Competition management

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Meeting of a jury as part of an architecture competition in Lahr

Competition management is the activity of the preparation, implementation and documentation of competition procedures in the planning area , i.e. competitions for projects in the disciplines of architecture , urban planning or landscape architecture , but also for art, art in construction , engineering structures or product design . The providers of these services operate as competition managers or competition supervisors, process supervisors, process organizers or in English e.g. B. Competition Advisor, Competition Organizer or Professional and Technical Advisor ( UIA Guide, Art. 9 and Annex.).

The competition manager is the "first phase architect". In this respect, the activity initially includes regular tasks for every planner in the start-up phase of a project. Like every other architect or city planner commissioned in this phase, the competition manager supports the client in clarifying, describing and coordinating the fundamentals of the project. In contrast to the normal case of a direct commissioning of a planner for the entire planning, this basic determination then forms part of the tender documents of a subsequent competition supervised by the competition manager. The activity of the competition manager includes a variety of accompanying services for the organization, moderation and control as well as documentation of the competition procedure. Depending on the type and size of the project, this phase, and thus also the activity of the competition manager, to a greater or lesser extent, also includes strategic advice on establishing the project in terms of content, political, economic and legal approval in cooperation with user representatives Administrations and / or other stakeholders - e.g. B. Neighbors, citizens, employee representatives.

meaning

The subject of the first planning step is the analysis of the requirements, the determination of the local conditions and the preliminary design. The following steps are followed by the further elaboration of the draft, the structural and technical planning, the award of the construction contracts and the construction itself. As the project progresses, the possibilities to optimize the project continuously decrease, be it to save costs, or to improve its quality.

The importance is based on the dimension of the fundamental decisions to be made in this phase - about the project itself, e.g. B. on the location, size and function, but also on the composition of the project team. These decisions need to be optimally prepared and made. The aim is to bring all of the experts and stakeholders required for the planning process to a "round table" step by step. And often also about creating the economic and political framework conditions for a successful project - both internally, i.e. with the client, and externally, with the municipality or the city, with the financing partners and in public.

The first planning phase is therefore of particular relevance for the sustainable success of a project - with the aim of design, functional and economic quality.

qualification

As a rule, architects and town planners as well as project management companies specialize in consulting and management services in this service segment. Some of the relevant guidelines for conducting competitions include statements about minimum qualifications, in that the competition manager must have at least the qualifications of the contestants. (UIA Guide, Art. 9: “… preferably an architect…”, RPW 2018 § 2 Paragraph 5: “… You have the professional qualifications of the participants. Competent sponsors can also take care of the competition themselves.”).

The competition manager acts on the hierarchy level, on which the decision-makers on the part of the sponsor and the architects and planners participating in the competition also act. This not only means that the professional and personal qualifications of the competition manager must enable a full understanding of all aspects of the topic in question and of the motives on the part of the sponsor. It also means that the competition manager must be in a position to map out the decision-making paths for the sponsor and to advise him on possible strategies and the consequences of individual decisions. At this point, the term competition manager or coordinator may be misleading: it is more about strategic advice, which among other things leads to the preparation and coordination of complex processes - but is by no means limited to this.

The previous training and experience as an architect or urban planner is certainly a good basis on which to build the skills to carry out these special consulting services and technical processes. However, the requirements go well beyond the profile customary for architects and planners: The content of the advice requires applicable business and legal knowledge as well as all technical and organizational skills that can be used in this context.

An important prerequisite for exercising the position of a competition manager is to be familiar with all technical issues in the areas of architecture and urban planning as well as with the role of moderator between the parties involved in the project. There are also topics such as building and public procurement law , commercial and legal project development, graphics, press and public relations and IT logistics. Further prerequisites are personal skills such as negotiating, moderation and thinking in complex technical, economic and political contexts. In this respect, this activity does not differ structurally significantly from other consulting activities; it is in fact more similar to these than conventionally understood engineering activities.

Reward

The job of a competition manager is more like that of a management consultant than that of a planning architect. Against this background, the way in which the fee for this activity is determined cannot, as is usual for planning architects and town planners and defined for Germany by the fee schedule for architects and engineers , in the calculation of a percentage of the expected construction costs or the size of the project area. Instead, it is common to provide remuneration based on the actual effort and the expected complexity of the project. The derivation of a flat fee - possibly supplemented by quantity scales or sliding clauses for certain individual aspects (for example the number of necessary meetings or the number of applications or drafts to be examined in the preliminary examination) - can be presented without difficulty in the vast majority of cases.

