The best of both worlds? Client decision making in architect selection processes

Design competitions are considered selection processes of clients for an architect who offers design solutions for their accommodation problem. This chapter focuses on European public clients in particular, EU procurement law applies to these selection processes. This leads to two worlds of justification such as the professional world and the civic world. It identifies different decision strategies on dealing with these potentially conflicting rationales and proposes elements for the design of a tender process which takes these processes into account. The chapter addresses the decision making process during the awarding decision for an architect in the context of EU procurement regulations. It provides an explanation on the character of making decisions about selecting architects and the literature on sensemaking. The chapter addresses how clients negotiate different logics of justification and how they make sense of their task in selecting an architect for the design of a public building.