New Central Urban Waterfront Space and Main Library (MEDIASPACE)New Central Urban Waterfront Space and Main Library (MEDIASPACE) Open, international, RfP Aarhus, Denmark The contest including negotiated procedure is expected to run from March 2008 to November 2008 SPONSORS: The Municipality of Aarhus TYPE: Open, international, RfP LOCATION: Aarhus, Denmark LANGUAGE: English, Danish TIMETABLE: The contest including negotiated procedure is expected to run from March 2008 to November 2008, the planning stage running from January 2009 to June 2012, and the construction stage from March 2011 and until the opening of MEDIASPACE in December 2014. ELIGIBILITY: Architects, engineers, planners worldwide JURY: Not Announced AWARDS: 5 to 6 participants will be shortlisted. The construction costs of sections 1 + 2 are estimated at approx. EUR 180 million excl. VAT, but including various design costs, while the costs of section 3 are estimated at approx. EUR 20 million excl. VAT, but including various design costs. FEE: None THE COMPETITION: The Municipality of Aarhus launches an international architectural design contest for an integrated design solution for a new urban waterfront space and MEDIASPACE – the new main library of Aarhus, Citizens’ Services and more – a new icon communicating Aarhus as a city of knowledge. It is essential for the Municipality of Aarhus that the designer in all phases of the design process focuses on involvement processes, e.g. involvement of Aarhus City Council, client, citizens, users, employees, building authorities, business community and future tenants. The total overall project comprises three separate design sections: 1. Building design of an 18,000 sqm. MEDIASPACE – Aarhus’ new main library, citizens’ services etc. including 10,000 sqm. of optional area on a future harbour bastion. New urban spaces should be designed on the bastion around MEDIASPACE, while car parking, local trains, arrivals centre etc. should be established in the bastion or in connection hereto. 2. Uncovering of the last part of Aarhus River and modification of the Europaplads (existing town square) as an integrated solution with design of the bastion and MEDIASPACE. 3. Design of an approx. 500 m new urban waterfront that opens the city towards the sea and creates a new urban area for public activity and recreation. The design contest comprises all three project sections (sections 1 + 2, and section 3), however the jury reserves the right to award separate winners of sections 1 + 2 and section 3. The winner(s) will subsequently be invited to participate in a negotiated procedure without prior publication of a contract notice on the conditions stated in Article 31, para 3 of the Directive. If separate winners are awarded for sections 1+2 and section 3, a separate negotiated procedure will be carried out for sections 1+2 as well as for section 3. The entire project is subject to the Aarhus City Council approving the commencement of the contest, the contest result, and the costs of the project. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: http://www.multimediehuset.dk |
Young Architects in Competitions When Competitions and a New Generation of Ideas Elevate Architectural Quality 
by Jean-Pierre Chupin and G. Stanley Collyer
published by Potential Architecture Books, Montreal, Canada 2020
271 illustrations in color and black & white
Available in PDF and eBook formats
ISBN 9781988962047
What do the Vietnam Memorial, the St. Louis Arch, and the Sydney Opera House have in common? These world renowned landmarks were all designed by architects under the age of 40, and in each case they were selected through open competitions. At their best, design competitions can provide a singular opportunity for young and unknown architects to make their mark on the built environment and launch productive, fruitful careers. But what happens when design competitions are engineered to favor the established and experienced practitioners from the very outset? This comprehensive new book written by Jean-Pierre Chupin (Canadian Competitions Catalogue) and Stanley Collyer (COMPETITIONS) highlights for the crucial role competitions have played in fostering the careers of young architects, and makes an argument against the trend of invited competitions and RFQs. The authors take an in-depth look at past competitions won by young architects and planners, and survey the state of competitions through the world on a region by region basis. The end result is a compelling argument for an inclusive approach to conducting international design competitions. Download Young Architects in Competitions for free at the following link: https://crc.umontreal.ca/en/publications-libre-acces/ Hangang District Urban Design International Master Competition
1st place entry by Dominique Perrault Architecture (image ©Dominique Perrault Architect)
China’s planning priorities for their urban areas experienced a sharp turn after the post-Mao reforms took place. During the early post-WWII period, when Soviet influence in the early urbanization of China dominated, industrial development took precedence over all other issues, with heritage, conservation, residential planning, and the amenities associated with it, being almost entirely neglected. Read more…
Winning design by ©Moreau Kusunoki /Genton
Although one might normally assume that local firms participating in a competition might have a clear advantage over foreign competitors, this has seldom been the case: just see Sydney’s Opera House, won by a Danish architect, and Toronto’s City Hall, won by a Finn—as evidence that well devised competition briefs as adequate documentation can create a level playing field for potential competitors, regardless of their location.
Read more…
Jensen Architects – Winning entry (Honor Award) Beginning in 2011, Architecture at Zero, a collaboration between the Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) and the California chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIACA), was established to investigate the role architecture might play in reducing energy consumption in the built environment. Since then, every year has seen a new site and building type selected as a design challenge in what has become one of the world’s most interesting international competitions.
As a sign of its mounting popularity, the competition received 237 registrations from 49 countries and, according to the professional adviser, about 150 entries— all this during the Covid-19 virus pandemic, when all were compelled to work from home. Read more… An Ideas Competition in Opposition to a Concrete Design
Entry by TheeAe (Image © TheeAe)
In early 2020, a group advocating a new approach to the design of the Los Angeles Museum of Art (LACMA)—The Citizens’ Brigade to Save LACMA—organized a competition to counter an existing design by the Swiss Architect Peter Zumthor. Already commissioned by the LACMA administration, the project is slated to begin almost immediately with the demolition of four LACMA buildings—three existing and one new. Moreover, the existing plan to incorporate all of the existing collections under one roof isn’t covered by the Zumthor plan. This obvious lack of exhibit space was the focus of a query by the Ahmanson Foundation, a major donor of artworks to LACMA in the past. Upon not receiving assurances from LACMA that those donated works would be exhibited, but possibly held in storage and hidden from public view, the Foundation cut all ties with LACMA. Finally, the plan by Zumthor foresees the new structure not only occupying much of the new space created by demolition, but extends part of the new building over Wiltshire Boulevard. As one might anticipate from Zumthor, the construction of the structure is also primarily of concrete, thereby raising the cost per SF. So no matter how highly finished this material turns out to be, it does in essence represent a brutalist structure replacing an eclectic ensemble. Read more… National Railway Museum Central Hall (U.K.)
Winning entry by Feilden Fowles (image © Fielden Fowles)
If one were to search for a railway museum in the U.K., London would seem to be an obvious choice. But, as it happens, its location is in the northeastern city of York, far from the major cultural and economic centers of the country. But despite its distance from the major metropolitan areas to the south and west, York has managed to become the focal point of research into the history of rail in the U.K., supplemented by a major museum. Here we are not just talking about some posters, but sheds replete with a large collection of vintage trains. Read more… |
