Negroni Talk #19 - 10.02.20 Awards: What Are They Good For? Absolutely Nuthin’!

Awards: What Are They Good For? Absolutely Nuthin’! What is the point of Architectural Awards? Is it to win more work? Boost the ego of architects? Share beautiful projects with the general public? The proliferation of Awards means that they have become something of an industry within an industry and we are all guilty of seeking validation by submitting projects to be judged, despite knowing that more often than not, we will miss out. Why do practices put themselves through this lottery? Meeting an Award’s criteria and putting projects forward for consideration is often costly and the benefits can often be hard to see. We’re told that a win will propel a studio into the limelight, however since it's doubtful if many people outside the profession will ever know about it, there remain questions about the advantages or purpose of this 'new found fame'. Do awards truly reflect actual quality in architecture, or in being seduced by appearances do they end up rewarding and therefore masking bad architecture? Meanwhile the same cabal of practices seem to be hoovering up the majority of the prizes and they’re often to be found on judging panels themselves. Are architectural awards rigged or politicised to reflect sentiment, the times, or worse; maintain a balancing act by responding to the kind of project/practice that won previously. Should we be judging buildings like you do films, music or books anyway? It’s not as if anyone in their right mind is going to commission another version of a design thats already won an award. Awards, what are they good for?…...Absolutely nuthin! Speakers: Peter Smisek, ICON (Chair) Marcus Fairs, Dezeen Rab Bennetts, Bennetts Associates Veronica Simpson, Journalist Fliss Childs, Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios