ABSTRACT
Briefs of architectural competitions are often structured in a rather similar manner. Often they start with providing an initial position and description of the objective. Then they provide information about the formal regulations, the stakeholders, the procedure and the deadlines. It is comprehensible that due to the nonspecific, across-the-board definition of judgement criteria architects wondering whether they should enter a competition primarily base their decision on the composition of the board of jurors or on their guesses in regard to jurors' architectural preferences. On 21 February 2009, the City of Basel officially advertised the 'Basel Kunstmuseum, Burghof Extension' project competition. It is obvious that from the perspective of the entire building process and not least of the construction industry such wayward and unpredictable moments are associated with risk and uncertainty. The analysis of the vignettes opens up a dilemma.
