Call up the competition organizers. The intern filled out the entry form incompletely.

That sucks markuse. You've been had. Now smile for the camera! I don't think calling up the competition organizers will do you much good. Those guy's primary concern is getting some attention for their competition. They probably want it all to be of positive variety.

Shit like this happens. You have to move on. On the other hand, I don't think it would be too much of a shame if you accidentally mentioned the company that did this in your next post. Curious minds and all....

a way to respond --- but WARNING --- if you do this you have to be prepared to walk away from the job, if you are not prepared to do that, then you probably have to let it be

STAGE 1 -- OVERLY POLITE & ACCOMMODATING, EXPLAIN YOUR INVOLVEMENT AND ASK PRINCIPAL TO CORRECT THE MIX-UP

send a formal, certified letter and/or email with delivery & read confirmation to the firm principal documenting your involvement, including copies of supporting materials if you have them and ask that you receive proper recognition and/or and or that you attend the charrette

be neutral and professional in the letter/email, as though this really is a mix up -- give him an out in which he doesn't have to lose face, he is the victim of mis-communication, too (whether or not this is true, but you start out overly generous)

explain the mix-up, the gravity of the situation for your career in very concise, neutral terms, and that you would really appreciate it if he addresses the mix-up

given the time-sensitive nature of the matter, ask that he respond immediately to your email or letter (by a certain day)

STAGE 2 -- POLITE, BUT STRONGLY REITERATE THE GRAVITY OF THE SITUATION AND THAT IF THE PRINCIPAL DOESN"T RESPOND, THE GRAVITY OF THE SITUATION COMPELS YOU TO ACT AND DETAIL THE WAY IN WHICH YOU WILL ACT

if he doesn't respond favorably, immediately, send a certified follow-up letter again and/or email with delivery AND read confirmation and state that since you've not heard back, and since you do in fact have proof that you were the primary designer, and since this will potentially impact your career to such an extent, that if you do not hear back immediately (name a date) that you will have no choice but to contact the competition board yourself, as well as whatever professional society has local jurisdiction wherever the principal is practicing --- again, keep it professional and neutral, give him an out to save face

STAGE 3 -- ACT

if he doesn't respond, send a formal, neutral, professional, certified letter to the competition committee, explaining the "mix up" and asking to be allowed to participate and/or receive proper recognition in any media materials, WITH ALL NECESSARY DOCUMENTATION, as well as sending a copy of the exact same letter and materials to the local professional board where the principal practices, and a copy to the principal --- each copy should indicate to each recipient that all have received this packet, so they understand the gravity and sincerity of the situation and with what professionalism you've handled this - also in the packet, each should see evidence that you did in fact make two very courteous attempts to resolve this with the principal directly before contacting them

ALWAYS stand up for yourself and protect your interests
ALWAYS do it with a professional and courteous, clear and concise demeanor and unless the violation is particularly egregious and beyond redemption (from a perspective of how others would perceive the situation), ALWAYS give the offending party a chance to make them your ally in correcting the mistake

chances are you won't have to get to step three. though if you start down this path, you have to be prepared for the worst

business is brutal and showing a current or potential employer that you know how to turn the tables when you've been screwed and salvage the situation can be just as much a way to shine as showing that you've won the design competition

again, this is a workable approach in my experience that I've used a few times - once it went to step three and I haven't seen the person since--- twice it did not, things were resolved and relationships preserved

If it comes to the stage of taking action against the principal, you could also contact the book author and publisher as well. Don't know if it would help, but it's worth a try.

also, if you DO NOT have documentation of your efforts, then you are in a tough position and it is probably best to chalk this up to a learning experience

it is usually not worth escalating situations if you have a higher probability of losing than winning, unless the issue is so serious that professional ethics itself compels you to address the issue

express your concerns but this is an adult world and in this world not everything is fair. Dealing with it maturely is a real test.

keep it away from the competition people in my opinion (the only thing that will get you is a bit of embarrassment and some anger, and possibly a bad reputation you don't deserve) but feel free to ask the principal to take your text out if you aren't going to be credited along with everyone else. also be ready to walk away. no need to get angry over it, just point out that it was your project and your work and the situation is wrong and you want your share of credit.

