Competitions Current
The magazine wettbewerbe aktuell (wa) is a specialist magazine for architectural competitions that has been published by the publishing company of the same name since 1971 .
history
wa competitions current was founded in 1971 by Thomas Hoffmann-Kuhnt in Munich. He developed the concept of a monthly magazine that should meet two conditions: The magazine should document the award-winning drafts of current competition results in a value-neutral manner and with scaled down plans, model photos and the jury's assessment. In addition, it should be perforated and archivable in a filing system structured by topic. The magazine first appeared in June 1971 and has been monthly since then. The basic concept of the magazine has essentially been retained until today. Initially only German competition results were published, but since the mid-1990s increasingly international competition results as well as the presentation of the completed competition projects, so that it is possible to pursue a project from the invitation to tender through the competition to implementation. Since 2000, the most important text contributions, especially the competition, have been bilingual (German and English). The centerpiece is now the unique archive, which now contains well over 30,000 designs from five decades, which is why the zeitgeist is particularly evident here. It is also used as a source of inspiration by many architects.
Concept of magazine
The basic concept of the magazine has remained the same since the first editions until today: The competition results carefully selected by the editors from many competitions each month, an average of six, are documented in the first part of the magazine in a value-neutral way and with scaled down plans, model photos and the jury's assessment. In the second part, the realizations that emerged from the competition results that were previously documented are presented. A short editorial opening credits on various current topics such as events for architects or new book publications as well as a closing credits with monthly changing focus topics about building such as B. Façade, roof, sustainability round off the magazine, which is also available digitally.
Archive and digital offer
The entire issue is also available online to subscribers to the magazine on the homepage. In addition, it is possible to use the archive of the designs that have been selected and collected by hand for many decades: now well over 30,000 designs. A special service offer for subscribers is the personally configurable newsletter with daily updated advertisements. Architecture offices also have the option of creating their own profile page or placing job ads. Older editions, entire volumes, individual competitions or themed books can also be purchased in the shop.
Further publishing offers
Since 2005 the magazine has been supplemented by the series of themed books. Only competition results on a specific topic are published here, such as "Office and administration buildings", "School buildings", "Indoor and outdoor pools", "Living and care for the elderly". Most of these are competitions that were not previously published in the magazine. One or two themed books appear each year.
Once a year there is also the "wa-vision", a free special edition of the monthly magazine from wa wettbewerbe aktuell with competitions for students and graduates.
In addition, sponsors have the option of holding their competitions via the wa web site competition-current.
wa award
Discover the architects of tomorrow today - under this motto wa wettbewerbe currently sees it as the only German monthly architecture magazine that deals exclusively with the topic of architecture competitions, as its task to also promote the next generation in architecture. With this student ideas competition wa has established a new format that takes place annually at colleges, universities and academies in German-speaking countries.