An architectural design competition can be an excellent choice for a client looking for an outstanding design for their next project. It can bring the highest quality of thinking to a project, and - as a client - it gives you a wide range of options.
RIBA Competitions are behind many of the best and most cherished buildings both in the UK and internationally. They stimulate new thinking and consistently bring out the best in architects.
So much so, that a finished project delivered can bring lasting benefits, helping improve and enrich people's lives, and often exceeding the client's expectations. This success often leads to further opportunities, with a client returning to RIBA Competitions for future projects.
We look back at previous architectural design competitions with the same client.
Two competitions held by Kingston University
The benefit of going down the RIBA Competition route for Kingston University was to select architects who would “better understand the university’s educational ethos and how to translate that into an architectural solution”. This was the situation with the Town House Building, which opened in January 2020, it was the first of two competitions held with RIBA and Grafton Architects' scheme was considered to offer the greatest potential to meet the long-term needs and aspirations of the University.
The building includes a library, dance studios, and a performance space, but as Seán Woulfe, former Director of Estates and Sustainability at Kingston University, frames it “the building is entirely designed around answering the needs of our students”.
Grafton Architects interpreted the brief and delivered more than was asked when delivering the covered courtyard in the building. Watch the video below to see the walk-through of the final project, going on to win the RIBA Stirling Prize 2021 and 2022 European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture - Mies van der Rohe Award.
The competition was so well-received amongst the Kingston University project team and staff that when it came to designing their new building, the Kingston School of Art, they came back to hold a competition with RIBA again.
Kingston School of Art was completed in 2020 by the winning practice; Haworth Tompkins was tasked with upgrading and extending Kingston University’s Knights Park Campus to provide over 10,000sqm of refurbished creative space.
Winning the RIBA London Award 2021 and RIBA London Client of the Year 2021, the building saw a transformation from a confusing layout and a poor environmental ranking and performance, so sustainability was key. The finished building achieved BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method) Outstanding and delivered a 52% reduction in operational carbon emissions.
Three competitions held by Network Rail
The Department for Transport’s Access for All funding initiative was established to improve accessibility at railway stations through the creation of obstacle-free routes from station entrances to platforms. Network Rail Footbridge Design Ideas competition was the first design competition held with RIBA for the design and installation of fully accessible pedestrian footbridges across the UK rail network. The winning design, won by Gottlieb Paludan Architects, DK with Strasky, Husty and Partners Ltd, and CZ, needed to further improve the legacy of rail pioneers that already existed across the rail landscape.
7N Architects won the Re-Imagining Railway Stations: Connecting Communities competition from more than 200 entries from 34 countries to shape Britain’s future railways competition. To align with Network Rail’s aspirations to be carbon neutral by 2050 the winning design met the brief to be pared back to create an open and flexible system which, with minimum parts, would transform people’s experience of the station and consider the needs of both passengers and their local communities.
Anthony Dewar, Network Technical Head Buildings & Architecture, Network Rail said of the competition process that “…from each of the competitions we have discovered new design talent from the supply chain that we would have struggled to engage with via our ‘normal’ procurement routes.”
The next competition was a partnership between RIBA and the Design Museum, which saw proposals for an inspired design of a timepiece to display and communicate time across the UK national rail network. A New Timepiece for the Railway Competition saw over 100 entries from 14 countries.
Four competitions held by the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)
LSE’s first of four RIBA Competitions was the Saw Swee Hock Student Centre, winning the RIBA London Building of the Year Award in 2014. A multifunctional building with a large music venue, pub, learning cafe, union offices, prayer centre, dance studio, careers library, and gym.
Kenneth Kinsella, Director of Capital Development, LSE said of the project and the winning architects, “…it allows us to reach a wider pool of architects within the UK and internationally which we feel is important and aligns with our international staff and student profile…had we not followed the invited completion process we would not have naturally selected O'Donnell + Tuomey Architects onto the shortlist.”
44 Lincoln's Inn Fields/the Paul Marshall Building competition brief was to design a new building in the heart of London, which will house the academic departments of Accounting, Finance, and Management and research centres, including the Marshall Institute with teaching facilities as well as new multipurpose sports and arts facilities. Grafton Architects was selected as the winner of the competition.
Kenneth Kinsella, Director of Capital Development, LSE said the Competitions process was “…crucial in allowing us to secure seminal pieces of architecture that support the student experience and campus development.”
The next competition LSE held was for the Global Centre for Social Sciences. It is a state-of-the-art flexible and highly sustainable academic and teaching building, designed by Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners. The award-winning building was completed in June 2019.
“Great buildings are built with great clients…In a competition the architect is freed for a brief moment from the overseeing gaze of their future client; this allows free thinking and experimentation.”
Ivan Harbour, Partner at Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners
Down the road at 35 Lincoln’s Inn Fields/the Firoz Lalji Global Hub was the next major building project for LSE and this was the fourth time the school used the RIBA Competitions process. With the school’s key priority to develop LSE for everyone the brief was to find a practice to design the school’s first net zero carbon building and house the Firoz Lalji Africa Institute, Executive Education, the Departments of Mathematics, Statistics and Methodology, the Data Science Institute and conference facilities that will help to connect and engage LSE’s global community.
Currently in development, the design competition was awarded to David Chipperfield Architects with Feix and Merlin.
RIBA is the UK’s most widely recognised provider of competition services with the expertise and experience to support clients throughout the process, from setting up the competition to the selection of a winner.
However big or small your upcoming project we deliver choice, inspiration, and value to clients through expertly run-architectural design competitions. Find out more information about holding a competition.
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