Fair Design Competition... Five Architectural Organizations Sign Business Agreement

The Korea Institute of Registered Architects, the Korean Institute of Architects, the Architectural Institute of Korea, the Association of Architects Practicing New Culture, and the Korean Women Architects Association, five organizations in the field of architecture, announced on the 30th that they signed a "Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for Establishing Fair and Transparent Architectural Design Competition Order" at the Architecture Society Hall in Seocho-dong, Seocho-gu, Seoul.

At the 'Architectural Organization Agreement Ceremony for Establishing Fair Architectural Design Competitions' held on the 30th, (from left) Shin Kyung-sun, President of the Korea Women Architects Association, Park Jin-chul, President of the Architectural Institute of Korea, Kim Jae-rok, President of the Korea Institute of Registered Architects, Cha Sung-min, Vice President of the Korea Institute of Architects, and Kim Chang-gyun, Vice President of the New Architects Association, are posing for a commemorative photo. Photo by Korea Institute of Registered Architects

These organizations signed the MOU, which includes key points such as strengthening expertise in the operation, participation, and judging of architectural design competitions, compliance with the prohibition of prior contact between judges and participants, and creating an environment where all participants can compete transparently under the same conditions, to resolve recent controversies over fairness and issues of opaque judging in public architectural design competitions. They pledged to actively cooperate to enhance fairness, transparency, and professionalism and to promote the development of the architectural community.

Kim Jaerok, President of the Korea Institute of Registered Architects, emphasized, "We will do our best to actively discover and support projects proposed by the Fair Architectural Design Competition Promotion Committee within the association and the task forces (TF) of each architectural organization to establish fair architectural design competitions."

Lee Seunghwan, General Secretary of the Fair Architectural Design Competition Promotion Committee of the Korea Institute of Registered Architects, stated, "We plan to launch a participation campaign to ensure compliance with the prohibition of prior contact by judges, and we intend to actively identify areas needing improvement in the operation guidelines for architectural design competitions by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and the Public Procurement Service and propose revisions."