Architectural competitions : histories and practice

Architectural competitions are no longer simply professional praxis for architects, organizers and a recurrent exercise for students at schools of architecture. The competition has also turned into a field of research, and this book is part of an effort constituting the architectural competition as [...]
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Architectural competitions are no longer simply professional praxis for architects, organizers and a recurrent exercise for students at schools of architecture. The competition has also turned into a field of research, and this book is part of an effort constituting the architectural competition as a field for studies with scholarly claims. The first doctoral dissertations on competitions were presented in the 1990s in Europe. Another clear manifestation of research interest is the growth and spread of scholarly conferences on architectural competitions.

To be in the position of presenting accounts that are exciting as well as instructive and informative on the subject of architectural competitions is a pleasure. The contributions to the book show in a convincing way that the architectural competition is an interesting and rewarding object for research. The competition processes bear rich empirical findings to which one may refer for knowledge about architecture as professional practice, as educational subject and research platform. The architectural competition illustrates processes of change in society that are technical and organizational as well as social; it shows up constructive dilemmas, the borderline of rationality and the relative, creative insecurity of knowledge production in architectural projects.