There is no reason that wouldn't work. It isn't hard to add a name to a list. Of course all they they need to do is change the text and say you were a minor player in the beginning of the project and forget about you completely, so it isn't like you have an inordinate amount of leverage.

good luck.

thanks for the advice ppl; just a few things I guess weren't clear..

I no longer work in this office (I left a few months ago - about a month before we heard about the win).

I have already written a nice letter saying that I think conventions for authorship of texts are different than those of collaborative drawings. He says he tried to add names to the competition credits but they weren't having it. I doubt he was specifically asking for me but for the whole office (about 5 people total). As far as the charrette he said he preferred to take other people but he would write me a letter of recommendation if I'd like.

My main issue seems to be the text. Those are literally my words. I think my only options are to contact the competition committee directly or tell him to please not use my text, or do nothing.

As far as naming the studio, I do not think that would be wise to do. I would highly doubt anyone on here has heard of them, unless you had a photographic memory of BLDBLG or something. He is extremely vain and probably googles himself regularly. They are a really small 2-bit office with barely one paid employee. He basically just makes stuff for blogs/competitions and is exploiting the cheap labor of toady's economy.

since you were not paid, can the project still be yours?...it's not like the boss paid for your time to create anything... did you sign any agreement/etc prior to working there?....

no. the whole thing is/was very informal. I was actually in the country on a tourist visa. Nothing was ever signed or anything like that. we were all just working on our own computers on our own pirated software..

interesting.....

yes- i think he intentionally recruited form abroad so he could micromanage the interns' lives. ... there is so much bad stuff I could say about this guy. I actually left early. It's unfortunate that we won the competition because its forcing me to relive these terrible memories of the office culture.

jump, just curious (and i know tones are difficult to judge over the internet, so please take this sincerely), where do you draw the line?

you've mentioned elsewhere that you've built your own firm. surely you have to fend off (in a diplomatic manner) people trying to take advantage of you --- if you participated in a design competition with a larger firm and they cut you out when they won the competition, would you not protest in an appropriate manner?

again, please take this more as an early to mid career person trying to understand your perspective and not as a challenge -- I really am curious b/c it is a good lesson.

I think for me, I used to grin and bear it and missed out on some things and got put in some awkward situations when I started working, so now i document everything and don't take s*** from anyone

so far i find that most of the people (boss) who pull this sort of stuff or let it happen or don't try to make it right if it is not in their interest will fold if you push a bit b/c usually they are insecure and selfish which is why they didn't deal with you in a forthright manner to begin with

and i forgot to mention, the trick to the three letter approach, (although it is no longer appropriate here) what my grandfather taught me, is that in the second letter, you say that if they do not respond, then you are left with no choice but to take their silence as an admission of guilt, as per your lawyer's direction -- that usually elicits a response and corrective action very quickly

markuse - to me there's a huge difference between the following: did your 'boss' (not my term) intentionally cut you out of the credits or was it inadvertent and he made a best faith effort to correct the matter?

in either way, i think your only recourse here is to ask him to add your name to the credits on any subsequent publications, including his own (website and publication you mentioned). outside that, know that you did the work, take what you can from the experience, and move on. certainly do so given your personal experiences described above.

that said, i personally don't think it's 'your' project - in the end, you chose to work for a company, however crappy or exploitative. it is, therefore, the company's project - without that infrastructure, your participation probably wouldn't exist, correct? i'm absolutely all for making sure people in the office getting the proper credits (and we're hyper careful about those things), but it's not like offices are "designerinc, starring markuse!'. nothing in your post suggests that he saw this as some equal collaboration - you worked for him (for free, yes, but still...). it's his project, no matter how much latitude he gave you in helping develop it. i'm sorry, but that's the way the world works.

as for the subsequent charette - if you no longer work there, why do you think he would take you along to represent the company? if this were a more 'legit' firm, say like hok, would you still feel the same way if you had quit a month before they won a competition you contributed to? would you expect them to hire you back if there was no such agreement and you had as qualitatively as bad a time? i'm not trying to be an ass, but have some realistic expectations. it can be a rough business trying to be a budding superstar...

take what was good, put it in your portfolio, and keep moving forward. looking back doesn't sound like it would help.

outed - I agree with much of what you said.

