Bienal Miami+Beach 2009 CompetitionSponsor: Government of the Atlantic Department, the School of Architecture, Art and Design and the Architecture program at the Autonomous University of the Caribbean Type: open, international Language: English, Spanish Eligibility: architects, urbanists, artists, and interior designers Registration fee: $20 – early registration $30 – registration $40 – late registration Timetable: 11 September, 2009 – early registration deadline 1 October, 2009 – registration deadline 23 October, 2009 – late registration deadline 30 October, 2009 – submission deadline 21 November, 2009 – awards ceremony Jury: To be announced Design Challenge: The competition seeks ideas for the entry to the city of Barranquila, Colombia via the Pumarejo bridge on the Magdalena river. The Caribbean Region, and each of its territories and localities, holds its own identity, both individual and collective in nature. Sensual qualities abound in the appearance of its people, the sounds of their musical notes, the aromas of their cuisine and the panoply of colors covering its landscapes. The constant relationship of artistic and spatial creations with the region’s surreal tropical world projects a unique character deeply conformed by it its mestizo heritage, its dynamic and colorful surroundings, and devotion to organic and vernacular materials. Submission Requirements: – Site Plan – Accessibility Plan – Architectural Plan – Structural Plan – Longitudinal and Transversal cross-sections – All four (4) facades – Perspectives – Descriptive analysis the previously mentioned components Submissions may be mounted on board or rolled in a tube. (International participants are advised to send submissions rolled in a tube to prevent damage at customs) For more information, go to: http://www.bienalmiami.com/index4.html |
Art Gallery of Nova Scotia Competition  Image: ©KPMB Architects Not to be outdone by other Canadian provincial capitals, Halifax has chosen to make its own ambitious museum statement on the city’s waterfront. New museums in Vancouver, BC, Calgary and Fredericton, New Brunswick, the latter two by KPMB Architects, are either in development or already under construction. Saskatoon’s Remai Modern by KPMB and OMA’s Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec in Montréal were more recently completed, and Vancouver’s new Art Museum by Herzog & de Meuron is still under development. Read more… 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/ Urban Adaptation Competition  Image ©Francesco Allaixand Julio Orduña Recently we are beginning to see a resurgence of wood as a primary building material, not only for detached residential housing, but also for multi-family and commercial urban structures. Masonry, steel, and composite materials are still the bread and butter of the construction industry; but wood may be making serious inroads into the future of commercial buildings. Yes, we have seen the use of wood in interiors of large buildings: one of the more impressive projects being that of the Christ the Light Cathedral by SOM in Oakland, California. Read more…  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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