Question 37

For matador architects, you ask for Reference C to be a study or competition proposal. Can we present a reference that has been delivered or do you specifically require a project that is not yet finished or still in planning/construction phase?

Yes, in this case you can present a reference that has been delivered.

Question 36

How are the evaluation criteria (team members, motivation letter, projects) for the open call evaluated and ranked?

The mentioned parts of the portfolio are not ranked in order of importance. The selection will depend on the professional opinion of the jurors as described in the point 5.5 of the Competition Regulations.

Question 35

How will the prequalification portfolio be presented to the jury – digitally on a screen or as printed booklets?

The portfolios will be presented to the jury primarily in a digital form.

Question 34

The cover page will show the name of our participating team and the category, in our case Emerging Professionals. Should the following pages carry this information?

This is up to your decision. Either way is acceptable.

Question 33

Are we allowed to submit more than one project for each of the 3 categories required for the project experience?

No, there should presented 3 projects in total in the portfolio.

Question 32

We will be teaming up with another design practice for the competition, do we need to submit 3 projects from each office (total 6 projects) to satisfy the open call requirement for project experience?

No, there should presented 3 projects in total in the portfolio.

Question 26

Would these projects be considered as non-monofunctional type buildings:
– offices above ground and parking underground;
– media library including: a library, a centre for new media, an agora for children, multi-purpose rooms etc.;
– apartment tower with public facilities on the ground floor (spa, gymnasium) and underground parking?

Yes, these types of projects would be considered as non-monofunctional type buildings.

Question 25

Concerning the signature of the contract for work, should the city be adapted to the city of the contractor? Who should sign on the following lines? Is any stamp needed?

Yes, you can adapt the city to the city of contractor (although it would be not considered a mistake, if there is Prague). The contract should be signed by a representative of your office, meaning by a person who has a mandate to conclude a contract on behalf of your office. So, insert the name of the entity entering the contract and the name of the person signed. Include a stamp (although it would not be considered a mistake, if there is no stamp).

Question 24

As Emerging Professionals, we will list in our portfolio a project corresponding to 4.2 b) and two projects corresponding to 4.2 c). Does it matter which order we present the projects in? (Section 6 of the regulations would seem to suggest that for an Emerging Professional entry – the 2nd page would be an unrealised project, 3rd page would be a realised project and the 4th page would be an unrealised project – is it important to organise them in this order?)

The order does not matter for the purpose of evaluation. You can present your projects in the order you find the most suitable.

Question 23

Our team responds to the requirements as follows:
1) We have completed the design and the construction of a building corresponding to letter 4.2 a);
2) In our portfolio, we do not have a building in category 4.2 b), even though we have designed and built other buildings with less than 5000 square meters;
3) we have completed several studies or competition proposals (category 4.2 c)).
In which category are we? Matador architects or emerging architects? How do we fill the different pages of the projects listed in section 6.1.1.?

In this case, list yourself as matador architects. In the project requirement 4.2 b), provide a project that corresponds to 4.2 c). The jury will be notified of this situation and will be left with the final decision, to which category you belong.

Question 22

Is the contract meant for the Open Call, or is it for the 15 selected only?

As is mentioned in points 5.1.1 and 6.1.1, the contract is required now, to be signed, scanned and inserted at the end of the portfolio; see Question 5. However, I can see where this question originates – in the Competition Regulation, this contract is called Contract for the First round (meaning a pledge of delivering the work in the First round, if selected in the Open Call), meanwhile in the Download section on the web, it is called Contract for the Open Call. It is the same thing. Apologies, if it raised any confusion. Please, submit the portfolio with the scanned contract.

Question 21

To be accepted in the competition as a “Matador Architect” is it acceptable to use as a reference a building, fulfilling the criteria of size and function, that is near completion but not delivered yet?

Yes, this is possible. A building that is nearing its completion will be considered as a reference. However, a project with only planning and design stage over, which is just about to begin to be executed, will not be considered as a valid reference.

 

Question 18

What do you mean by a “non-monofunctional type” building?

A non-monofunctional type of building hosts more than one function. (It is not e.g. just a logistics centre, warehouse, production hall, etc.; it is e.g. commercial centre with offices, convention centres, mixed-use development, etc.)

Question 13

Can unifying graphic style be used also for the cover page and motivation letter page, or should these pages contain text only?

A unifying graphic style could be used for the whole portfolio.

Question 11

It states the 5th page is a presentation of the participant’s team and list of the presented projects including the most important persons or entities involved, such as investor, general contractor, author of design, etc.

Could you please clarify, if the 5th page is dedicated to the team from the architecture practice, or whether it is to be a list of projects with details of the projects including the client, contractor etc.? Should this be presented as CVs for individual team members with a list of previous projects?

The 5th page should include both things, as it is stated: introduction of your team (could be short bios, mentions of other important projects, awards won, etc.) and basic details of the projects that are presented in the portfolio (such as investor, general contractor, author of design, etc.). These details, if included in the project presentations on previous pages (2-4), don’t need to be repeated here.

Question 10

The information on how many and which projects to include in the portfolio of an Emerging Professional appears three times on the web (in About the Competition, and in points 4.2 and 6.1 of the regulations) and seems to differ each time. Could you clarify?

Please, follow closely the point 6.1 of the Competition Regulations. To put it simple, a portfolio will contain three reference projects. The Matador Architects will present projects following points 4.2 a), b) and c). The Emerging Professionals will present projects following either points 4.2 b), b) and c), or points 4.2 b), c) and c).

Question 6

The deadline is midnight CET on 16th October 2017 – does this mean midnight at the start of that day, or midnight at the end of that day?

It means midnight at the end of the day. In other words, the very last minute of 16th October 2017 in Prague, Czech Republic.

Question 5

The 6th–last page of the portfolio should contain scan of the contract for work for design proposal for the First round signed by the participant. The attached Contract is 7 A4 pages long. Does the Announcer expect us to attach all of the 7 pages or to shrink them to 1 A3 horizontal format – it might not be easy to read that way.

A real-size scan is preferable, which could mean that the contract would take 4 pages of the portfolio. However, no matter how many pages would the scanned contract take, the page limit is clear about the first five pages of the portfolio and then the scan is up to you.

Question 4

The motivation letter states that we cannot include sketches or drawings in that section. Are we able to include photos of our other projects?

The referential photos of your other projects can be included. The main objective of banning the sketches and drawings is for you to not do any design work yet, for no fee.

Question 3

Can the projects, on which I worked as head architect in other offices, be included in my portfolio? Given that I have official approval to use them as a reference from these offices.

Yes, they can be included. Important is that you worked on the design portion of them.