The concrete determination of the fee is based primarily on the experience of the competition manager and an assessment of the expected effort. Depending on the demands and competence of the competition manager, the amount of the fee as well as the scope and quality of the service provided vary. A list of minimum standards in the area of ​​competition management (in the sense of a binding catalog of services) does not exist.

The UIA Guide for International competitions in architecture and town planning explains in the appendix that the fees of professional and technical advisors and any other consultants e.g. B. for the definition of the room and function program, depending on the effort, the local situation and the additional and travel costs are to be borne by the sponsor.

Award of the services of the competition manager

The services of the competition manager are, depending on the applicable procurement and budget law, only open to tender for large projects due to the amount of the fee. Therefore, often only a limited number of competition managers who are considered suitable based on their references are asked to submit an offer.

Especially since the specific service profile is not defined as generally valid, and also has to be adjusted depending on the project and process, the service profile is i. d. Usually not described conclusively. Instead, it is part of the offer to finally specify the service profile together with a concept for its implementation. The award should therefore not only be based on the amount of the price offer, but also on the basis of quality criteria (quality based selection, QBS). Due to the nature of the services as a consulting service, the personal skills of the members of the planned project team are of the same relevance as the general experience of the office with the implementation of comparable projects. This usually results in the three components of the offer, which at the same time represent selection criteria. The weighting between these criteria is up to the client; it is advisable to focus on the first two criteria.

  • Performance picture and concept
  • Project team
  • Fee offer

Competition manager duties

Depending on the extent to which the project has already been developed and coordinated at the time the competition manager joins the competition manager, his range of services initially includes strategic advice to clarify fundamental questions:

  • Project goals, economic goals, coverage of needs
  • Constraints technical, political and legal planning conditions
  • Allocation process which services are to be awarded by any means in which time
  • Communication Involvement of the political and general public as well as selected stakeholders.

This is followed by more concrete and detailed services for carrying out the procedure. The competition manager is not only the organizer, but also the moderator of content-related coordination processes, especially in the context of creating room and functional programs, and possibly also the initiator and executor of these processes.

  1. Clarification and description of the situation and planning principles
  2. Definition of the task of the competition
  3. Creation of the competition documents (brochure, plans, environment model)
  4. Advice on the selection of judges and experts
  5. Advice on deciding on the type of procedure
  6. Formulation and coordination of the formal conditions of the procedure
  7. Publication, possibly handling of a competition to select the participants
  8. Dialogue with the participants through written questions and in colloquia
  9. Preparation, moderation and documentation of all events
  10. Preliminary examination of the submitted drafts
  11. Participation in the meeting of the jury
  12. Exhibition and press work
  13. Negotiation talks
  14. Creation of a project homepage for the exchange of information and data
  15. Control of costs and deadlines

Clarification and description of the situation and planning principles

The reason for the commissioning of a competition manager is the more or less clarified need to erect, expand or convert a building in order to fulfill a purpose that has already been defined, but possibly not yet described in detail. This need can also be an urban planning dimension, a landscape planning or engineering dimension, the design of a product or an exhibition or z. B. the development of a work of art.

So the preparation of a competition, depending on the task, includes u. a. the procurement of existing documents and preliminary studies for the project and the research of all conditions of the location, the property, its condition and buildability (building site, topography, existing development, existing pipeline), the traffic development, climatic conditions up to the historical development of the location.

Construction projects usually require approval - be it by the administration, the government or other parties whose approval, or at least their benevolence, is required for the project. It is necessary to promote the approval capability or the general consent of these bodies by involving the relevant persons or institutions in the process described at an early stage. Thus the preparation phase is also a discussion platform, a "round table". The result of this early involvement is usually a significant simplification of the later planning and approval process - and thus immediately becomes a measurable success factor.

Part of this service component of the competition manager is, if necessary, in the interest of specifying the task, to question the specifications already made by the client. In any case, his task is to check that the information is complete and up-to-date and, if necessary, to organize any missing information.

