Route de Meyrin – CERN International Competition
Sponsor: Canton of Geneva
Type: Open, single stage
Location: Geneva, Switzerland
Language: French and English Fee: Free Eligibility: The procedure is open to a grouping of representatives combining the skills of a landscape architect, a town planner, a civil engineer and a lighting designer established in Switzerland or in a State that is a signatory of the WTO agreement on government procurement, which offers reciprocity to Swiss representatives. Timetable: June 27, 2011 – Guided tour of site
October 24, 2011 – Registration deadline 2012 – Preliminary study 2013-2014 – Execution Awards: Idea competition: CHF 80,000
Project competition: CHF 120,000
Jury: President: Pierre Feddersen, architect-town planner
Delphine Avocat, Director of Transport, Conseil Général for Ain Pascal Bodin, Public Space Project Director, Canton of Geneva Monique Boget, Mayor of the Commune of Meyrin Olivier Coutau, DSPE, Canton of Geneva and Vice President of the Foundation for the Globe of Science and Innovation Yves Delacrétaz, Director General of Mobility, State of Geneva Francesco Della Casa, Cantonal Architect, Canton of Geneva Rolf Heuer, Director General of CERN, Nathalie Luyet, architect-town planner Olivier Morand, Head of the Urban Development Department, Commune of Meyrin, Commune de Meyrin Guerric Péré, landscape architect Amadeo Perez, Ambassador, Deputy Permanent Representative of Switzerland Thomas Pettersson, Head of General Services at CERN François Reinhard, Director of the Fondation des immeubles pour les organisations internationales Frédéric Rossano, landscape architect Christine Thibaud Zingg, architect-town planner Design Challenge:
The Canton of Geneva is launching an international competition aimed at firms specialising in the design of urban public spaces for the redevelopment of CERN’s main entrance area. The purpose is to design an emblematic reception area for the prestigious international particle physics research organisation, which receives 100,000 visitors annually and 10,000 users daily. Construction of this public area, covering approximately 1 hectare, is scheduled for 2013 and 2014. It will be the first visible component of the future CERN campus project, for which a master plan is being drawn up with the aim, by 2030, of offering scientists a friendly and attractive working environment on a par with the world-class fundamental research performed at the Laboratory. The new reception area is also an integral part of the wider plan for the development of the cross-border region (France – Switzerland) and will be the hub of the 7 development poles of the future “Circle of Innovation”. The budget for this first phase of work is estimated at CHF 5 million (approximately € 3.8 million or USD 5.4 million). Firms from Switzerland and abroad are invited to enter from 16th May 2011 onwards. The competition winner will be announced in December 2011. |
Image Courtesy Network Rail
From Grand Central Station to King’s Cross in London, railway stations have often represented some of the major architectural accomplishments of our times. But those edifices have been primarily located in great cities. In the U.K. there are over 2,000 stations located in medium-sized, small, and rural communities. Most of those are ‘quick stop’ locations, and not the destination terminals where space requirements often result in state of the art design. In July of last year, U.K.’s Network Rail, in collaboration with the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) launched a competition to identify a concept for a design that would be suitable for the medium to small-sized rail stations, at the same time updating the program to fit the modern needs of such a facility. The competition was open internationally and received 213 entries from 34 countries last September. 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/ The Urban Confluence Silicon Valley Competition
Urban Confluence Silicon Valley winner: ©SMAR Architecture Studio
After several stops and starts over an extended period of time, the winner of the Urban Confluence Design Competition was named in early March, 2021. SMAR Architecture Studio’s The Breeze of Innovation, which prevailed over two other shortlisted finalists from the original 963 entries, won with a novel tower-like structure consisting primarily of hundreds of rods, generating energy while swaying in the wind. Read More…
Pedestrian perspective
The result of an effort from a professor at the TUM (Technische Universität München) to restore the Budludzha Monument in Bulgaria, located in a remote location on a mountain top in that country, we discovered that it originally was the result of a 1959 design competition won by the young Bulgarian architect, Georgi Stoilov. Read more… A Flawed Plan Leads to Budget Issues
Competition rendering of project looking south to Mies museum ©Herzog de Meuron
Once considered on the forefront of modern architecture in post-WWII Europe, Berlin has had its share of questionable decisions concerning important urban projects in recent history. Beginning with the rebirth of the Berlin Palace (Humboldt Forum) on the Spree by Italian architect, Franco Stella, and now followed by Herzog de Meuron’s controversial addition to Mies’s 20th Century Art Museum, the times when one could look to Berlin as a signpost of architectural innovation can only be viewed in the rear view mirror.
Read more… |