It's true he hasn't gone out of his way to cut me out. At the same time, implying that everyone else in the office hasn't been able to get their names listed is not a valid reason why I, the one who sole author the text, should not be credited. Also, the intern who showed up two weeks before the project was turned in and redid the graphics has also left the office, and has been invited to the charrette. Further, I only agreed to work there under the understanding I would share in any rewards from competitions, etc. I was told while I was working on the project that it was "my project" etc. ....

That said, I understand it is his office and his discretion. He did not like to work with me and visa versa so I understand him not inviting me to the charrette, or bending over backwards to see that I get credit.

Since I am new to the field I was just wondering how people would handle this. It seems like it may be best to just move on. I am currently at GSD and may ask my advisor what to do, but I am hesitant even about that because its hard to come off as not being petty. At the same time I think its unethical for him to use my words and not credit me.

I hate to be fighting over scraps like this, it's enough to make me go into real estate or something.

I'm inclined to change my previously stated position. More info helped with that. I think you should directly contact the competition organizers and state that your design was outright stolen from you. You used personal resources and personal time to complete the entry. Entering the competition with the unnamed architect was a conditional joint venture, conditions that have not been met.

Ask for the entry to be disqualified. You own the copyright of the documents that were submitted (you do, since you did not sign any contracts), and wish that they not be used for any of their marketing purposes.

Burning bridges in this field is usually not advisable, but in some cases is welcome. Noone likes the exploitation-asshole type architect. They are bad for all of us.

If someone was working in the office, using their computers, etc., I'd have a hard time believing that you could maintain any rights to any work you created while being a 'volunteer' (not a contract worker, working in house).


You wrote the letter, imho that's about all you can do. This happens all the time. Your ex-boss may or may not have tried to get your name added, but that's almost irrelevant (since he said he did try). That's about all you can expect, reasonably.

You are talking about some text, which, I'd guess anyway (feel free to correct me if I am mistaken) is a very, very small part of the competition entry. It is the architecture, after all, that is the significant part.



Personally, and this is just me (I prefer to avoid burning bridges, you never, ever know where things will come up in the future), I would ask your ex-boss for a letter stating your contributions. While not nearly as nice as printed credit, it would help when you state that it was "your project" to prospective employers.

Make this work for you as best you can, and move on. You have better things to focus on. Build the background - a competition winning entry, a good letter from the employing architect and the GSD!
I think that would be a great career start.

i'm with trace. look, i write text, make drawings, create ideas that get translated into new contracts, new work, and eventually if we're all lucky enough get turned into architecture almost everyday. it's called being an employee. now unfortunately, you put yourself in this position without actually getting paid for your services by this douchenozzle. you're own personal genius means nothing until you can put your name on the door. i'd get over it real quick and move on.

independent of what you do or should do, i have a general question

was there an employment contract, even if you were unpaid?

and if there was not an employee contract, can the employer really claim they own the work if they did not do it?

burning bridges issues aside, how this actual situation is handled aside, if there is no contract and you do the work, does the "firm" really own the work?

i know the text is all they are currently explicitly using of yours. but if you designed the concept, isn't it at least partially your intellectual property?

is it just because the firm submitted it that it is considered their work?

is that to say that if two of us collaborate on a novel without a contract and you clearly set the story outline and drafted it but i cleaned it up, put my name on it and submitted it, that you have no recourse to claim partial authorship?

no matter how this is handled, it seems there has to be a proper way to understand this from a, 'these are your intellectual property rights' perspective and it would help to know that as well

One part of me is saying "burn it down." Another part of me is saying send them a package contaminated with bedbugs.

But, another part of me is saying "Be polite" and then send them a congratulatory hand-written letter filled with a few tubes of glitter.