Definition of the task of the competition

In addition to clarifying the existing situation, the performance of the competition manager includes clarifying and describing the objectives of the project. These are i. d. R. strategic, urban planning, economic and functional goals. In order to describe the latter, the specific need that is to be met by the project must be clarified - be it the improvement of a design situation, the creation of spaces, traffic-related solutions, etc.

From the requirement program, the competition manager creates the space program for the competition, or a space and function program. It depicts the need in terms of areas (square meters), any technical requirements (e.g. desired room heights, building physics requirements and lighting conditions) in appropriately detailed form, and describes the desired relationships that individual rooms and room groups should have with one another. The process of creating these programs requires extensive coordination with e.g. B. the users, special planners and possibly the research for comparable projects and standards and guidelines. If necessary, contradicting ideas are to be coordinated in a moderation process.

Ultimately, it is the task of the competition manager to formulate this task in an understandable manner and without contradictions and thus to establish a consensus between all parties involved.

The jury colloquium marks the end of the voting process , in which all members of the jury meet for the first time to discuss the content of the competition documents and to adopt a consensus paper. The preparation, moderation and documentation of the event and, if necessary, the supporting program (site visit) is the responsibility of the competition manager.

Preparation of the competition documents

All the knowledge about the framework conditions and goals of the project must be formulated and processed in such a way that the intention of the project is clear to everyone involved in the competition and the planners involved in the competition have the necessary documents to process the task at their disposal. The documents will be made available to all those involved in the competition, if necessary as a download from the competition website.

Award brochure

The primary medium for communication is the competition brochure. All essential statements are summarized here in texts, tables and graphics - possibly in several languages. Since the participants often do not know the location of the project and they should also understand the task as quickly as possible, it has proven to be helpful to present the content as clearly as possible, i.e. in many cases graphically. A well-designed advertising brochure signals the importance and demands of the project.

Planning documents

An important part of the competition are the planning documents, on the basis of which the competition participants should create their designs. Here it is important to sift through the existing material, to add to it and to prepare it into a coherent, sensibly structured plan file. Ultimately, this also serves to be able to make decisions in the competition on the basis of coherent and coordinated principles. The contradictions that often exist between plans from different sources must be resolved before the documents are distributed to the participants. It is part of the responsibility of the competition manager, in case of doubt, to arrange for a property survey to be commissioned in order to be able to provide correct specifications. 

Environment model

Use of the environment model in a jury meeting in Fes

An essential instrument for the presentation of the design ideas in the competition are models in a corresponding scale - in architecture competitions i. d. Usually on a scale of 1: 500, possibly also in 1: 200, in urban planning competitions, models on a scale of 1: 1,000 and 1: 500 are common. Based on the models, the jury can best evaluate the designs in terms of their spatial effect. In order to also be able to incorporate the context into this assessment, i.e. the structural environment, the immediate vicinity of the property, it is common for an environment model to be created. This shows the topography and development of the neighborhood; A hole will be left in the model for the property concerned by the competition, into which the models submitted by the participants (application models) will be inserted precisely. In addition to its function in the jury session, the environmental model with the model used in the winning design is used to convey the project to the public, especially in the exhibition.

The organization of the creation of the environment model is the task of the competition manager. The following partial services are required for this:

  • Advising the sponsor in weighing up the size and scale of the model, taking into account the expected costs for the creation and any transport
  • Creation of the digital plan documents for the model maker
  • Tendering for the services of the model builder and commissioning the suitable bidder

Advice on the selection of judges and experts

Jury meeting at a competition for the research and innovation center of BMW AG in Munich

Last but not least, the experience of the competition manager helps to find the right participants for the project in question - the judges, experts and, if necessary, also the participants, and to put together an appropriate group of people for the responsible activity. The neutrality as a consultant - in contrast to taking sides or even competing as a competitor in the same market - opens up the necessary contact and communication opportunities at this point. The competition manager must not be in a competitive relationship with other participants in the competition, but sees himself as a partner - in favor of the client and in favor of the planning process with the aim of optimizing the project.

Advice on deciding on the type of procedure

There are a number of different types of competition - architectural competitions are representative of all types of competitions between architects, landscape architects, town planners and engineers. Depending on the importance, volume, complexity and procurement or competition law situation, the selected procedure can be adapted to the project. The respective professional association of architects is on hand to provide advice; in Germany this is usually the Chamber of Architects .

