Dovetail Design Strategists

Dovetail Design Strategists is a global firm headquartered in New York City that develops and leads international design competitions for cultural, civic, institutional, and developer clients around the world.

As the industry leader in design competitions that result in built projects, we have a portfolio of completed buildings that exceeds $2.5 billion. Recent civic and cultural clients include Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Storm King Art Center, Jacob’s Pillow, Liberty Science Center, Johns Hopkins University, New York Public Library, Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, New York Climate Exchange, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Through open and invited international design competitions, we marry the unique vision of each of our clients with architects from around the world. Dovetail guides our diverse clients through all stages of a design competition to ensure a match that results in smooth implementation, world-class architecture and, ultimately, experiential storytelling.

In addition to composing pellucid and beautifully illustrated Design Briefs, convening world-class Juries, and providing rigorous documentation throughout our design competitions, the Dovetail team leads workshops, charettes, inclusive public engagement, curates public exhibitions of competition entries, and discretely disseminates the public’s comments to decision-makers. Our team has crafted and conducted dozens of competitions for high-profile, complex, and large-scale, civic or cultural clients.

Beloved by architects and clients alike, our design competitions are purposeful and transparent. Dovetail’s network of both emerging and acclaimed talent across architecture—and across the globe—is unmatched. We have led the field in creating and refining best practices for international design competitions that must follow local civic procurement requirements.

Dovetail’s professional team has deep experience leading private and public projects with a diversity of stakeholder viewpoints. Community outreach, public relations, risk mitigation, and enhanced fundraising opportunities are built-in aspects of a Dovetail international design competition.

As architectural matchmakers, Dovetail transforms missions for the future into reality, inevitably creating game-changing, beloved, and iconic destinations.