Image: Architecture & Design Museum, Helsinki
The Architecture & Design Museum is publishing Petri Kentala’s comprehensive survey to mark the 150th anniversary of architecture competitions. According to the museum, the survey is the first to examine the long history of architecture competitions in depth and offers new information on the subject.
Alongside the publication, the museum reports a project that digitized around 15,000 black-and-white photographs related to prize-winning competition entries, expanded its database on competitions and produced an audio guide about them. The article examines the competition tradition through key developments, architectural movements, innovation and social responsibility.
Kentala, the survey’s author, is a Bachelor of Science in Technology, musician and music educator who works in the fields of architecture and music. Architecture competitions have produced high-quality architecture in Finland throughout history; for example, most public or ecclesiastical buildings are the result of architecture competitions.
Anonymous participation has been regarded as an equalizing feature of the competition institution because a person’s unfamiliarity or gender did not constitute an obstacle to success in competitions. The earliest mention of an architecture competition found in the Finnish press dates to 1858.
