Grand-Métis – The International Garden FestivalSponsors:
Jardins de Metis / Redford Gardens
Type:
Open, International
Language:
French/English
Location:
Grand-Métis, in the Gaspésie region of Québec, Canada
Timetable:
14 September, 2009 – call for entries
6 November, 2009 – deadline to send proposals
1 December, 2009 – public announcement of the chosen projects
1 February, 2010 – deadline for reception of documents showing the preliminary design for the garden
26 February, 2010 – deadline to submit pans and estimates for the construction of
the garden, incorporating comments by the technical committee of the Festival
12 March 2010 – Final approval of the plans and estimates by Festival’s artistic and technical committee
16 March, 2010 to 1 May, 2010 – Purchase of materials and preparation of plants by
the Festival in collaboration with designers
5 May, 2010 Construction begins by the Festival team
18-25 June, 2010 – Designers are on site to supervise the completion of the gardens, participate in the opening events, meet the public and the media
25 June, 2010 – Inauguration of the Festival
26 June, 2010 – The Festival opens to the public
27 June, 2010 – Designers meet with the public
3 October, 2010 – The Festival Closes Eligibility:
This call for entries is open to all professional designers (or teams of designers) from Québec, the rest of Canada and internationally that work in the fields of landscape architecture, architecture, visual arts, and design. The Festival encourages participants to form multidisciplinary teams to favour an approach which is open and encompassing of the various design disciplines. Multidisciplinary teams may be composed of a landscape architect and an architect, engineer, scenographer, artist or designer from other disciplines. We encourage each team to incorporate a landscape architect or a garden designer
Jury: TBA
The Competition:
The International Garden Festival is preparing its 11th edition and is issuing a call for proposals to select designers to create contemporary gardens around the theme of “Paradise”. The Festival will be held from June 26 to October 3, 2010 at Les Jardins de Métis / Reford Gardens, in Grand-Métis, Québec, Canada. The International Garden Festival is recognized as one of the most important events of its kind in North America and one of the two leading annual garden festivals in the worlds. The Festival encourages participants to explore all facets of the garden, from the physical setting to creating a range of sensory, emotive and intellectual experiences for the visitor. Submission Requirements:
Entries should be sent electronically as a single PDF not exceeding 30 Mb. This should include a presentation page with the name of the project, designers, and respondent of the team. Contact information including: address, telephone, fax, email and website (if appropriate). A 150-word presentation of the team and a 70 word maximum answer to “In what way, in your view, will your project contribute to the renewal of the art of the garden?”
A schema 11” X 17” or A3 with a 150 word description of the concept and experience offered to visitors, a plan layout (min. scale 1/100) and a list of suggested plants.
A schema 11” X 17” or A3 with two main views or elevations, and a perspective showing the garden in its entirety.
Curriculum vitae of the designers, 2 page maximum per person
A schema 11” X 17” or A3 presenting up to three recent projects by the team and/or its designers
For more information, go to: http://www.refordgardens.com/english/ |
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… |
