Just keep up the good work

Despite the economic and financial crisis that is affecting the building sector worldwide, we have managed to publish the usual number of briefs in this 18th Open Call. What this indicates is that the public sector in our region is still continuing to invest fully, and that the search  is always for the best possible team of designers to take up the brief in an inventive and adequate way.

As usual there are a number of briefs that stand out. Sometimes because of their impact and symbolic significance. The implementation plan for the Waalse Krook is indeed the second and extremely well prepared publication for a competition for this site, which is visually so important for the city of Ghent. The laboratories, offices and data centre for the VITO in Mol represent the start of an overall conversion of the striking site of the former atomic centre to meet changed needs. We also again see some truly impressive assignments from the care sector, a policy area where there is an unmistakable increase and broadening of interest in architecture.

What is conspicuous this time is the many briefs involving new administrative buildings for local council services, often linked to plans for the transformation of the town or village centre. These ‘town halls’ or ‘social centres’ are intended to be emblems of renewal. They naturally transcend the purely utilitarian uses of the ordinary office building. In addition, we welcome a couple of attractive infrastructure projects introduced by the Highways and Traffic Agency and
by Aquafin. Their inclusion in this Open Call demonstrates the growing awareness of spatial quality in this policy area.

With regard to potential submitters, we would like to emphasise that in the preliminary stages of each brief, our team has made an effort to obtain a guarantee from the client that what is published will be correctly executed. The audit we commissioned from Idea Consult on the effects of the Open Call procedure indicates that the degree of implementation does indeed
show a very positive trend, and we certainly want to continue stimulating this development.

After all, the success of the Open Call is tied up with the quality of the submitters. In this respect the notable increase in the number of submissions for the previous Open Call 17 (about 600 as opposed to the usual 300-400) was a good sign, but it is also potentially dangerous.

The chances of success decrease in proportion. For this reason we advise the teams to concentrate on those briefs they think they will best qualify for. On the one hand these should be briefs for which they can show references, and on the other briefs for which they can clearly show in their justification why they would like to draw up a design.

Lastly, I would like to advise potential participants to read the information on the way the allocation procedure works. For those who end up among the five selected teams asked to come up with a plan, I would like to repeat that it is only the first, nameless part of the allocation procedure that runs like an architectural competition (for designs). The second part (the presentation) is a negotiation procedure between the designers and the client. The role of the Flemish Government Architect is to make sure that these negotiations are carried on as correctly as possible and that no wrong decisions are taken. The ultimate choice remains that of the client, however.