Whatever you think of the initial "Tall Emblematic Structure in Dubai" prompt, there's no doubt that some fairly significant changes were made to Fernando Donis' winning design for the Dubai Frame and the actual monument as it is being constructed. As Archinect commenter Donna Sink noted, "The proposal shows the frame section being an extruded square. The project being built has angled mitered corners. Angled mitered corners recall the traditional shape of a picture frame, and mitered corners are not Modern. In something as simple as this, changing the corner connection completely changes the cultural resonance of the form. In short, the designer is right to be pissed."

Archinect had the opportunity to speak directly with designer Fernando Donis about how he ultimately didn't get paid for his work due to a fraught contract signing process, his open letter to Dubai Municipality, and his advice to architects thinking about entering future open design competitions. 

Archinect: What happened exactly with the contract signing process?

Fernando Donis: Initially we received a written promise that we would develop the project with appointed consultants and local architect. They were pleased by our resume as I had finished eight years collaborating at OMA with the last years specifically leading Middle East projects.
However we received either vague or unfair draft contracts. If we wanted to discuss our involvement we would receive another confusing contract. I attach the latest version of their draft contract. As you can see from Clause Six, they asked us to relinquish any rights to the project. If we signed we would lose any involvement or ability to be part of the process. Also, they would not allow us to publish the project or say it was our design in any form - Clause Five. Moreover, Clause Three shows the very limited involvement we could have had. And Clause Nine is almost like not having a collaborative contract. 

They infringed on the UNESCO copyright for the first time in history. As you know these competition regulations have protected the intellectual copyright of architects and many important competition projects. Our competition would be the first time any party infringes on these respected regulations.

By not signing the contract we thought we could either negotiate a proper involvement or they would not use our project. At the end they took it, built it and will profit from it, without having involved us nor paid us.

A: What has the response been, if any, to your open letter?

FD: We drafted an open letter to the Sheikh in the hopes of raising awareness about the situation and eliciting a more collaborative response from the client. In the end the National Newspaper published a story about the situation and we again hoped this might raise awareness and higher authorities would react more positively. That was not case. The UIA-UNESCO also tried through a letter to Dubai Municipality, as did the government of the Netherlands. Still we had no response.

A: What have you learned from this experience? Do you think entering design competitions is something architects should be more wary about in the future?

FD: We want to raise awareness about this issue so this does not happen to another architect. I still think competitions are a great way to discover talented architects. Yet I would hope that an important organization like the Dubai Municipality would value and respect the integrity of the rules of agencies such as UIA and UNESCO. Rules they signed up too and promoted when launching the competition. I believe this theft undermines the discipline and integrity of architecture competitions – there is nothing in place to stop any client from taking an architect’s design. We have learned two important things. Honesty and integrity in clients is invaluable. And second, we learn to be resilient. Despite the huge amount of time and resources we invested to try to maintain the copyright of our own project, despite the powerlessness we felt in the situation, we keep on going with more energy and passion for what we do. We are working now in exciting projects with great clients.