A Comprehensive Guide to Architectural Competitions and Construction Projects

Start-up of a Construction Project: Architectural Competition

What is the Content of a Feasibility Study?

• Analysis of existing samples
• Site analyses
• Technical constraints (soil, inclination, etc.)
• Legal circumstances (regulations)
• Functional and technological analysis (e.g., museum, factory)
• Architectural program
• List of rooms/premises
• Functional analysis (drawings)
• Traffic analyses
• Legal analysis
• Cost estimation (area-based with plans, based on samples)
• Time estimation (for the whole project)

Types of Construction Projects

Introduction to the different types of construction projects regarding scale, cost, and time:

Minor Projects:

• Low cost
• Mainly privately financed
• Direct contract with the architect, responsibility, and tasks of the architect is complex

Large Projects:

• Private Investment: No limitation, but competition or tender can be organized voluntarily by following the rules of the orders.
• Public Procurement: Thresholds (umbrales/limites) - national threshold - threshold of the European Council - strict regulation of the project - competition, tender.

Architectural Competitions

What are the Tasks of the Organizer and the Jury?

Planning Competition - Tasks:

• Organizer: Defining the aim and type of competition, ensuring the financial background, invitation of the jury, defining the assignment of the competition, making the competition announcement, organizing the competition, announcing the results, offering awards, utilization of the plans.
• Jury: Selection of the most valuable plans (according to the aim of the competition), evaluation with justification, opening the "envelopes" of the awarded plans, recommendations for future design phases.
• Participants: Submission of the plans.

What is the Content of the Announcement of an Architectural Competition?

(Detailed program, necessary information, annexes)

The Detailed Program Contains:

• Detailed assignment of the task (data, guidelines)
• Further information on how to gain not provided but available data
• Data that has to be taken into consideration in the work of the participants
• Required data helping objective assessment
• Information on how to record if a patent has been used
• Professional aspects of evaluation
• Requirements of the technical documentation
• List of items that must be submitted

Necessary Information:

• Name of the organizer
• Title, subject, and type of the competition
• Conditions of participation
• Cost of the competition documentation - location where it is obtainable
• Information on submission (deadline, location, way of submission)
• Conditions of the evaluation
• Members of the jury
• Questions (how and when will be answered)
• In the case of invitation, the list of invited participants
• Data on the architectural contract (deadlines, prizes)
• Table of contents
• Regulations concerning the project
• The return of the non-awarded works
• Location and date of the announcement of the results

Annexes:

• Site plans, site information
• Maps, results of analyses, forgoing plans, photos
• Data sheet for participants
• Envelope