the question, projects can only be improved. And we discovered, the sky is our limit. It has always been important to me to participate. I treat myself with a competition praline once in a while.
It makes me happy! It is not just about to solve the task. Malin Persson from Sweden! Architectural design takes a long time. However, in the realm of competitions, our creative spirit can manifest much quicker. The competition challenges us to test ideas and rethink convention. In most cases the topics are very interesting and most of the time there are no limits for your ideas and thoughts. So you can do nearly whatever you like and try the concept of your dreams.
And of course because we like doing it. It is also a challenge to engage with a subject rarely encountered in everyday practice. Likewise, we believe that being participants of this exchange of different points of view enriches the professional formation of those who dare to do so.
The matter was interesting so we thought we should give it a try. Additionally it was a great opportunity to practice the design process. Learning by doing, right? Jinsoo Kim and Dalya Ortak from Germany! Aleksandra Kubiak and Marta Buchner from Poland! This particular mindset challenges your ability to develop conceptual approaches and strengthen your ability to communicate your proposal. Florent Sauvineau from France! In our day-to-day practice, we miss having the freedom to have a complete control over the vision.
Competitions are a chance to show that we care about it and we want to show what our vision is. We also find it essential as a learning tool to look at how other architects face, and resolve the same problems.
Brent Winburn and Lachlan Joseph from Australia! Vision competitions are the perfect place to test and build a conceptual model of organic design ideas that can influence research and real projects in future. With utopia as a connecting line, it allows us to develop a discourse which is not dependent on time, allowing us to discuss pure shapes and spaces. Bastiaan Muilwijk and Paul Ouwerkerk from Netherlands! I love the freedom to push the boundaries of design and to explore futuristic concepts of form, space and technology.
The majority of us will lose that vision when leaving school and entering the workforce, but these competitions allow us to rekindle why we wanted to be an architect in the first place. Jon Carag from United States! This is a unique opportunity to question programmatic and contextual issues that are often complex.
The variety of proposals put forward by the various candidates also allows them to see their own approach to the project in perspective, and learn from it. Alessandro Pupillo from United States! It educates designers to deal with different ecological and social problems through architecture. It is a learning process of framing complications and devising good solutions. Experience from competitions help us grow as designers, in the words of Frank Lloyd Wright "talent is good, practice is better, passion is best.
Shahrzad Nasiri and Ben Chang from Canada! We are always open for discussion and are ready to share our vision and experience with others. This particular one provoked us to answer questions such as: what is a shelter nowadays?
What is the minimal area for living? What does it mean to share a space with others? Architecture idea and vision competitions provide a unique opportunity to explore concepts between building and landscape in a more speculative context, and they can be a very effective way to allow younger architects and interns the chance to immediately impact the design process. It is a way to pick a different architectural program or object, and try something you really wanted to do but you just never did before.
Ana Rita Gomes from Portugal! We spend free time with a common passion, we do not only enjoy our time but also develop crucial skills like creative thinking. Weronika Kogut and Karolina Toporkiewicz from Poland! Competitions allow you to work freely. Christian Schunke and Anna Bugoslavska from Germany! A place where we can try our creativity and brains to put together a powerful concept.
A liberation of the constraints and time consuming day-to-day tasks. They offer possibility to challenge yourself, compete with others, familiarise yourself with different sites and communities, analyse other points of view on the same subject, while working together with your colleagues. Also we like to have an area where we can express our interest in parametric design techniques. While daily practice is incredibly rewarding, competitions such as this offer a chance to exercise my mind and explore design problems that I might not otherwise have the opportunity to delve into.
They provide me the opportunity to research and explore a place and context that I may not otherwise have explored. I enjoy that. And I enjoy seeing other solutions to the same problem. Jeffrey Clancy from USA! To achieve this, each new project must be faced with accuracy, curiosity and the will to surprise and be surprised. It is a possibility for young architects to find our positions and communicate through well-articulated projects.
James Mak from United Kingdom! These competitions stress the importance of conceptual design and research that challenges the profession to create more dialogue. It's a journey through which we give our best, hopefully to contribute on the subject, and at the same time, it gives back to us. We improve ourselves, and we get even more motivated and passionate to prepare for the next journey.
I also firmly believe that each competition I have submitted to date somehow represents at least a step towards a learning curve, affecting my practice and teaching deeply. On another level, I do so in order to join conversations about what is possible through architecture and learn from the international architectural community. Tien Chen from United States! Schools are training us for the professional world, so we will have a very certain theme and specific requirements which can be constraining sometimes.
Competitions give me more freedom and control to think about architecture problems and it is fun. Zihao Wei from Canada! This can be both small design tasks, and large conceptual works, for example, the concept of territory development. Participating in contests brings up such important qualities for the architect, such as the ability to quickly switch from one task to another and the ability to complete work on time.
