ČKA is preparing an international symposium on architectural competitions

Architectural competitions are an advanced, specific, and proven type of contest shaped by a long tradition. The purpose of the competition is to select the most suitable design based on the comparison of all received solutions and thus the capable author team. At the same time, the competition provides the opinion of a qualified expert jury, consisting of both representatives of the investor and independent experts.
Architectural competition - as a principle has been known for centuries - mobilizes the best human capabilities and is also a proven way to yield the best results for the public interest within the possibilities. It is a verified model, and historical records testify to competitions for several centuries. Systematically, architectural competition has been developed and refined for more than 160 years. In civilized countries, it is considered one of the most productive and at the same time most equitable ways to find the author of a building.
The reason for such a competition is primarily the economical use of public funds. It offers the greatest hope of exchanging expended finances for the maximum and most lasting consideration. It is an effective operation aimed at achieving the best valuation of both public money and valuable public spaces or land.
The architectural competition is evaluated in a closed time using long-cultivated and internationally shared methods by a numerous jury composed of both representatives of the organizer (investor) and independent experts (architects, urban planners, transport experts, heritage conservationists).
However, architectural competitions are sometimes announced by private organizers. In some cases, the public interest serves as an incentive (when they share or use valuable space - city centers), but there are also cases of completely voluntary arrangements that originate from the inner developed culture of such entities.


PROGRAM
The symposium will be prepared in such a way that its impact on the discussed topic is as high quality and deep as possible. Each speaker has a defined twenty-minute slot for their presentation, followed by a fifteen-minute discussion period. The flow of presentations will be interrupted for lunch and a coffee break, which will include simple refreshments for the audience. A podium discussion will take place at 5 PM.

TOPIC
During the symposium, the most pressing questions concerning architectural competitions and public procurement for projects will be raised. Considerable space will be devoted to questions from the floor to stimulate a lively discussion.

GOAL
The goal of the symposium is to collectively advance professional community knowledge and general awareness about architectural competitions to a higher level through dialogue. It will be a platform where top and experienced experts on both the legal and substantive aspects of the topic will discuss alongside other interested parties who will not contribute directly with papers.

SPEAKERS
Prominent figures and experts from several EU countries have been invited to the symposium, who can speak knowledgeably on the topic and lead a fruitful discussion: John de los Angeles (architect, UK), Paula Huotelin (architect, Finland), Rafael Pellicer (lawyer, Spain), Georg Pendl (President of the Austrian Chamber of Architects and Engineers), David Dvořák (lawyer, Czech Republic), Miroslav Masák (architect, Czech Republic), Jiří Plos (lawyer, Czech Republic, Secretary of ČKA), Jan Sapák (architect, Czech Republic, member of the Council for Competitions ČKA), Martin Svoboda (Director of NTK)

WHO IS THE SYMPOSIUM INTENDED FOR
The issues of architectural competitions primarily concern representatives of public administration, investors, clients, builders, developers, architects, and designers, as well as lawyers. Interested parties from architecture students and other professional communities are also welcome.

TRANSLATION
The symposium will be conducted in English, with high-quality simultaneous translation provided into Czech.

APPLICATIONS
Please confirm your participation via email at [email protected] or by phone: 542 211 809. The participation fee can be paid in cash at the Brno office of ČKA (Starobrněnská 16/18, Brno 602 00) or at the Prague office of ČKA (Josefská 34/6, Praha 1, 118 00), or transferred to account number: 1928140339/0800. When paying without cash, it is necessary to state a variable symbol, which will be provided upon confirmation of participation. Authorized persons will state their authorization number as the variable symbol.
Price for non-ČKA members: 1800 CZK
Price in Euro: 65 €
(Price paid in the last week up to the day of the event 2000 CZK).
Price for ČKA members: 200 CZK

---

MORE ABOUT THE SPEAKERS

Arq Dr John de los Angeles BA Dipl Arch PhD RIBA PPACArch
British architect and former RIBA official responsible for competitions, has extensive experience in organizing contests not only in the UK.

Mgr. David Dvořák
Lawyer, specialist in public investment law (public contracts, concessions, PPP projects), and construction law, co-author of Act No. 137/2006 Coll. on Public Contracts, certified lecturer of the Ministry for Regional Development for the Public Contracts Act and Concession Act. An educated and specialized lawyer in competition law. He has intensively dealt with the relationship between law and subordinate regulations regarding the organization of architectural competitions. His specialization also includes the public procurement mechanism based on winning an architectural competition.

Paula Huotelin
Architect SAFA (Finnish Association of Architects), Secretary General of SAFA, member of the Executive Board of ACE in 2004 and 2005, reporter of the ACE working group on public contracts and architectural competitions. Paula Huotelin will speak about the situation in Scandinavian countries (for example, in Finland, nearly 2000 architectural competitions have been held and it enjoys a tradition of 130 years of competition, the competitive practice in Finland during the interwar period was very similar to the situation in then Czechoslovakia, as well as the results of the work of Alvar Aalto and his numerous works that originated from competitions will be recalled).

Rafael Pellicer
A lawyer who has long worked in organizing architectural competitions and other types of competitions relating to design in Spain. He will contribute to the symposium discussion primarily by comparing practices in different parts of Spain.

DI Georg Pendl
President of the Austrian Chamber of Architects and Engineers, Chair of the ACE working group on competitions (Architects Council of Europe). Practicing architect with extensive experience in organizing competitions. He will compare competition in Austria with general experience in the EU.

JUDr. PhDr. Jiří Plos
Secretary of the Czech Chamber of Architects, specialist in construction law and copyright in architecture. Specific correlations of public procurement tasks based on winning an architectural competition will be presented, including copyright issues related to it.

Prof. Ing. arch. Miroslav Masák
Architect, university professor, and former advisor to President Václav Havel, awarded the Honor of the Czech Chamber of Architects in 2007. One of the most experienced jurors, he has often been the chairman of the jury. Experiences from competitions at the end of the 1960s will be compared, the lack of competitions during 1979-1988 and the situation since 1990.

Akad. arch. Jan Sapák
Architect, publicist, theorist, and historian of architecture. He publishes in leading Czech and foreign professional journals and gives lectures. Member of the Working Group for Competitions of ČKA. He will speak about the roots of competition, spontaneous competitions, and artificially organized competitions. The culmination of the entire speech will be the evaluation of qualitative impacts on the overall level of architecture and a thorough debate with the myths accompanying competition, especially concerning the question of top architecture.

Ing. Martin Svoboda
Director of the National Technical Library, announcer of the competition for a new library building in 2000.