Imperial War Museum North External Spaces Design CompetitionSponsors: Imperial War Museum North and RIBA Type: Open, international, RfQ Timetable: 23 October 2008 – Expression of Interest deadline : Assessment of EOI’s : w/c 3rd November Brief issued to shortlist : w/c 10th November Deadline for concept designs : 15th January 2009 Final judging (including interviews) : w/c 26th January Eligibility: Open To Multi-disciplinary teams led by an architect or landscape architect Fee: None Awards: £12,000 Total (between 5 finalists) and Design Commission Jury: The Jury Panel will include the Museum Director and other senior IWM representation, a Quays stakeholder representative and the RIBA architectural adviser, Maggie Mullan of Austin Smith Lord Architect Design Challenge: Imperial War Museum North is a hub for learning in the region with many innovative outreach programmes such as its award-winning volunteer scheme in addition to its exhibition and events programme. It also has a growing business development focus. All of these elements will benefit from the development of the external spaces. The various spaces around the museum have very different characters, largely dictated by the weather, sun and other external factors such as the road, fencing, and the relationship between the building and the space around it. The site area is 20,000 sqm of which 5,000 sqm is the footprint of the museum itself. At this stage the intention is not to be prescriptive, rather to give an outline of the hopes and ambitions of those closely associated with the museum. Key objectives can be summarised as follows: • To clarify and introduce the content and message of the building in order to complement and balance the iconic architecture and nature of the building. • Responding to the clear message inherent in the architecture of the building, reinforcing and possibly explaining or further exploring the ideas of the world shattered by war. • Enhancing the accessibility and the welcoming nature of IWM North. • Exploiting the waterfront location. This could include the possibility of a landing stage for water taxis. There are plans for a new pedestrian bridge from MediaCity:uk and the potential for development on the neighbouring plot of land will need to be taken into account. • Developing the relationships with other organisations, through partnership working and openness. • Accommodating the full range of visitors to the museum, all of whom should have the possibility of having their visit enhanced by the development of the external spaces. Of particular importance to the museum are school groups and veterans and the families of both groups. • Offering a space for personal and emotional responses to the museum; the content and message of the museum are uncompromising, emotionally challenging and deal with a difficult subject. The building itself is disorienting and reflects the challenging. Information and submissions: RIBA Competitions Office 6 Melbourne Street Leeds LS2 7PS Email: riba.competitions@inst.riba.org Website: www.architecture.com/competitions Ph: 44 (0) 113 2341335 Fax: 44 (0) 113 2460744 |
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/  Aerial view of site – Courtesy National Finnish Museum When major cultural institutions in Finland plan a new building project, one can almost always assume that an open competition will be the vehicle by which the client settles on the building’s design. The only question is, will this be organized in a format open to local, Scandinavian, or international architects. In the case of the National Museum of Finland annex competition, it was open to architects throughout the world — resulting in 185 entries. Read more…
The Opening of Taichung’s Central Park by Catherine Mosbach/Philippe Rahm
 View from the south with downtown Taichung in the distance image: ©Mosbach/Rahm
The abandonment and closing of airports, including decommissioning those that were used for military purposes, has presented design communities with several opportunities to convert them entirely to civilian purposes. Notable among those which have been the result of competitions are Orange County Great Park, Irvine, California (Ken Smith Landscape Architects), The Estonian National Museum (Dan Dorell, Lina Ghotmeh and Tsuyoshi Tane), and Toronto’s less successful Downsview Park competition, whereby the winning design by OMA, with trees as the primary feature, has been basically ignored. Instead, the area has become the site of numerous commercial and residential projects.
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SMAR’s Winning Entry Gets the Green Light  Image: ©SMAR Architecture The winning competition entry in the 2016 Science Island competition in Kaunas, Lithuania by SMAR Architects may only take five years to realize—from the date of the competition to completion. This is encouraging news, as the duration of such projects resulting from a competition can often take much longer—sometimes up to 8-10 years. Read more…  Night view of the memorial tapestry from Independence Avenue, with Gehry’s sketch of the Normandy cliffs. Explaining the contributions of a World War II hero and later President of the United States on a very modest site on Independence Avenue just off the Washington Mall is tantamount to asking an author to describe the life of this person in no more than one paragraph. But on September 17th, after a long and bumpy journey, lasting almost 20 years and navigating a warren of the DC approval processes and public scrutiny, the Eisenhower Memorial finally was dedicated and opened to the public. Designed by Frank Gehry, it has received mixed reviews, the majority being more positive. But most have pointed out that the memorial is more impressive at night than in full daylight. This is due primarily to the illumination of an almost block-long metallic tapestry—featuring a sketch by Gehry, which depicts his interpretation of the cliffs of the Normandy coastline where the Americans landed on D-Day. Read more…  Professional winner: Brooklyn Bridge Forest (image © Pilot Projects Design Collective) While looking for new adventures on a visit to New York City, friends suggested that I take time to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge—certainly a New York icon. For those intending to undertake this trek across the bridge for the first time, the bridge consists of layers, with a large platform for pedestrians on top of a lower level for cars and the metro system. Traversing this connection for the first time between Manhattan and Brooklyn is not just about getting from one place to another, but experiencing a great scenic view of both boroughs and occasionally interacting with other bridge crossers. As for the latter, they provide a flavor of the city’s demographics, as opposed to similar experiences one might have of the city’s inhabitants when riding the city’s subway system. Read more… |