Just as musicians can build their year around festival appearances, architects can now fill their calendar with deadlines for design competitions. The international contest is an increasingly fashionable way of generating new ideas, forging reputations and getting some interesting things built.
We have competitions to thank for New York’s 9/11 Ground Zero Memorial and Manhattan’s High Line. Thomas Heatherwick’s controversial plan for a Garden Bridge across the Thames was commissioned by Transport for London after a design contest. And more than 1,700 entrants sought the chance… read more