Turning Insight into Strategy: Developing a Winning Proposal
Creating winning proposals should highlight your firm’s strengths, speak directly to the client’s priorities, and stand out to a selection committee who may only skim it.
Closely reading an RFP means understanding underlying motivations that may not be stated outright. Identifying these can help guide deeper research and more focused messaging that speak to the client’s priorities and vision for the project.
Future–Future’s reading of the 2024 Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art International Design Competition’s Search Statement illustrates this.
The Search Statement’s frequent references to “diversity” and “community” gained new significance when placed in a historical context. The Museum:
is named after a segregationist who redlined Kansas City
sits near that redline of Troost Avenue
declined to change its name in recognition of this history
allegedly lent its grounds to police for a counter-Black Lives Matter campaign during the height of that movement
quickly released a strategic plan afterwards emphasizing the museum’s commitment to diversity and inclusivity
and has now asked architects to imagine how an addition and redesign can make the museum “Nelson-Atkins for All.”
Here, we share additional insights and recommendations from our initial briefing, which was developed at the time the Search Statement was released.
In Practice: Analyzing Finalists’ Proposals
Here is how three of the finalists’ proposals for the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art bear out our reading of the RFP.
This proposal situated their education wing to the west of the Beaux-Arts building, with a new, transparent canopy wrapping around the north lawn and re-establishing it as the main entry. A light structure on the south-east corner invites people from the east of Troost Ave. to meander across the south lawn and access the new wing.
A building to the northwest integrates the museum into a larger arts campus and takes advantage of streetcar access, while open entry points on SE and SW corners create links to surrounding neighborhoods. Canopy structures provide flexible event and gathering spaces.
Selldorf Architects’ proposal also situated its building to the west of the Beaux-Arts building and introduced a new civic square to the north to centralize access to each of the three museum buildings from the north-west arts campus.
A long new pathway connects through the lawn to Emanuel Cleaver Boulevard, while a new dining pavilion activates the south lawn. Quotes from Native American Osage people are carved into the face of the new building.
The winning proposal by Weiss / Manfredi bridges the east-west divide along Troost Avenue while embracing the existing north-south distinction between the Beaux-Arts building and the south lawn. A formal north entrance links with the art campus and new streetcar stop, and the south “community entrance” integrates the south lawn and Frank A. Theis Park.
The lawn and Frank A. Theis Park become the “center of the community.” The original building’s new south-facing roof terrace and ground floor community space create anchors in the park. A glowing addition at the west end of the park creates a beacon for people coming from the east.
How Future-Future Can Help
Future–Future advises on how firms communicate their identity, position themselves to identify new project opportunities, cultivate new markets, and win new work. Our communications and PR efforts work in tandem with the firm’s commercial objectives, delivered as part of an integrated service offering. We work with architects to develop proposals for governmental, institutional, commercial, and private project opportunities around the world, helping ensure proposals are as convincing as possible.
Our RFP-related services include:
Audit of past proposals
Tracking RFPs and competitions globally
Go/No Go Evaluation
Close reading and research
Competitive positioning analysis
Messaging strategy
Teaming strategy and brokerage
Editorial guidance
Special content production (eg: focus pages)
Competitive fee consulting
Interview presentation, editorial direction, and coaching
