How to Increase Your Chances of Winning International Architectural Competitions? 7 Professional Steps Before You Start

Have you ever wondered why some architectural projects win international competitions while others, despite their quality, are forgotten?

The answer isn’t always in the idea itself, but often in the way it’s conceived.

International competitions are no longer just platforms to showcase creativity; they’ve become golden opportunities to build a professional reputation, gain global recognition, and open doors to major projects with leading entities. With the increasing number of participants and the rising quality of submissions, presenting a good project is no longer enough to win.

What’s required is strategic thinking, professional preparation, and a deep understanding of what the judges are looking for. Translate your ideas into compelling messages and your design proposals into stories that inspire the jury before convincing them—with calculated tactics and an expert eye.

In this article, we present 7 well-researched and proven steps to help you increase your chances of winning, while avoiding common mistakes. Whether you’re a young architect entering your first competition or a professional seeking excellence in major contests, these steps are for you.

1. Start Behind the Scenes… Not with the Brief

The first mistake many participants make is jumping directly to reading the competition requirements and then sketching ideas. But true winners understand that the secret lies not just in reading “what is required,” but in understanding “why it’s required.”

Begin by analyzing the context in which the competition emerged: What is the project’s overarching goal? What urban, social, or climatic challenges does the proposed design aim to address?

Who is behind this competition? Is it a government entity, an academic institution, a cultural organization, or a commercial entity? Each of these stakeholders seeks different messages through architecture.

When you understand what lies beyond the text—the logic governing the competition and the broader message it aims to convey—you can align your design approach with the jury’s wavelength. This creates a project that doesn’t just respond to the requirements but feels like a natural part of a broader vision intersecting with the organizer’s ambitions.

In the Reinventing Paris competition launched by the City of Paris to redesign neglected sites, the winners weren’t those who presented the most beautiful facades but those who captured the essence of the idea: reconnecting people with the city through innovative and sustainable functions. The jury was looking for solutions that spoke of circular economy, community diversity, and participatory spaces—even if these terms weren’t explicitly mentioned in the brief.

According to a report by ArchDaily Competitions, 82% of winning projects in international competitions over the past five years distinguished themselves through an in-depth analytical reading of the context, not just the visual quality of the design.

2. Read Between the Lines: Like an Architect Reads Literary Texts

Don’t just read the brief once; approach it as you would a novel: What’s the hidden thread? Which words are repeated? What unspoken gaps exist? Many competitions conceal implicit expectations, and the awards go to those who grasp them.

In architectural competitions, not all directives are written in ink. Many criteria are implied or left open for you to demonstrate your analytical and architectural intelligence. Here’s where your role as a professional designer comes in: to analyze the hidden architectural text and read between the lines of the organizational brief.

Look for indirect cues in the site description, the language of the questions, or even how information is presented.

For example, if a phrase like “enhancing the daily user experience of the site” is mentioned, it goes beyond aesthetic design to encompass sensory interaction, seamless navigation, and ease of use—in short, user experience.

Also, pay attention to words like “sustainability,” “integration,” “innovation,” and “identity”—these aren’t just decorative terms but implicit criteria that will be used to evaluate your project, even if they’re not explicitly listed as items.

In the Mies van der Rohe Award for Emerging Architects, the brief didn’t explicitly require the design to reflect “local identity,” but most shortlisted projects reinterpreted traditional architecture with a contemporary eye. This shows that understanding and expressing cultural context is a decisive evaluation factor, even if not explicitly requested.

A 2023 Bustler study indicates that nearly 67% of international architectural competition judges state that “deep architectural meaning” and “smart reading of the organizational brief” are fundamental factors for winning, even more than the visual presentation of the project.

Sometimes, projects are rewarded for engaging with invisible backgrounds, such as climate change, urban equity, or local heritage. Demonstrating this engagement shows that you’re an architect who not only designs but thinks strategically.