Nothing says "I hate you" in the friendliest way possible other than a glitter bomb!

hm, i don't know jmanganelli, that is a tough call. depends on the context.


we always give credit. it seems stupid not to, but we started the office as a collective to begin with so we have a different idea about how architecture should be pursued. the idea of a genius master architect leading a studio does not appeal to us and we are unafraid to step back and let staff or collaborators or whatever you want to call them be the main player. it isn't an issue to us at all.


if the deal really was to share the proceeds of the work then there is room for complaint. i guess then it comes down to who was the author. if it is only the text? well, text is important, but not that much. just ask them to not use it and move on is my feeling. what do you expect to get out of it all in the end is the main thing. if you can get it by burning bridges (or without burning bridges, which is better) then it is your choice. if you are never going to get it even if you butt heads all day long i am not sure you will be investing your time usefully.

the other thing is that this is a collaborative business. you play down the other intern who did the upgrading of the graphics, but it could be that the only reason the competition got anywhere was because of that work, and perhaps the guy who runs the office sees that and made a judgment call. which is not nice to hear, but who knows? certainly not me.

which is why this kind of stuff is touchy to begin with. none of us know enough to give advice that is reasonable, except in general ways.

in the end all you can do is take a choice and then live with the consequences.

I agree with a lot of what your guys are saying. I don't want it to sound like I'm the ego-maniac obsessed with my own genius or anything. I recognize the other intern who helped with the graphics and we are good friends.

Other people from the office contributed here and there in the design process but I was basically the one managing the synthesizing it. I mention the text because that was the piece that literally no one else touched, and space wise, was 1/2 of the entry (only 1 8.5x11 of images, 1 of text).

I'm mostly pissed because I feel like I got scammed out of wages. I wasn't getting paid, I was working for credentials.

anyway, I'll show the website to my advisor and see what he thinks, unless even that will make me sound too petty.

The first of many gray areas you will encounter... if you are lucky. Authorship is hard to claim when you are an employee. I did schematic design for an unbuilt project that won a competition and was published. My name is not associated with the project at all, but I figure that is how it goes, being that it wasn't my client, nor my idea, even though the design and execution were all mine. I kept all the original hand drawn sketches I did of it, which are pretty cool and would show my role as author of the project to anyone who really cares, but who does? Put it in your portfolio, what else do you want anyways? Move on and good luck.

trace is spot on. firm's computers and firm's office = firm's project regardless of any other factor.

most, if not all, of us do not own our undergrad work because it was created under the guise of the university..

with that said, the intern who did not work on the project should step up and have their names removed. also the principle did appear to do much on your behalf. third, i cannot imagine an organization who will publish a text on this information is not willing to make corrections. you've basically been screwed.

ether - does you're last sentance mean you think I should contact the organization behind the principals back and ask for my name to be listed on the text?

also, as a technicality - I used my own computer and software for this project.

no. unfortunately, it appears you've pursued about every respectable avenue. you're only option, if you choose to pursue this further, can and probably will piss people off. i do not recommend this. put bluntly, you got hosed. take this experience as a lesson learned.

one final suggestion: have you tried contacting the intern who originally submitted the application? if this person really did not have anything to do w/ the project, they may be willing, if not compelled, to replace their name with yours.

I sympathize (god knows),

And I may know this office... If you call your former colleagues 'undergrads' when they are really diploma students from the AA or Bartlett, it is technically true but a little disingenuous of their prodigious abilities and talents.

Meritocracy in the office is not always equated with 'good designer' or even 'hard-worker'. A friend has a saying 'you don't have to lick the boss' ass, but you don't have to kick it, either' Sometimes you just have to learn how to get along with a principal/owner as you choose to be under their employ. Not because you're selling out, but because architecture is more a business than an art.

Having said that, I truly know the frustration of not being properly credited for your work. I would see it as a learning experience, and something to remember when you become an owner/principal.

In a way this is all your fault. The biggest mistake you have made is offer your services for free.

Architecture is NOT free goddamnit and neither is our education.

med. I agree with you but the conversation about the ethics of unpaid internships is neither here nor there. I wouldn't do this again but when I agreed to do this I was looking at 2-3 months of unpaid work or 2-3 months of more cover letters and eventually falling out of the market.

also, for the record the other undergrads, except the guy who came from cornell and really did a great job with the graphics, were all europeans who did not have computer skills commiserate with an american B.arch or something at the AA or Bartlet.

What I find interesting is that fake offices like these ALWYS win competitions. it further proves that the profession rewards the pie in the sky ideal of an architect This is sad that this kind of company even exist.