Historically the architectural competition has been a testing ground for new ideas. It was understood as a space in which research and development, as well as the creation of critical architectural proposals, were possible. Today, competition architecture has increasingly become a service provision for the jury and a fulfillment of the technical requirements of the brief – in other words, simply what is needed to win the competition. Needs are generating ideas whereas ideas should be generating needs. The outcome is often predictable and conventional, stripping competitions of their significance as a critical tool.

The next issue of CONDITIONS will be dedicated to the future potential of architectural competitions. Partly this will be done through publishing the result of an ongoing architectural competition announced elsewhere. In addition to this, we are looking for texts exploring from different angles the historic and contemporary role of architectural competitions.

Send your abstracts to submission@conditionsmagazine.com by the 5th of November. Deadline for final submissions is the 1st of December.