5. The Board Isn’t Just a Display Tool… Let the Project Speak!

The presentation board is your chance to tell the project’s story in 10 seconds. Therefore, make it visually coherent, logically structured, and balanced between beauty and clarity. Your presentation is your pitch—don’t neglect it.

In international architectural competitions, visual communication is as important as the design itself. Juries review dozens of projects in limited time, so how you present your project can be the decisive factor between standing out and being overlooked.

• Use clear architectural visuals (diagrams, sections, exploded axonometrics).

• Rely on narrative diagrams that smoothly explain the idea.

• Adopt a logical visual sequence that tells the story from problem to solution.

Focus on what’s called Conceptual Clarity—the ability to show “What problem does it solve? And why in this form?” through carefully selected sections and diagrams, without relying excessively on long texts.

In the Mies van der Rohe Award, winning projects often integrate function, visual expression, and spatial storytelling into simple yet intelligent boards.

Tip:

Test your project with non-architects. If they understand it, there’s a good chance it will leave an impact on the jury.

Use AI tools like DALL·E or Midjourney to support conceptual renders if you’re short on time.

Here’s a crucial paradox:

While good architectural visualization can quickly convince the jury, excessive artistic rendering or over-stylized visuals can have the opposite effect.

Many projects fail to convey their core idea because the focus is on “visual beauty” rather than the logic of the concept. Stunning realistic images can overshadow the fundamental idea, making the jury feel the project lacks a strong vision and relies only on presentation tools.

Golden Rule:

Choose a single, clear visual identity that serves your project without overwhelming it.

Make your boards:

• Visually consistent in design identity (colors, typography, grid).

• Renderings that serve the idea, not the other way around (use realistic rendering only when it supports the proposal, not just for decoration).

• Thoughtfully economical: Sometimes one well-considered drawing is better than five realistic images that distract from the idea.

Use a Minimal Visual Language if the idea is strong, and adopt smart, simple output styles like those of BIG or MAD.

Jurors aren’t always architects, so make the project appear understandable and convincing, without feeling like they’re being manipulated by “visual makeup.”

When you finish your board, ask yourself: “Does the visualization enhance my idea, or hide it?”

6. Analyze, Don’t Just Admire: Train Your Mind to Deconstruct Winning Projects

In the world of international architectural competitions, it’s not enough to admire a winning project and move on. You must develop critical analysis skills to understand why it won and what its strengths are.

Ask yourself:

• What is the project’s core idea?

• How did the designer translate the competition brief into an effective architectural design?

• What kind of solution did it provide to a real or contextual problem?

• How did it use architectural representation (renders, plans, text slides) to serve the concept?

• Was the architectural identity clear and consistent?

Think like a jury member and start building a mental map of what truly convinces jurors.

Pro Tip:

Create a special folder where you store your personal critical assessments of winning projects—even if it’s just one line. Over time, you’ll develop an “architectural compass” closer to what’s actually demanded.

Statistically, analytical studies of international competitions like ArchDaily Competitions or eVolo show that most winning projects demonstrate:

• Clarity of idea at first glance (one-look clarity).

• Studied simplicity in presentation.

• A strong architectural narrative linked to context and problem.

7. Submit a Memorable Presentation… Not One That’s Forgotten

Finally, a strong design leaves an impact not because it’s perfect, but because it tells something greater than its lines. Connect your project to a visual and human narrative: an idea, an experience…

The jury remembers projects that make them feel something bigger than what they see… not just those that impress them technically. Many good projects fail to advance in competition results simply because they didn’t leave a distinctive mark on the jury. Excellence in architecture isn’t enough; the project must carry a clear central idea and create memorable mental images.

Start with the question: What will stay in the juror’s mind after the presentations end?

If you don’t present something that can be retold, quoted, or celebrated as a hallmark in the evaluation committee, you may not win, no matter how meticulous the details are.

Some tips for creating an “unforgettable” project:

• The core idea should be explainable in one sentence. A project without a story is just a structure.