It has to be decided whether and how the procedure will be published, it has to be considered how many participants will be admitted and what qualifications they must have - for example, the participation of working groups of several professional groups can be recommended or even required. There is also the option of dividing the process into phases, which can enable a more intensive dialogue within the knowledge and coordination process. And finally, with complex projects it can be helpful to give up anonymity in favor of a direct dialogue with the participants. When advising and selecting, it is important to make sensible use of the legal framework that applies to competition in the respective country in the interests of the project and all those involved.

Formulation and coordination of the formal conditions of the procedure

The task of the competition manager is then to formulate the conditions of the procedure binding for all parties involved and thus to create the contractual basis for the competition.

  • Designation of those involved
  • Explanation of the conditions of the procedure (type of procedure, approval of the chamber, eligibility to participate, selection criteria, exclusion criteria, prize money, promise of engagement, copyrights, etc.)
  • List of competition documents
  • Information on the required services
  • Definition of dates and deadlines

Publication, possibly handling of a competition to select the participants

Restricted competition

When selecting participants for architecture competitions , the aim is to find an answer to the question of which planners are suitable for solving the task in question, which criteria can be applied and which body may select the participants. It is easy to imagine that in this phase decisive positive decisions can be made for the further course of the project or that decisive mistakes can be made. Therefore, and in order to make the procedure not formally or politically open to attack, careful consultation is essential at this point. Ultimately, it is important to find a suitably large, competent and at the same time heterogeneously composed field of participants for each project.

Attention should be paid to the applicable public procurement law , which generally requires the possibility of participation to be published in the case of public awards. The selection is then made either by drawing lots or using pre-defined criteria. In the case of private sponsors, participants can also be selected without applying the public procurement law that is binding for the public sector; However, it should not be made with less stringent requirements in terms of transparency and traceability of the selection process and care when defining the selection criteria. In order to keep the effort of such procedures reasonable for everyone involved, it is advisable to set clear guidelines for the applicants and to keep the services required in the context of the application for participation within an appropriate framework.

The task of the competition manager is to control the entire process, starting with the advice on the procedure, the definition of criteria for the selection, the creation of forms, the acceptance and preparation of applications, the moderation of the selection process and its documentation.

Open competition

A special case is the open competition in which anyone with the appropriate professional qualifications can participate. Here there is no selection of participants before processing the competition task, the selection of the winner takes place in a single step based solely on the quality of the submitted design. Open competition thus represents the “pure form” of competition. In Europe, these procedures sometimes have such high numbers of participants that they are only justifiable under special circumstances due to the high level of effort involved for all involved.

The task of the competition manager in open competitions is limited to the advisable registration of those who are interested in participating, etc. a. to communicate with the participants - e.g. B. by answering queries or issuing additional documents.

Dialogue with the participants through written questions and in colloquia

Participant colloquium as part of a competition for the Wien Museum

The participants in the competition have the opportunity to ask questions and aspects of the project for discussion. This process has a double background. On the one hand, it is a matter of giving everyone involved a maximum understanding of the project and its framework conditions; on the other hand, it becomes clear at this point that the competition also serves to gain the experience and creativity of all people involved for the project at this early stage to be developed: The questions and suggestions should open up the possibility to possibly rethink individual aspects, to reconsider them, to change them if necessary. This dialogue situation is traditionally created in the context of a participant colloquium at the site of the project.

In addition, participants can submit questions in writing. For this purpose, processing via the Internet in an online forum has proven itself, in which the participants can submit questions over a defined period and receive the answers there. This has the advantage that questions that arise during the work process can also be clarified. It is important that all participants have the same level of information, so all answers and clarifications are recorded and made available to all those involved as a further working basis. The log of all questions and answers thus becomes part of the task itself.

In the case of cooperative competitions, an interim presentation of the participants can also be held as part of the participant colloquium. the jury and a discussion of possible solutions with the aim of further clarifying the task.

Preparation, moderation and documentation of all events

It is part of the services of the competition manager to prepare, moderate and document all events in the process. In detail, this includes the creation of the agenda, the organization of the meeting rooms and their furnishing and seating arrangements, the creation of table templates and presentations, moderation and minutes.

Preliminary examination of the submitted drafts

Before the jury can decide on the submitted designs, there is another working phase that is important for the success of the project, the preliminary examination. It serves to prepare the jury's decision and thus an essential strategic decision for the sponsor. The level of all preparatory steps must therefore correspond to the complexity and importance of the decision to be made as well as the requirements of the promoter regarding the quality of the decision-making processes.

