Vilnius changes every day, and many talented people contribute to the creation of the cityscape. How changes are born, architectural competitions take place, the search for the best ideas and their professional evaluation is still an area unknown to many Vilnius residents, so the Vilnius municipality interviewed the chairperson of the Lithuanian Union of Architects (LAS), Rūta Leitanaitė, who dispelled myths about architectural competitions.
"It is important to understand that during the architectural competition, the best project idea is not chosen primarily by the designer or the architect. In this way, the public and the customer avoid buying a "cat in the bag", when they buy for the cheapest price an unknown project, the quality of which is not satisfactory", says R. Leitanaitė.
She added that the architectural competition is the best, most transparent and professional way to choose the project that best meets the expectations of the public and the customer and meets the architectural quality requirements.
Procurement organizations, including city municipalities, conduct all tenders in accordance with the Law on Public Procurement. Architectural competitions must also meet its requirements, but they have even higher requirements for professionalism. Competitions organized by the Lithuanian Union of Architects are held in accordance with the LAS architectural competition regulations, which comply with the recommendations of the International Union of Architects and UNESCO for the preparation of architectural competitions, as well as good practices.
According to R. Leitanaitė, this is why the tender projects are always submitted anonymously: the evaluation committee does not know who the authors of the projects are until the evaluation procedures are completed and the identification envelopes are opened, which name the architects who submitted the projects. Strict anonymity is one of the essential requirements for tender participants. Architects who violate anonymity - by marking their authorship in the submitted material, or by informing the members of the evaluation committee about it - are disqualified from the competition.
One of the most important requirements for an architectural competition is a professional evaluation of ideas. Therefore, in competitions organized by the Union of Lithuanian Architects, the evaluation committee always consists of a majority of professionals (architects, urban planners) - at least 50% + 1 member of such members in the committee. This ensures that the decision on the best project will be based on the expertise of professionals.
The procuring organization can and must delegate its representatives to the evaluation committee. It can be its representatives (e.g. the city's chief architect) and other specialists trusted by the buyer (e.g. an invited cultural heritage or transport specialist). The Union of Lithuanian Architects does not recommend appointing politicians to the evaluation commission, and this recommendation is followed.
"Although there have been more and more architectural competitions in Lithuania recently, compared to other European countries, there could be even more of them. The experience of others shows that architectural competitions are organized for almost all objects of public importance, built with city or state money. They do not necessarily involve dozens of architects. After all, the most important thing is not to get a record number of participants, but to get at least a few really high-quality projects that are suitable for implementation and meet the expectations of the population. In Europe, various practices are applied - from large international competitions announced for the most important public objects (opera theaters, libraries, university campuses, etc.) - to competitions in which five or six author teams are selected based on their qualifications", - the chairperson of the Lithuanian Architects Union emphasized the attention to quality.
R. Leitanaitė says that one of the most important conditions for a successful tender is well-prepared tender conditions, which not only define a transparent, professional evaluation and the entire tender process, but also clearly define the requirements and expectations for the new project. Therefore, it is very important to carefully prepare the buyer's "homework" - communicating with end users, discussing expectations with local communities, drawing up a detailed program for the future building or complex, calculating the implementation budget, specifying valid restrictions and requirements. On the other hand, when writing the program, it is important to leave space for the architects' creative freedom, that is, to clearly indicate which points in the tender conditions are mandatory and which are only recommendations.
Competition costs architects time, energy and financial resources. Therefore, each team usually decides responsibly whether to participate in the competition or not. The decision to participate can be determined by many factors: the significance of the object, the interest of the task, the architect's time schedule, etc., but among the important reasons, R. Leitanaitė mentions the intention of the buyer to sign a design contract with the winner (this is a very motivating factor) and the size of the prize fund. The prize funds of competitions organized in Lithuania still have room to grow compared to other European countries.
Photo by Saulius Žiura.
The material is prepared according to Vilnius city municipalities order. Content is paid for.
