Halftime at the Nobel Center Competition
The Adjudication Process Not Completely Anonymous
by Stanley Collyer
 Shortlisted entry entitled “Butterfly”
The initial phases of the international architectural competition for a new Nobel Center in Stockholm has concluded; but serious questions have already arisen concerning the adjudication process. According to the competition brief: “the competition (in the first stage) includes an overall design concept explaining how the building will relate to the surrounding urban and marine setting on Blasieholmen. The proposals are anonymous and assessed by criteria in the competition brief. The jury will not comment on any proposal until November 2013 when two to five proposals have been selected to proceed to the second stage of the competition upon which the names of the finalist architects will be revealed. Thus, the finalists will then have the possibility to participate in public discussions regarding the design of the future Nobel Center. The second stage of the competition includes further refinement. A winning proposal will tentatively be presented in April 2014. It will then make the basis for the detailed planning process.”
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Reviving the Icon
The Flinders Street Station Design Competition
by Olha Romaniuk
 Winning Entry by HASSELL + Herzog & de Meuron
Since its construction over a century ago, Melbourne’s Flinders Street Station has remained as an impressive example of public architecture throughout the city’s history. However, the gradual deterioration of the building over the last 50 years has greatly diminished the image of the Flinders Street Station of today. Nevertheless, despite the neglect of the upkeep, the station continues to be used by more than 150,000 passengers every day, with the intersection of Swanston and Flinders Streets remaining to be the busiest intersection in Melbourne.
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The American Academy in Rome is the oldest American overseas center for independent study and advanced research in the arts and the humanities. For one hundred years the Academy’s eleven acre center in Rome has provided an inspiring environment for those who practice the fine and liberal arts.
The Rome Prize is awarded annually to
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An innovative design competition in Cambridge to elicit fresh and unexpected ideas for the environmental landscape and entrance sequence to the University Library.
The competition aims actively to encourage creative and unconventional approaches to the challenging brief of responding to the imposing architecture of the Library, in order to bring about a transformation of its
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Sponsor: United Nations (UN-Habitat)
Type: Open, student and recent graduates, one-stage
Language: English
Fee: None
Timetable:
• Registration starts September 15th, 2013
• Registration ends November 15th, 2013
• Submissions open December 15th, 2013
• Submissions close January 15th, 2013
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Sponsor: 2013 AIM Competition
Type: Open, one-stage, digital
Language: English
Fee: None
Timetable:
14 January 2014 – Submission deadline
Awards:
Scenic Village Planning Award — US$5,000
Architecture Renovation Award — US$5,000
Innovative Production Award — US$3,000
Sustainable Development Award — US$3,000
Jury:
ILHAN ZEYBEKOLU President of Zeybekoglu and Associates,Inc Professor of Harvard
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Sponsor: Praxis
Type: Open, international, two-stage
Language: English
Fees:
Professionals – $100
Student teams – $60
Student – $30
Timetable:
31 January 2014 – Submission deadline
Jury: TBD
Awards:
$20,000 First Prize
10 finalists will receive $1,000 each to develop their final proposal
Process:
After receipt of the proposals, the ten short-listed winners will be
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Sponsor: Arquideas
Type: International, ideas, student
Languages: English, Spanish
Fees:
Early Registration (through 29 November, 2013): 50 € individual registration 75 € team registration (from 2-4 members)
Regular Registration (30 November 2013 to 16 January 2014):
75 € individual registration
100 € team registration (from 2-4 members)
Timetable:
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Sponsor: Arquine
Type: Open, international
Languages:
Eligibility: Open to architects and architecture students all over the world. Teams, collective and individual participants are welcome. The groups may incorporate professionals or students from other disciplines so long as the team leader or representative is an architect or architecture student.
Fees:
Early Registration (through 20 December,
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 Sewoon District 4 Urban Redevelopment Competition, Seoul, South Korea (Winning entry)
COMPETITIONS: Let’s talk about one of your most recent competitions where you came out on top – the Seoul planning competition. I recalled one of your statements about urban planning while I was looking at the Seoul plan: “You can’t fool a city.” With that in mind, how did you approach the challenge to create something new in a high density environment, where an old megastructure once existed?
KIM: These ideas are one that come from oneself. You study a city., you know the personality of a city. If one begins by looking, it’s the city that is going to tell you something. Because Seoul is my hometown, I could have a lot of input in the design process. In fact the area where I grew up is just down the street where my grandfather owned a block. I was quite familiar with the nature and characteristics of this district. Historically, it was always the heart of the city. If you look at it topographically, you come to realize what it was historically: it was an important place. (This place) was alive with its history, its philosophy, religion and culture. It was really the heart of it all. In recent years it has been neglected, and for various reasons: the landowners would not sell – they really didn’t need the money so they set a price that was actually too high. During the military era, they put a highway through the district. The canal, which had been the center of much of domestic life, was filled in – it was also part of the city water system at one time. My sense was that if it was going to come back, it shouldn’t ignore its historical roots. There was every reason why it should be something of great quality. It’s not just about keeping up with the Jones’s, just to bring the tourists in, but it had to become the center that it was always meant to be.
 Sewoon District 4 Urban Redevelopment Competition, perspective view with reflecting pool
So one begins to come up with an idea, and those ideas begin with those natural conditions, where if you understand the Korean culture, there is a great link to something natural; it’s an authentic place. At the same time there is more willpower to the city than any other city I have seen. It’s possible there that you can have both, linking you to what is to its history; but you really want to be in the position where you are the example of what the city of the future should be also. That’s where we begin, and it doesn’t necessarily come from ourselves, but it comes from the study of the possibilities presented by the given conditions and situation.
Sewoon District 4 Urban Redevelopment Competition, site plan
COMPETITIONS: The way this was explained to me, this will be somewhat like the Potsdamer Platz model from Berlin with various architects establishing their own personality within the plan. Do you see a similarity?
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