Architecture design competitions have existed for over 2000 years. Competitions are an amazing method of pooling design ideas and funnelling the best ones. Often, apart from design inputs, competitions are floated to gain publicity, funding, and engage public debate. Some of the world’s best buildings were winning entries from design competitions.

1. White House, 1792

Location: Washington D.C.

Winner: James Hoban

George Washington, the founding father of the US was the one to select the site for White House. Both Washington and Thomas Jefferson, his Secretary of State, had avid interest in architecture. They mutually agreed to host an architecture competition for the design of the White House and the Capital. None of the design entries for the Capital could win except a drawing for the White House submitted by James Hoban, who modelled the design after an Anglo-Irish villa in Dublin called the Leinster House.

2. House of Parliament, 1835

Location: London

Winner: Charles Barry

The Fire of 1834 in the British House of Parliament had rendered the UK government homeless. An open competition was floated with a key decision to build the new Parliament building on the same land as it held political significance. Also, a strict requirement was to propose the designs in Gothic or Elizabethan themes only. Of 97 entries, Charles Barry’s design in the Gothic Revival style won. He was assisted by Augustus Pugin to design the interiors of the palace.

3. Sydney Opera House, 1955

Location: Sydney

Winner: Jorn Utzon

Joseph Cahill, the Premier of New South Wales launched an international design competition to design a dedicated performing arts centre in Sydney. From 233 entries, Utzon’s curvaceous and sculptural building was selected as the winner. Frank Gehry, one of the Pritzker Prize judges said, “Utzon made a building well ahead of its time, far ahead of available technology, and he persevered through extraordinarily malicious publicity and negative criticism to build a building that changed the image of an entire country.”

4. Centre Pompidou, 1971

Location: Paris

Winner: Richard Rogers and Renzo Piano

Rogers and Piano’s design for Centre Pompidou won among 681 design entries. Président Charles de Gaulle selected the Plateau Beaubourg as the site for this centre to act as a public library. Later, Georges Pomipdou, the new President, made this centre a home for contemporary art and IRCAM. The Centre Pompidou is among the first examples of an inside-out building, with its structural system, mechanical systems, and circulation revealing themselves on the exteriors of the built form.

5. Tribune Tower, 1992

Location: Chicago

Winner: John Mead Howells and Raymond Hood

In 1922, the Chicago Tribune hosted an international competition at their new headquarters. The new office building was meant to mark their 75th anniversary and a total prize money of $1,00,000 was announced. New York based architects, John Mead Howells and Raymond Hood presented their Neo-Gothic design with ornate buttresses near the top and emerged as winners.

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Iconic landmarks that were winning entries from design competitions