Specialist information: Sustainability-oriented architecture competitions
Competitions are a centuries-old tradition in Germany. As is well known, the development of architectural concepts that meet sustainable building criteria begins with basic analyses, and the chances of influencing these concepts already begin to diminish after the pre-design stage. In order to tackle complex sets of problems, the subject has to be addressed in significant detail already in the early planning phases. However, the current approaches to architecture competitions in Germany seem neither suitable for addressing issues relevant to pre-design or sustainability in competitions, nor are they particularly likely to persuade juries to extend their (principal) assessment focus by adding sustainability aspects to the urban and architectural design criteria, and where relevant, functional criteria. But above all, current competition initiation practice doesn't speak to architects. There is a lack of a concrete planning basis or guidelines that can assist the development of design concepts and the design process that is taken for granted.
