Ideas and Observations on Architectural Competitions | ArchDaily.

Architectural competitions have been a long standing method for getting experience and some exposure.  Many firms and prominent designers use them and have used them to explore things that “paying” clients might not and to try out new ideas, techniques or technologies.

Are competitions still a valid method in today’s world?

How does pro-bono work play into this method?  Is that also a way of trying out new ideas or do you feel even more shackled to the constraints of low budgets and designing to board members even further away from the clients?