Why choose competitive selection?

In a competitive and increasingly visual world, exemplary architecture translates across cultures. It speaks at a glance, leaves a lifetime’s impression. MRC’s selection processes are focused on securing outstanding architecture for our clients as well as swiftly establishing their project in the public’s mind and reaching new audiences.

MRC’s selection processes – including international design competitions – give our clients a unique opportunity to compare different creative and innovative approaches to their project from upcoming and celebrated designers around the world, including names they might not know.

A process that involves a well-thought-out brief and communications strategy provides a platform to reach the capable and visionary design teams who deeply connect with the project.

Not all projects require design proposals prior to design team selection. Depending on the client’s timeline, budget and priorities, we can run selection processes that focus on teams’ capability, delivery approach, design thinking, and response to context, without the requirement for resolved design solutions. These kinds of processes reveal how teams think, collaborate, and, most importantly, engage with the client team.

The most admired new buildings shaping our cities and communities today are the work of sophisticated collaborative design teams. MRC is expert in encouraging creative partnerships between architects and artists, or interpretation specialists, or masterplanners. Where appropriate, we encourage larger, more experienced firms to link up with emerging talent, and international architects to work with national architects. We know how to innovate within the context of complex procurement rules.

Competitive selection is a highly effective method of finding the right design team, developing the brief, engaging stakeholders, exploring potential concept designs and gathering public support.

MRC is experienced in providing the client team with a clear and visionary narrative that is underpinned by architectural and technical understanding. A key strength of MRC’s team is its architectural expertise. We believe the quality of a building is largely determined by the quality and depth of thought put into the design brief. We devote much energy to producing the best possible brief, enabling the design teams to concentrate on the creative or technical response.

This creativity manifests in the selected team’s design concept and the initial imagery that shows the promise of the future, long before permissions are gained and construction starts. 

For longer processes, this time is well spent preparing the brief, negotiating with stakeholders, developing concepts, inviting the jury or advisory panel to assess submissions, collating the public’s views and feedback to the proposals (if an open competition) and holding a final review process. This compares favourably with any other process of appointing a design team and developing a concept design. The selection process can provide invaluable deep learning for the client before the final project is presented to the public and supply more deliverables than a conventional single appointment.

Where possible, we innovate within these to encourage maximum creative engagement between the architect or design team and the client. We also look to encourage multidisciplinary team-building – most complex projects nowadays require sophisticated teams, and the opportunity to observe how they work together during the process can be insightful for clients.

We run a broad range of processes. At one end of the spectrum is the European model for an open design contest where competitors are anonymous and judged solely on their concept designs. This is not generally liked by established architects and engineers because it requires considerable design work at risk. However, with the right competition fee and a well-conceived brief, an open contest can effectively draw out genuinely new talent as it appeals to ambitious emerging studios. It is also suited to ideas competitions.

A variant of this model is the two-stage competition which more or less follows an RFQ (Request for Qualifications) and RFP (Request for Proposals) structure, with design excellence established as a core principle of the search. 

Typically, an open two-stage process (known as the Restricted Procedure under European Regulations), starts with a wide search for interest (modified with no design at the first stage) to establish a shortlist of at least five teams. These then go on to produce concept designs for a competition fee, with the option to showcase proposals in a public gallery.

An invited selection process (no design work upfront) is at the other end of the spectrum. First, a longlist of firms is identified and invited to present their qualifications. From this a shortlist may be asked to participate, sometimes purely by interview, but often taking part in client workshops and submitting designs.

We also run architect/design team selection processes that focus on teams’ commercial proposals for the project, testing their pre-concept modelling, design thinking, and working approach. This approach can be run to an accelerated timeline, while maintaining fairness, transparency, and confidence in the outcome. 

MRC can advise you on the right process to generate the best possible shortlist suited to your wider aims and culture.

Clients naturally look for the lead designer or studio that can build a team that will fit successfully with the client’s culture and values. The process of competitive selection, with briefing days, charrettes and interviews, draws out priorities and allows client and potential design team to meet. This enables a deeper appraisal and early testing of the relationship.

Depending on the project, MRC generally favours processes which allow the client to interact with the shortlisted design teams and, where in scope, review their concept designs.

MRC is focused on achieving outstanding, award-winning design for our clients – our work frees up clients to concentrate on other aspects of their project.

In the last thirty years we have built a dedicated following among global architects, engineers and designers that spans emerging to top-tier studios and translates into an extensive database of global architectural and engineering talent.

While we love to imagine projects and write visionary narratives, our team’s background in architecture means our design briefs and propositions are always grounded in reality. 

We also understand international procurement law and can innovate within this.

We have advised leading international galleries, museums and universities, philanthropies, government departments, investors, global thought-leaders, and clients that defy categorisation.

London-based, MRC has developed design briefs and undertaken consultancy for significant cultural projects in countries as diverse as the United States, Taiwan, Lithuania, Finland, Qatar and Australia.