The jury's session time is insufficient to examine all sub-aspects with sufficient accuracy during the session. The employees of the preliminary examination, i. d. R. Employees of the competition manager, instead, are given sufficient time to carry out a precise check of the submitted competition work, the "preliminary check", in cooperation with experts. The aim of the preliminary check is to check neutrally and with the necessary intensity whether or how and to what extent the project specifications required by the client have been implemented. All test results are summarized in a report of the preliminary test, which is presented to the jury.

In addition to the selection of the procedure and the participants (participants, jurors, experts) as well as the precise description of the task, the preliminary examination is the fourth decisive element for a successful competition. This field of activity can make up a substantial part of the order volume of a competition manager and causes the greatest personnel expenditure in the process in a short period of time. The project team is composed of a coordinator of the preliminary examination, the team for the formal examination, the preliminary examiners, who should have the same qualifications as the contestants, and the assistants who carry out the quantitative examination.

According to the guideline for planning services (RPW 2013), Annex IV, the regular procedure for the preliminary examination is defined as follows

  1. Control of the timely delivery of the competition works
  2. Creation and storage of the collection list together with the envelopes with the names of the contestants
  3. Open the competition work
  4. Covering the key figures with camouflage numbers
  5. Creation of checklists
  6. Checking the competition work for: fulfillment of the formal competition requirements; Fulfillment of the program; Compliance with the assessment criteria quantifiable in terms of type and scope; Compliance with building regulations
  7. Checking of all required documents (volume, areas, usage values, technical calculations, cost information, etc.) as well as other specifications of the sponsor that are designated as binding
  8. Marking and segregating work that cannot be checked and additional services
  9. Drafting the record of the result of the preliminary examination
  10. Copying the completed checklists for all judges
  11. Proposals for the admission of the competition works
  12. Hang up the competition works

In practice, the process of the preliminary test can be better represented by the following sub-processes:

  1. The receipt and formal examination and, if necessary, anonymization of the competition entries up to the repair of models damaged during transport.
  2. The qualitative examination of quantifiable and objectifiable criteria , such as areas, volumes, functional relationships or compliance with legal regulations, to name just a few examples.
  3. The qualitative examination of non-quantifiable aspects , such as urban classification, design elements of the design and the functional organization.
  4. The involvement of experts to assess certain aspects in advance of the jury meeting.
  5. The preparation of the preliminary test report to present all test results.

Receipt and formal examination

After a reasonable period of time to complete the task, these are i. d. Usually eight to twelve weeks, the competition participants send the required documents (plans, models, forms and texts as well as files) by post or courier to the awarding authority, i.e. i. d. Usually at the competition manager's office. An essential principle of competitions is anonymity , i.e. the judges' ignorance of the assignment of the designs to the participants. In addition, it is also submitted anonymously, i.e. every document submitted, including the packaging, has an identification number, not a name. An author's declaration is submitted in a sealed envelope with the work . This declaration provides information about the assignment of the project with the relevant code number to its author and thus about the authorship of the project. The envelopes are sealed and only opened after the final decision.

The task of the preliminary examination, and thus i. d. As a rule of the competition manager, once the documents have been received, the first step is their formal examination.

  • Compliance with the submission deadlines
  • Compliance with anonymity in the documents
  • Completeness of the documents

In addition, this organizational part of the preliminary examination also includes any necessary repairs to the models submitted by the participants that were damaged during transport, as well as model photography by a professional photographer.

Qualitative testing of quantifiable and objectifiable criteria

One part of the qualitative preliminary test concerns the quantifiable criteria, i.e. the “measurable” components. These are first of all the sizes of the solution proposed in the draft, i.e. its area parameters (usually gross floor area GFA, net floor area NF as well as the base area number GRZ and floor area number GFZ), the volume (gross volume BRI), possibly surfaces (bright areas) and the number of Rooms etc. It is determined to what extent these correspond to the specifications in the relevant draft and how this is in comparison to the other drafts.

The plans and data sheets submitted by the participants are at least checked for plausibility and measured in random samples. The results of this part of the preliminary test are summarized in the preliminary test report in tables and diagrams.

