The competition sheet is where a contestant has the most opportunity to express himself in architectural competitions. Because in many competitions, the participants can’t make one-on-one presentations. In this case, both the project itself, the way of expression, and the designer’s design approach are evident on the competition sheet. How should the sheets be prepared to convey all these to the other party in the best way?
First Criterion Specification
Although the contest sheet is a place where you can freely display your designs, of course, there are certain limitations. Before designing the competition sheet, it is necessary to read and understand the competition specifications very well.
Some competitions can be quite clear about the number of sheets and their order. For example, they may request the design concept in the first, technical details in the second, and project visuals in the third out of three sheets in the A2 dimension. In this case, the competition sheet’s number and placement have already been pre-selected by the selection jury. Since going out of the agreed order will cause you to be eliminated, it is necessary to pay attention to such expressions.
There may also be competitions that are not so strict on the competition sheet. However, these will also have specific limits on the layouts’ size, the maximum number of forms, resolution, and format.
Technical Details First
While preparing the contest sheet, one should not forget that the opposite side has little time to examine it. For this reason, it would be correct to choose a clear and easy-to-understand graphic language as possible.
Although the competition sheet’s content and its order vary, the technical details must be correct. Generally, it is preferred to see the concept and the starting point and then the project’s technical drawings. However, a wrong plan or a missing section can reduce the entire competition sheet’s value to zero.
Originality
Competition conditions were met, we resolved the technical details in a readable manner. So now it’s time to make the competition sheet remarkable.
Although originality in layout design is not related to your design, it can help you gain plus points to show your creativity. Also, it is up to your imagination to make a contest sheet that attracts the jury’s attention and takes place in their minds among all the projects.
An anesthetic and original competition sheet that does not compete with the project itself will be catchy.