Melbourne School of Design brings together a selection of architects, critics, and academics in a panel discussion on 30 July to debate the status and relevance of design competitions in Melbourne and within the context of Australia.

Recent public design competitions in Melbourne, such as Flinders Street Station, have garnered both public and professional attention. Despite the various formats, the winning commissions seem to be consistently awarded to the larger, more established practices. Have we lost the opportunity for design competitions to foster and support new talent, without which, Melbourne’s Federation Square would be a vastly different project.

There are many disincentives and impedements to the use of competitions as a method of design procurement: the immense resources expended, the move away from truly “open” competitions, and the lack of government policy to undertake design competitions.

Do architectural design competitions remain relevant to architecture, architects and to society as a whole? Have opportunities for design competitions to create major public projects been curtailed and eliminated? Who are the losers when there are no more architectural design competitions to win?

The discussion is moderated by architect Professor Donald Bates and panellists include architect and film maker Angel Borrego Cubero, architects Jon Clements (Jackson Clements Burrows), Tania Davidge (OpenHAUS), Ingrid Bakker (Hassell) and Jill Garner (Associate Victorian Government Architect), and Suzannah Waldron (Searle X Waldron).

This is a follow-on event to the Australian premiere of the documentary The Competition at ACMI Melbourne on 26 July.

30 July 2014
6.30 pm – 8.00 pm
Free
University of Melbourne
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