Foundation Research Design Competitions

The Foundation Research Design Competitions committed to the promotion of Swiss building culture. As the first and only institution of its kind in Switzerland, it systematically collects and archives the results of architectural and engineering competitions and makes them accessible to a broad public, research, education and specialist circles. Through its work, the Foundation makes a significant contribution to the documentation, safeguarding and further development of the Swiss competition system and thus of Switzerland's architectural heritage.

The foundation is independent, charitable and non-profit-making.

For centuries, architectural and engineering competitions have been a proven instrument for high-quality building culture. Numerous landmark buildings and public spaces have emerged from competitions.

Planning competitions also have a research-oriented character: they promote innovative solutions in architecture and civil engineering that fulfil the highest functional, ecological, economic and design requirements. This makes them one of the most effective tools for shaping our built environment.

A central project of the foundation is KONKURADO, a publicly accessible, multilingual online database. Since its launch in 2008, it has provided experts and interested parties with comprehensive information on planning competitions. The platform has been actively maintained and continuously expanded since December 2013.

Another important project is the competition laboratory, a congress that takes place every two years and was conceived together with the publisher Hochparterre AG. Here, current developments in the competition system in Switzerland are discussed, analysed and examined with regard to their future viability.

collecting, processing and archiving data, information and material on architectural and engineering competitions and on the history of the competition system and competition law,

developing and networking existing and future collections and archives with knowledge on the subject of architectural and engineering competitions,

the development and provision of methods for the utilisation of inaccessible or undiscovered knowledge on architectural and engineering competitions,

the provision of information platforms to make the collected, analysed and documented knowledge and material accessible,

to identify areas of research, fields of knowledge and gaps in knowledge in the field of architectural and engineering competitions and to initiate, promote, support and communicate suitable research projects and to operate them as a partner and on its own initiative,

to promote the development and application of recognised instruments for conducting architectural and engineering competitions, such as the SIA Competition Rules 142.