The following is taken from ?Design Review?, written by Peter Stewart for the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE), 2002. In light of the upcoming World Architecture Festival, whose finalists were announced this morning, Stewart gives a few tips on what makes a good project and a successful competition entry. 

World Building of the Year 2015 Winner: The Interlace (Singapore) / OMA and Ole Scheeren. Image © Iwan Baan

The following is taken from ?Design Review?, written by Peter Stewart for the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE), 2002. In light of the upcoming World Architecture Festival, whose finalists were announced this morning, Stewart gives a few tips on what makes a good project and a successful competition entry. The Roman architect Vitruvius suggested that the principal qualities of well- designed buildings are ?commodity, firmness and delight?: Commodity ? buildings should be fit for the purpose for which they were designed Firmness ? they should be soundly built and durable Delight ? they should be good-looking; their design should please the eye and the mind.  These three criteria remain as a sound basis for judging architecture now as when they were conceived. Just as each design decision affects many others, so the three criteria are intertwined with the design process. Many aspects of a project which need to be taken into account when evaluating it will touch on all three. These include the f...