SMART Ideas Urban Design CompetitionSponsors: American Institute of Architects, Redwood Empire, and Leadership Institute for Ecology and the Economy Type: Open, Ideas Language: English
Eligibility: Entrants may be from any discipline- architects, planners, developers, engineers, urban designers, transportation planners, energy managers, landscape architects, students, community leaders, suburbanites, cyclists, poets, artists or general public. Multidisciplinary design teams are encouraged across various disciplines.
Registration Fees: Students – $50 USD Academics/Professionals – $100 USD Awards: Cash prizes to be announced Timeline: 15 January 2010 – Early Registration Deadline 1 February 2010 – Late Registration Deadline 8 February 2010 – Submission Deadline 12 January 2010 – Jury meeting and decision 13 January 2010 – Community Presentation +/- 1 March 2010 – eBook available Jury: A jury comprised of notable designers and theorists includes: Ellen Dunham-Jones, AIA, author of Retrofitting Suburbia: Urban Design Solutions for Redesigning Suburbs RK Stewart, FAIA, 2007 President of AIA National Associate Principal, Perkins and Will David Baker, FAIA, Award Winning Designer of Multi-Family Principal, David Baker + Partners Design Challenge: SMART Ideas Urban Design Competition is for an existing suburban area around the North Santa Rosa Station for the new Sonoma Marin train. The Charette phase brought the community together to identify issues and opportunities in this area. The Competition phase tasks architects, planners, urban designers, and community members to come up with innovative ideas for solving the problems and retrofitting the suburban landscape for a more walkable and livable city. This is an Ideas competition, so everything is on the table to be considered. NW Santa Rosa developed in pieces according to sales of large farm tracts for key institutions, then filled in with a variety of uses, but without a planning vision for what the area could become. When the general plan was written in the early 1990’s and a zoning map developed, the map primarily followed the existing uses, without much planning thought. Now there are some major employers, services, and institutions in the area, and they are growing. There is a highway right down the middle and there is a commuter train coming.
Submission Requirements: All submissions must be received electronically. Submission is to be a maximum two 30”x42” .PDF panels, landscape or portrait uploaded to an ftp site to be provided, as a single PDF that must not exceed 10MB per panel. All participants will receive an identifying number upon registration. Only the identifying number is to be shown on the presentation and filename. Identifying number and upload information to be provided after registration received. Electronic submissions must be received by 5:00 PM, PST, January 25, 2010, to be reviewed.
For more information, go to: http://www.smartideascompetition.com/ |
 Perkins & Will Carrying the label, “Artistic Ideas Competition,” five firms vied for a commission to design a new National Museum of the U.S. Navy. Household names, the five were Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) Copenhagen/ New York Gehry Partners (Los Angeles) DLR Group (Columbus, OH) Perkins&Will (Chicago) Winner! Quinn Evans (Ann Arbor) With a site not yet identified, it is possible that a final design will look quite different from the present submission. the Navy has expressed a preference for M Street SE and 6th Street SE, near the Navy Yard in Washington, D.C. 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/ Six Firms Competed to Rethink the Future of a Major Museum  Aerial view of winning design ©Nieto Sobejano Arquitectos (courtesy Malcolm Reading Consultants) The history of the Dallas Museum of Art’s expansion has been punctuated by several moves, culminating in a new building designed by Edward Larrabee Barnes in 1984. The importance of this move to a new, somewhat desolate location in the city cannot be underestimated: it has led to the revitalization of what is now called the “Arts District,” with the relocation of various arts institutions to new facilities: the opera house (Foster and Partners), Dee and Charles Wyly Performing Arts Theater (REX/OMA), Nasher Sculpture Center (Renzo Piano), and I.M. Pei’s Meyerson Symphony Center being among the most significant. Read more…  Courtesy Malcolm Reading Consultants, ©Kengo Kuma & Associates A UNESCO World Heritage Site Again on the World Stage How does one approach a challenge when creating a design worthy of a park with a history dating back to antiquity? This was what four design teams faced when shortlisted for the design of a Visitor Center for the Butrint National Park in Albania. The park’s history is illuminating in this regard.
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Chungji National Heritage Museum Competition

Image ©Ona Architects + Jongjin Lee architects + Laguillo Arquitectos
For those unfamiliar with Korean Heritage and its symbols, the choice of the jury for a new complex to house artifacts, now located at various scattered sites, would seem to beg more information, especially when one views the designs of the non-selected finalists—all quite modern. Some of this can certainly be explained by the subject matter of the new museum’s holdings, another by the site in broader terms. Some might say that emphasis placed on the heritage element in the design brief fostered an interpretation leading to the choice of the winning design: “The site chosen for the new Chungji National Museum is logical: Chungju, located in the central part of the Korean Peninsula, is the center of the so-called ‘Jungwon culture,’ which has played an important role geographically and historically since ancient time. Jungwon culture developed around the Namhan River, which runs through the central region from east to west, and the relics showing this are currently scattered and stored in various museums.”
Read more… University of Florida’s College of Design Construction and Planning’s New Addition 
Development phase image courtesy ©Brooks + Scarpa
If architects have had one complaint concerning the planning and realization of a project, it has been with planners and especially construction managers, both of whom often display a lack of knowledge about architecture. The survival of a well-conceived design can hang in the balance when there is a knowledge gap at the planning and realization end.
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