Design Developer Competitions in Härryda - From Programming to Implementation

Journal article, 2023

This study examines three design developer competitions organized by Härryda Municipality in 2015, 2017 and 2018. The competitions aimed at new housing. The investigation of the competition processes is part of a research project developed in 2020 in collaboration with the municipality.

The design developer competition is a type of competition that emerged in Sweden during the deregulation of the building sector in the 1980s. Since then, the number of these competitions has grown and is now more common in Sweden than the traditional architectural competition. However, there are still no national rules. Instead, the design developer competition is regulated locally in municipalities through political guidelines and professional competition programs.

This investigation of competition processes in Härryda Municipality is based on a close reading of documents, study visits and interviews with a limited number of key players. The intention is to describe, review and comment on the planning, steering and implementation of the winning design. The research issues have a fundamental nature. They include the process from local guidelines to programming, design and judging of proposals to implementation. Härryda Municipality has a strong position in this type of competition and may safeguard qualities in architecture as organizer, landowner and planning authority by designing detailed development plans and checking building permits.

The results of the study have been summarized in six conclusions that discuss the transformation of guidelines into design, planning and programming, design proposals, judging model and the organizers’ use of steering tools.