Qualitative examination of non-quantifiable aspects

The second part of the qualitative preliminary examination concerns the technical examination of the submitted designs with regard to their non-quantifiable properties. Depending on the task, this concerns z. B. the examination of the fulfillment of required functional relationships and compliance with building and planning regulations. This step also includes the study of the idea on which the design is based in terms of design and spatial formation, in order to summarize these in the preliminary test report.

The results of this test are summarized in text and, if necessary, graphically in the preliminary test report and presented to the jury at its meeting by the preliminary testers.

Every single one of the other mentioned points of the preliminary examination could possibly also be carried out by representatives of other disciplines, business people, lawyers and graphic designers. However, the complexity of real estate projects allows an appropriate handling of the available information only if the persons involved in the preliminary examination are technically able to process this complexity, which requires the same qualifications as those required by the participants is - so i. d. Usually that of an architect or urban planner.

Involvement of the experts

The task of the experts is to advise the organizer and the judges on individual, usually technical aspects. In order to be able to give a well-founded statement about the submitted drafts during the decision-making process during the jury meeting, it is useful to contact the experts named for the procedure, e.g. structural engineers , fire protection experts, etc. am, to be included as part of the preliminary assessment to assess these topics.

In a compact appraisal appointment, they examine all submitted designs according to the criteria of their expertise and prepare a report. These statements become part of the preliminary test report. The result is thus included in the judgment of the jury; If the judges have any questions, the experts are available i. d. Usually also available personally for explanations of their assessments.

Preparation of the preliminary test report

The preliminary test report, a printed brochure presented to all members of the jury at the beginning of their session, contains all the results of the preliminary test. On the one hand, this preliminary test report serves the jury as a working basis for the evaluation, on the other hand, it also provides documentation of the submitted designs.

Components of the preliminary test report are:

  • Formal examination report
  • Report on the involvement of experts
  • Comparison of characteristic values
  • Individual reports on all drafts with the text of the preliminary examination to explain the respective draft, the results of the quantitative examination, model photos, reproductions of the author's representations and any other analyzes of the preliminary examination

Participation in the meeting of the jury (decision-making body)

Meeting of the jury as part of an urban design competition for a project in Mecca , Saudi Arabia

The jury is basically divided into two groups. On the one hand, there are the material judges, who are usually mainly provided by the organizer of the competition. There are those judges whose view of the project is more shaped by the subject, i.e. the function and use. In the case of a hospital project, this would certainly be the physician and the medical director; in the case of a production building, the people responsible for production and logistics. In addition, there are often municipal or state representatives. The task of the competition manager is to ensure that as many parties as possible whose integration is important for strategic reasons are involved.

Since the task at hand is a planning task, the group of material judges is supplemented by a second group of experts who provide technical advice to the organizer in his decision and who at the same time guarantee a professionally qualified decision - the specialist judges. These should have at least a qualification comparable to the qualification of the participants. In this context, it is common for the number of specialist judges to be greater than that of material judges, in order to ensure a decision from the point of view of the architects and planners in case of doubt (dissent). This is initially a regulation to be understood against the background of German procurement law. Basically, it is important to put the committee together in such a way that an appropriate decision is supported and then to shape the discussion and the decision in such a way that there is no disagreement between specialist and material judges. Ensuring this is one of the tasks of the chairman of the jury and the competition manager. 

At the meeting of the decision-making body, the submitted drafts are first presented by the preliminary examiners and the results of the preliminary examination are explained. Once all the work has been presented and explained, a discussion about what has been seen and the decision-making criteria follows, which then leads to a first round of voting. Drafts that do not find an advocate in this voting round will be sorted out, and the remaining work will be subjected to ever more intensive examination and discussion in further rounds.

Jury meeting

The drafts that remain in the decision-making process form the “shortlist”, the group of all drafts that are awarded a prize or purchase. Before the final decision on the ranking of the designs that were recognized as worthy of the award, the judges will prepare a written report for each of the shortlisted works, which will identify the strengths and weaknesses of the work. This is followed by the final discussion with the vote on the ranking of the works and thus on winning the competition. Since it is not only a question of winning the honor, but also of a generally lucrative planning contract, the chairman of the jury must have great skill as a moderator, as a diplomat and, last but not least, as a guardian of the interests of the client, at the latest in this phase of the competition but also asked by the participating colleagues. It becomes clear that only very experienced architects can be considered for this task. Here, too, the competition manager plays an important role as the “second” moderator and as a further confidante of the sponsor.

