A design competition or design contest is a

competition Competition is a rivalry where two or more parties strive for a common goal which cannot be shared: where one's gain is the other's loss (an example of which is a zero-sum game). Competition can arise between entities such as organisms, indiv ...

in which an entity solicits design proposals from the public for a specified purpose.

Architecture

architectural design competition An architectural design competition is a type of design competition in which an organization that intends on constructing a new building invites architects to submit design proposals. The winning design is usually chosen by an independent panel ...

solicits architects to submit design proposals for a building, bridge, or other structure. Such competitions may be ''open'', receiving bids internationally, domestically, or regionally. The competition may occur in a single stage, or involve two stages, the first of which eliminates non-viable candidates. Famous early examples of design competitions were for the

Acropolis of Athens The Acropolis of Athens is an ancient citadel located on a rocky outcrop above the city of Athens and contains the remains of several ancient buildings of great architectural and historical significance, the most famous being the Parthenon. Th ...

in 448 BCE, and the dome of the Florence Cathedral in 1418.

Coins and stamps

Coin and stamp design contests solicit designs to appear on the face of stamps and usually the

obverse Obverse and its opposite, reverse, refer to the two flat faces of coins and some other two-sided objects, including paper money, flags, seals, medals, drawings, old master prints and other works of art, and printed fabrics. In this usage, ...

of coins. In 1998, the

Royal Canadian Mint }) is the mint of Canada and a Crown corporation, operating under the ''Royal Canadian Mint Act''. The shares of the Mint are held in trust for the Crown in right of Canada. The Mint produces all of Canada's circulation coins, and manufacture ...

held the Millennium Coin Design Contest, a competition for the design of 24 quarters, one for each month of 1999 and 2000.

Monuments and sculptures

The design of artistic objects and monuments is a common subject in design competitions. A well-known example is the

Vietnam Veterans Memorial The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is a U.S. national memorial in Washington, D.C., honoring service members of the U.S. armed forces who served in the Vietnam War. The site is dominated by two black granite walls engraved with the names of those ...

Washington D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, Na ...

Maya Lin Maya Ying Lin (born October 5, 1959) is an American designer and sculptor. In 1981, while an undergraduate at Yale University, she achieved national recognition when she won a national design competition for the planned Vietnam Veterans Memoria ...

Urban space

Urban and landscape projects may solicit design proposals in a competition. Among them are projects for urban parks, streetscapes, and rehabilitation of natural areas.

Government procurement

Specific rules are included in the EU's Directive on Public Contracts for the conduct of a design contest organised as part of a procedure leading to the award of a public contract or a design contest with prizes or payments to participants.Directive 2014/24/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 February 2014 on public procurement and repealing Directive 2004/18/EC (Text with EEA relevance)
Title III, Chapter 2, ''Rules governing design contests'', adopted 26 February 2014, accessed 5 February 2021

Student design competition

student design competition A student design competition is a specific form of a student competition relating to design. Design competitions can be technical or purely aesthetic. The objective of technical competitions is to introduce students to real-world engineering situat ...

is a

student competition A student competition is any student event where an individual or a team compete for a prize where skill is the main predictor of the winner. There can be a competition between students or teams of students within a classroom or across different s ...

to introduce students to real-world engineering practices and design.

References

{{Design Design Competition