Design Awards programs are ubiquitous at all levels of the AIA and the Architectural Profession - endeavors often scripted by long standing traditions. It is often not clear what the objectives of these programs are - and their success in meeting those objectives. How do Design Awards serve the public and the profession? In what ways might they be counterproductive? From The Paradox of Awards by Richard Farson PhD as printed in arcCA 07.2 (The Journal of the AIA California Council): ... Is there an architect who has never won an award? It seems they collect awards now the way batters number home runs—for their statistical significance. Contrary to what most people believe, giving awards is not a benign activity. The weight of psychological research on this subject shows clearly that extrinsic rewards are ultimately demotivating, not just because there are always a lot more losers than winners, but because the pursuit of awards paradoxically distracts the person from the work itself. Genuine rewards, the kind that lead to further innovation, are always intrinsic to the process of the work.... A persuasive case can be made that architectural awards are good advertising for the profession. The award photos certainly do gain a lot of free display space in newspapers and magazines. But I think they also paint a picture of the profession to which most people cannot relate. They cannot imagine that those fabulous homes could ever be theirs. That may be part of the reason architects, according to Michael Benedikt, design only two percent of the custom buildings in America. Award photos rarely identify the profession with solving the most pressing problems of shelter around the world, let alone other contributions architecture can make to reduce the indices of despair such as crime, mental and physical illness, addiction, school failure, divorce, and suicide. Consequently, the public does not often look to architecture for help in those areas... What 'alternate' models to the traditional photo based design awards programs might be successful in promoting the contributions of architects to the quality of our built environment?
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