For decades, architectural competitions have been recognized as a great way for architecture firms to get their big break, or to make a name for themselves in the types of projects they might not have been considered for before. However, competitions come with a downside: it?s not always easy for firms to build them in to their culture. Design competitions take time, often don?t translate to billable hours, and aren?t always clear pathways to strengthening the firm?s balance sheet, and as a result they have seen something of a backlash in recent years.

This work was for Infosys Nagpur in India, a really interesting invitation-only competition to make a sustainable office development for 30,000 in a desert-like environment. We worked with great collaborative engineers including Atelier Ten, Arup and Andropogon. We didn?t win, but the founder of the company Mr Murtha ("The Bill Gates of India") was so impressed that he promised us we?d work together in the future. Image Courtesy of CannonDesign
For decades, architectural competitions have been recognized as a great way for architecture firms to get their big break, or to make a name for themselves in the types of projects they might not have been considered for before. However, competitions come with a downside: it?s not always easy for firms to build them in to their culture. Design competitions take time, often don?t translate to billable hours, and aren?t always clear pathways to strengthening the...