After the decision on the best project has been made, the anonymity of the participants is removed by opening the envelopes with the author's statements and reading out the names of the authors. This step usually ends the meeting of the decision-making body. Minutes are drawn up over the entire course of the meeting, which contain the results of the votes, the main points of the discussion and the written evaluations. These minutes will be signed by all judges and will be made available to all participants after the meeting. In addition, there is a documentation of all submitted drafts and the results of the preliminary examination, which all those involved also receive. This is done against the background of making the decision as transparent and comprehensible as possible for all parties involved in order to increase acceptance for the decision made.

Exhibition and press work

Exhibition as part of the architecture competition for the Wien Museum

The public exhibition of all the designs submitted for the competition and the information about the decision of the jury initially expresses respect for the commitment and performance of all participating offices by making it clear that not only the winners of a competition, but all participants make contributions to the development of the Project and for discussion in the context of the jury. It also serves to create acceptance for the project. As a rule, the exhibition is supplemented by publications in specialist journals and a presentation of the results on the project website.

The task of the competition manager is to organize the exhibition, including a. the designation of the drafts with the names of the authors as well as the compilation of the documents for the press and the support of the promotion at the possibly called press conference. In order to provide the exhibition with the desired comprehensive information content, it is helpful to equip it with additional information posters about the occasion and goal of the competition, the course of the procedure, etc. For elaborate exhibitions z. B. reprinted the plans of the participants in order to achieve a uniform print and paper quality, or set up screens with pictures and films of the events of the procedure, which in turn are created by the competition manager.

Negotiation talks

After competitions, negotiations will either only take place with the author of the design that has been awarded the 1st prize or with all award winners to commission further planning services. In the case of public clients, these negotiations take place in Germany on the basis of the VgV, the procurement ordinance and the ordinance on the award of public contracts . The competition manager can also undertake awarding tasks within the framework of these negotiations, e.g. B .:

  • Preparation, coordination and creation of the forms
  • Creation of the components of the offer documents, etc. a. Participation in the formulation of the service description for the contract
  • Sending the invitation to tender
  • Accept bidder questions, develop and agree on suggested answers and send answers
  • Preparatory evaluation of the offers according to formal requirements
  • Preparation of negotiations including scheduling, invitation
  • Moderation and recording of the negotiations
  • Rejection and acceptance letters

Creation of a project homepage for the exchange of information and data

The project homepage, coordinated by the competition manager, has several modules for communication between those involved in the process:

  • Announcement of the procedure vs. the general public and to interest professionals in participating
  • Information about the project with plans and pictures
  • Handling of the participation competition with online forms for entering information about the applicants (if relevant)
  • Possibility to register in open competitions
  • Possibility for applicants and participants to enter queries and display of their answers
  • Provision of files
  • Online issue with the result of the procedure

Control of costs and deadlines

For the duration of his assignment, it is the task of the competition manager to coordinate the dates. This first requires the establishment of a framework schedule, which can be integrated into the overall project schedule, in which, in turn, the timing up to the realization of the project is designed and tracked. Once the judges have been elected, coordinating the dates of the events is the most important task of the competition manager. In the event of delays in the project, updating is also the responsibility of the competition manager.

Cost control also first requires the preparation of an overall cost estimate for the process. In addition to the competition sum (prizes and expense allowance), these include in particular the costs for the participation of the judges and experts, event costs, printing and model construction costs and, if applicable, travel costs. Especially since it is the largest position in medium-sized and large projects, the calculation of the competition sum is the most important part of the competition manager's tasks. In the course of the procedure, the continuation of the total cost estimate based on the real costs and the audit of the accounts are the tasks of the competition manager.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ UIA Guide for International Competitions in Architecture and Town Planning
  2. ^ UIA Guide for International Competitions in Architecture and Town Planning
  3. ↑ Guideline for planning competitions RPW 2013
  4. ^ UIA Guide for International Competitions in Architecture and Town Planning
  5. ↑ Guideline for planning competitions RPW 2013
  6. ↑ Competitive standard architecture
  7. ↑ Leaflet 142 — Regulations for Architecture and Engineering Competitions of the Swiss Commission of Engineers and Architects
  8. ↑ American Institute of Architects www.aia.org