ARCHITECTURAL COMPETITIONS.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1034, 25 January 1911, Page 8

ARCHITECTURAL COMPETITIONS.

Sir,—Many : of tho ; architects ■ -in the 'Dominion' to-day ;look 'to architectural competitions a 9 one way of finishing their education. I am not going much into the question about competitions, for I know something about'them, behind "tlio scenes and in front. o'f~ the footlights, but 1 cannot pass this subject, because. I-believe . competition has, a fascination for ' most young 'architects'. • I do not think -it ha 9 l'or the older , opes. '• Many young men beginning , their careers as., .architects regard, it as a short, cut to fame" and . success.. That idea,, let 1 me tell you, is all a romance;- It would do-Tory well for a novel.: An. author, .if' ho. should happen to make his . hero a young archi.-' tect, wduld probably make ■ him enter some'"large competition fur some great public building;' and 'he would get the first premium awarded to his hero, making his design, far. and, away, above all-the'others, leaving the ol'dcr archi- : tects nowhere, but filling them with surprise and envy 'at the splendid achievement of the youthful hero. No doubt this would go down in a story book, but that novelist would not. bo a .realist., His picture would not be true-to life. No, I there is no such, thing in the real life of [ ail architect -as jumping, .at- one boundto,the top of the tree. 'As in everything, else, there , must be time for-.growth. .Although I am not a believer in competitions, they aro an established- - custom, for tho present which we have to,face, and lam not going'to say anything that would discourage, architects' from, competing. :. But let me say, I believe' you might count 'all the' men who lisvo made a'position for .themselves by competition on your fingers. Few have gained by them, and architects as a body have-lost by tllem. • Look for a moment at a competition from a financial point of view. Let us tako one for a building, to-cost, say, £20,000. Twenty-five designs ■ are sent in, and probably .a good'many more begun and not finished. Each design would have about ten drawings,.and you may put down tho minimum out of pocket: expenses' at .£10:' Take forty by twenty-five, and you will find tho ■ twentyfive competing architects have, spent .81000 in order that one of them may earn a commission of ,£IOOO. 'It is not as if the successful architect took tho .£IOOO-for tho competition,drawings, etc...To earn liis■ commission ho..would have.to make all his working drawings. A commercial man would .'say this may be art, or it may. be profession, but it is not good, business.„ lint there,is'a much moro serious objection ( to. competitions, Which is ' this: "After you have taken every possible pains and expended skill and- labour, 1 not to mention money, and really have : produced a design of high merit, you have to face this fact'; That in competi- ■! tions generally the gate of success seldom; swings on the hinges of merit. It is a startling statement to make, but it is: a fact: You. may dispute it, but you will not be able to refute it, and I- repeat-it., I say, in competitions generally, the gate of -success seldom swings on the. hinges of merit. It does sometimes; it should always, but, it does not. More often- .it is- lifted from its true and natural bearings by tho: leverage :of local-influence, even ii' you should havo the assessor's award in your favour, and it has been known' to be hold up by the rotten props of corruption. I'ut not your trust in competitions, for tho ways thereof aro dark aiid doubtful. Somo committees think that architects will accept any conditions, they choose to impose on them. Don't compete where tho conditions are. mean or unfair; when the premium will'merge; into the commission. One .of the best tilings-to know about competitions'is to know when to avoid them.—l am, ctc., ' W. COEiiETT.vB.V.I.A. Kilbirnie. .