• Simplify… then simplify… then add a unique idea: Try to frame your project as a smart answer to a global architectural problem, even if the details are local.

• Learn from past experiences: Winning projects are often bold yet studied, innovative, and realistic.

• Add your personal touch: It could be in the presentation style, the project’s name, or even the use of rich local symbols.

A study published by ArchDaily showed that over 70% of winning projects share one trait: a clear central message that expresses the essence of the idea.

In Conclusion… Your Project Isn’t Measured by the Number of Pages, But by the Strength of Its Idea!

In the world of architectural competitions, it’s not just the idea that makes the difference, but how you tell it, how you convince others of it, and how you show it’s the smart solution to a complex problem.

Every architectural competition hides an opportunity between its lines, and every project you submit is your mini-portfolio in the eyes of those who don’t know you. Will you make your project just another entry? Or a landmark that’s retold?

Always remember: In major competitions, those who read between the lines win more than those who just read the rules.

If you’re planning to participate in a competition soon or have participated before, tell us in the comments:

What’s the most important lesson you’ve learned from your experience?

Your input might light the way for another architect and help them win the next round!

Don’t forget to share the article with your fellow architects—because knowledge becomes valuable only when shared.

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3. Late Drawing Is Better Than Quick Sketching: Don’t Pick Up the Pen Before Understanding the Paper

It’s tempting to start sketching immediately… but it’s better to pause. Use analytical design as a methodology for design thinking to understand the context.

Dedicate intensive time to building the project thesis—a central idea that inspires the design, sets its rhythm, and is worth defending in front of any jury. Winning designs are often not the most beautiful but the clearest in their concept.

A common mistake enthusiastic architects make is jumping directly into drawing without a comprehensive analysis of the project’s nature, context, and expected outcomes from the jury. In reality, early sketching can lead to weak or immature ideas, making later revisions exhausting or even impossible.

In contrast, late drawing—which comes after a deep understanding of the problem, site and program analysis, and reviewing similar past projects—often produces more mature and cohesive ideas. The process begins with gathering ideas, mapping mental pathways, studying functional and symbolic relationships, and then the lines start to form on paper.

In the Arab Culture Pavilion Design Competition at Expo Milan, the winning team spent over two weeks analyzing local architectural patterns and the relationship between culture and food before starting to draw. Other teams submitted visually appealing but conceptually shallow designs.

Tip: Keep your digital and analog tools on standby until you have an idea worth drawing.

4. Don’t Be a Lone Genius: Work with a Multidisciplinary Team

Although some architectural competitions are announced as individual contests, strong projects are born from brainstorming or, at the very least, critical review by a second party. Think: Do you need a rendering expert? A researcher? A writer? Don’t exhaust yourself with tasks that can be delegated; focus on the most impactful creative part.

True success is often built on collaborative design and knowledge integration across disciplines. Don’t rely solely on your vision as a designer; form a team that combines diverse expertise:

• Collaborate with a multidisciplinary team including a structural engineer to understand physical constraints, a lighting designer to highlight spaces, and a sustainability specialist to ensure the project aligns with green design principles.

• Engage a graphic designer capable of presenting the final submission in an attractive and professional visual style.

• Add intellectual depth by consulting an urban planner or social expert if the project addresses societal or urban issues.

This approach not only enriches the project idea but also demonstrates to the jury that you fully understand the strategies for winning architectural competitions and appreciate the importance of interdisciplinary integration in solving complex problems.

In a competition to replan a historic district in Southern Europe, the winning team included an architect, urban planner, interactive interface designer, and heritage specialist. This integration produced a more comprehensive proposal than teams relying on a single perspective.

Tip:

Even if you’re the primary applicant, show in your presentation how the project was conceived through multiple lenses. This demonstrates maturity and a deep understanding of the project’s needs.

When preparing the final presentation, don’t just showcase the product; make the presentation highlight your understanding of the competition’s overarching goal and how interdisciplinary integration was central to delivering an innovative and realistic solution.

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