The ]present[ Architectures Challenge

The ]present[ Architectures Challenge

Open, international, 2-stage, anonymous, student, ideas

Bucharest, Romania

31 Mar 2008 – Registration Deadline

25 Oct 2008 – Arrival of projects for final judgment

SPONSOR:

IMUAU together with EAAE (Ion Mincu University of Architecture and Urbanism + European Association of Architectural Education)

TYPE:

Open, international, 2-stage, anonymous, student, ideas

LOCATION:

Bucharest, Romania

LANGUAGE:

English

TIMETABLE:

31 Mar 2008 – Registration Deadline

17 Apr 2008 – Questions Deadline

30 Apr 2008 – Answers Mailed

15 Oct 2008 – End of local judgment in the Schools of Architecture

25 Oct 2008 – Arrival of projects for final judgment

Dec 2008 – Results Announced and Exhibition

ELIGIBILITY:

Students studying in the schools affiliated to AEEA. Equally, those students attending other schools, without AEEA affiliation, are eligible. The projects can be either individual or designed by a student team coordinated by a faculty member.JURY:

Mario BOTTA, Switzerland

Leen VAN DUIN, EAAE Representative, Netherlands

Cristopher ALLSOPP, United Kingdom

Petr FRANTA, Czech Republic

Pere RIERA I PA_ELLAS, Spain

Juhani KATAINEN, Finland

Emil Barbu POPESCU, UAUIM Representative, Romania

Lafarge representative to be nominated

AWARDS:

Prize I: 6,000 Euro

Prize II: 4,000 Euro

Prize III: 3,000 Euro

Mentions: 1,000 Euro each

FEE:

None

DESIGN CHALLENGE:

It seems that ]present[ has become the most unattractive period. People look rather to past or future. The nostalgic think that past is much better, while the others wage everything on the future. It might be as well a sign of dissatisfaction with ]present[ or an attempt to escape in an ideal time. However, the problems posed by ]present[ keep on piling up, and people look backwards or forwards, mesmerized by the future; they are less motivated to take action today.

Traditional cities were architectural answers to people’s needs. Once they represented the communities and displayed their values, history, and aspirations. They went hand in hand with community life and promptly answered their changes. This is why we can easily read the history of the place in its architecture. Neither settlements, nor houses can feign history, because sometimes they narrate less desirable aspects of a given world. Modern city seems to have lost this kind of flexibility. Although it intended to anticipate society developments, it did not react to several changes; thus, architecture could not come up with a proper answer and the whole thing went into a state of crisis. Several dysfunctional cases arose, and architecture could not keep up with novelties.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

Universitatea de Arhitectura si Urbanism “Ion Mincu”

Str. Academiei 18-20, Sector 1

010014 Bucuresti

Romania

[email protected]

http://www.iaim.ro/en/aeea2008/