ABSTRACT
France has a long tradition of design competitions compared to other European countries. The system developed in the 1970s and serves today as a model. All public commissions above a certain cost must be put out to design competition. Normally the client chooses three to five teams of consultants who are paid to produce proposals. For landscape architects there are thus many occasions to participate every year and for private consultants this is the main way of winning assignments. The wide variety of projects also provides the opportunity for young landscape architects to find their way into the market, even if it is hard to compete with more established offices. The motorway service station described in this chapter was subject to just such a competition.