Gabdrakhmanova Ilsiyar from Russian Federation! It is an incredible chance to step away from conventional means of execution, and channel a different point of view to a broader audience. It facilitates the change in the profession through exposure and discussion, as well as one's professional growth. Competitions are the chance to take a pure functional or architectural thought and extrude, develop and test it in isolation from forces of the market place, community expectation and client requirements.
To exercise our creativity. To explore our creative identity in a space that is free of the constraints that we usually have to contend with. Competitions are where we have the freedom to implement what we believe without too many constraints. Besides, it give us the opportunities to expand our professional network and potential collaboration.
Kevin Pham and Alex Hoang from Australia! We appreciate the democratic nature of competitions and the platform it offers to express ourselves and make us better architects. Our designs are informed by research and the concerns of the context. However, we enjoy the flexibility vision competitions offer in flexing the creative muscle. When I had some freedom to design, but at the same time respecting certain parameters of design, i had the opportunity to design from the other side of the world for a place that has been recognized worldwide for having great potential in every field, and was the gateway to the new look of architecture.
Banny Fabian Sandoval Salinas from Chile! It gave us the opportunity to test the tools we have learned during our degrees in the real world without the restrictions of a university assignment. These competitions are good exercises, to experiment but also to be aware of the reality of the demand.
It's also a way to choose projects that really inspire us and develop a creative process with more liberty than your usual client. We view these competitions as a way to improve ourselves and to widen our knowledge. It is also a great experience to work in a team and add to everyone's experience and background to the proposal.
Julie Tse from New Zealand! Lanxin Zhong from China! We decided to do design competitions to allow the creative juices to flow and expose ourselves to a project that we would not find within our client base. Katarzyna Formela from Poland! William Maddinson from United Kingdom!
These competitions give us a site and context to visualise our ideas, put them to test and help us better understand the strengths and weaknesses of each iteration. We also use the competition format to test ideas, techniques, and various modes of representation - formal explorations, new software, image making and graphic representation. We understand competitions as a testing ground for new ideas and as a method to challenge preconceptions about our world.
We decided to enter this competition in particular because the housing crisis is a very palpable, very complex issue. Living in London and especially working in architecture, we see every day the tension the housing crisis causes in the city. It formed part of the collective research of the design unit I am studying with bartlettu13 and for somosaldea. Robert Newcombe from United Kingdom! It gives opportunities to take another position and point of view which changes how we see things in a new way and boosts our creativity.
But our motivation is not only intrinsic, at the same time we want to share our knowledge and our research by participating in vision competitions.
The answers given to this typology are unfortunately based on simplified assumptions, repeated standards and uninspired architecture. Medina Dzonlic and Daniel Andersson from Denmark! And vision competitions have exactly this kind of connotation. Moreover, it is also very important to confront what you are doing in your practice and research with what many other peers are doing.
I wish I could have the opportunity to hear the voice from them, to receive all the comments and criticism from them, which is extremely essential to any architecture proposals. We are building for people. Lianjie Wu from United Kingdom! A vision competition gives us the opportunity to embrace our creativity.
Also, it is an opportunity to take over the challenge of dealing with a very unique site and brief. Designing a building isn't easy. Architects need to ensure a building's "flow" makes sense—that the building is easy to move around in. As this RIBA report shows, good flow makes people's lives more efficient.
For example, well-designed hospitals ensure that patients are treated quickly. Well-designed schools create better learning environments.
And workplaces with good architecture experience higher productivity. Architecture lets our culture progress in a way that we can't predict or force. This is one of the most exciting aspects of architecture and design. Good architecture progresses with the times and encourages us to adopt healthier, more efficient habits.
Think about it: Without clever new design innovations , we'd be stuck with the same huts and clay houses we lived in centuries ago! As a designer, consider taking some time out and think about what the buildings around you are trying to accomplish.
Do they succeed in those goals? How would your life be different if they didn't? An architect's job isn't exactly easy. There's a lot to take into account—and a lot of pressure. Siamak Hariri. Join Hariri for a journey through the creative process, as he explores what makes for a sacred experience in a secular world. Alejandro Aravena. When asked to build housing for families in Chile ten years ago, Alejandro Aravena looked to an unusual inspiration: the wisdom of favelas and slums.
Rather than building a large building with small units, he built flexible half-homes that each family could expand on. It was a complex problem, but with a simple solution — one that he arrived at by working with the families themselves. He is an award-winning architect with national and international experience and has developed expertise in the application of Lean strategies, decision-making processes, and performance-based designing.
HMC Architects specializes in healthcare, education, and civic architecture, offering design solutions that solve problems and make a difference in communities. Contact Bruce Boul at or media hmcarchitects. Toggle navigation.
How Does Architecture Impact Society? A High-Level Look October 18, Name Email Phone. Questions or comments?
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