Doesn’t it sometimes seem as if you see the same firms receiving all the design awards year in and year out? It can be frustrating, especially when you know your own work is at least as compelling visually and functionally. So what’s the secret? As former Architecture Editor in Chief Don Canty used to say about getting published: “Do good work and tell us about it.” Okay, so you do good work, now here are a few tips on the most effective way to tell the jury about it in your awards submissions.
1) Keep it simple.
Your design solution is bound to be extremely involved … every project is, even seemingly simple ones. Jury members know this too. But put yourself in their shoes. In the first round of project reviews, they typically have only a minute or two to review each submission. There is often a certain feeling of sensory overload. Focus on no more than three outstanding features of your project that you feel will capture the jury’s attention (more on that in a moment) and focus your presentation on that.
This might seem obvious, and it is. But you would not believe the number of entries that come in with no apparent attention given to the quality of the photographs and renderings. Some jury members are taken by whiz-bang CAD manipulations; some prefer hand-drawn design-development studies. Submit whichever you are strongest in. But do consider that when they see obviously altered images or poorly executed drawings, the odds are that they will skip to the next submission without digging any deeper into yours.
3) Keep it short.
Text is important in focusing a jury member on the impact of your project. But—especially in the first round—he or she isn’t going to want to read a dissertation. State your thesis and caption your illustrations, certainly, but do it in a way that it is most easily absorbed in a quick read-through.
Especially in effective interventions, some submissions give undue attention to what was being fixed. A “before” shot is best conveyed small and in black and white so that the “after” shots are what draw the eye. And as far as the impression you want to leave with the jury, every client, consultant, and regulator is always the best you’ve ever worked with. Leave the jury members believing that you enjoy what you’ve accomplished as part of a well-honed team.
And speaking of the client, don’t forget to mention how the project makes life better for the owners and users of what you have created.
6) Remember the environmental impact.
It’s almost a cliché anymore, but do remember to mention—even if only in passing—those measures you have taken to reduce carbon emissions, manage storm water runoff, and, in general, be resource efficient.
As one can see in some of the recent mega-projects in China, for instance, sometimes having no context is in itself a context. But if you don’t somehow explain the setting for your design solution—in pictures or text—and if the jury members are not able to visit the project (which is most often the case), then you are doing your work a disservice. Try to give the jury a sense of the experience of the building and how it fits into its place.
This element is fairly new as an expressed architectural concept. It has to do with how your project helps people recover from natural and anthropogenic disasters. It might not be part of the jury members’ conscious decision making, but if your project addresses resilience in a notable way, it’s a good thing to point to as one of your building’s outstanding characteristics.
If you can find out who the jury members are going to be, spend some time learning what kinds of projects they design and what kind of styles or features they highlight in their own projects. This isn’t cheating, it’s knowing your audience and focusing your message to capture their attention.
Giving credit is free. And, if your project does receive an award, your consultants and the people in your firm who were most involved and invested in the project will feel much more appreciated if their joint achievement is acknowledged. And remember, the design-team identification information is concealed from the jury (although with some high-visibility projects they are bound to know, of course). You have just as good a chance to be awarded as the firms you see in all the magazines … if you pay as much attention to your submission as you do to the projects of which you are most proud.
Now, get out there and create some winning entries! The 2013 Awards for Excellence in Architecture is accepting entries through June 28.