Arquitectum recently completed a design competition for a residential development in Pucusana, Peru with developers Rodrigo Associates I first saw the teaser on their website and I was intrigued. The top prize of US$5,000 was on the low side for what the competition seemed to be but I loved the site and the idea of designing a project in Latin America. I counted down the days to the launch.

The first minor disappointment was that I had to keep counting longer than they said I would – the launch date was delayed. Unfortunately the submission deadline of June 1 stayed the same. But it was the brief that had the biggest shocks in store.

1. The first was positive – they increased the first prize from US$5,000 to US$15,000. On the surface this seemed great but the reasons lay just below.
2. Arquitectum is not in the business of free entries but this was breathtaking – US$300 entry fee ‘early bird’ (by April 30) and US$400 after. I don’t know what they were thinking but it was an immediate and obvious put-off. This is WAY too much to ask from the kind of young architect that is likely to enter. As I will get to next, the scope of the project was HUGE (198 houses and 14 villas plus the common areas) so the $15K top prize would not cover the expenses of a larger  firm.
3. To the competition programme:
   • masterplan – materials, massing, heights, colours …
   • two residential prototypes
   • designs for common amenities – club house, terraces, beach area, administration, boardwalk, parking …
     All presented as a ready-to-go ’system’
4. What I found particularly insulting was that you were not allowed to ask any questions until you had paid the entry fee. This is absolutely crazy and was the ultimate dealbreaker for me.
5. The insults continued – if you won you would have to make your own way to Peru to collect your prize.
6. They wanted your drawings in .dwg format as well. Now I used to work for a developer so I know that this means something very simple – bye bye.
7. The timeframe – they were asking for an entire masterplan, thematic proposal, 2 prototype villa designs and common buildings in under two months. What quality of work and depth of enquiry were they expecting? Assuming that we have to make a living otherwise, we cannot drop everything for those two months.

This competition struck me as a terrible attempt at a quick profit making venture (before a single house is sold). Both Rodrigo and Arquitectum are based in Peru. That could have worked to bring more common sense to the equation, but it seems to have done the opposite. These are tough times for architects, and young architects in particular are at their most exploitable. Arquitectum seems to have jumped at the opportunity to take advantage.

I checked back occasionally to the Architectum homepage and I noticed that they had extenedd the ‘early bird’ period indefinitely for up to 20 entrants. As the submission date approached I watched it dwindle down leaving about 8.

Congratulations to all who entered and particualrly the winners, but there was no way that I was going to join you.