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Wlodzimierz Mucha and Andrzej Bulanda
Bulanda Mucha Architects, Warsaw
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COMPETITIONS: When did you decide you wanted to become an architect, and who were some of the main influences for you?
Andrzej Bulanda: I have been thinking about architecture for a long time, although I didn’t start in architecture. There was some family history and I was always interested in this type of work. Also, in those days in Poland, it was the only profession in which you could frame your own (non-political) agenda, and not have to be part of a large office. You could do small competitions, small projects.
I spent one year at GSD as a Visiting Scholar and wrote a book which was an interview with professor Jerzy Sołtan concerning his personal history with Le Corbusier, everything related to architecture, and the roots of his own life. From GSD Harvard, I got my position at Penn State University, where i taught for a year. Then I came back to Europe, to France, where I was working with Groupe 6 in Grenoble for two years on projects related to health and culture. In 1991, I started the firm here in Poland with my partner — we had met at the university in Warsaw.
BRE Bank, Bydgoszcz, Poland (Competition 1995, completion 1999)
COMPETITIONS: When you were working in France, those were the days when a lot of open competitions were being staged.
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COMPETITIONS: The new University of Sydney Law School competition, which you won, included a lot of high profile architects besides FJMT: Neilsen Neilsen & Neilsen (Denmark), Axel Shultzes (Berlin), Norman Foster (London), (Bligh Voller Neild (Sydney, Aus), and Donovan Hill & Wilson (Brisbane, Aus). I assume it was invited?
Richard Francis-Jones: The University of Sydney became quite ambitious around this time and implemented a campus planning program called 2010. It included three major new buildings, the largest being the law school. The law school is currently downtown, so the competition was part of bringing the law school back to campus. The law school has a very prestigious faculty and the new site on campus is very strategic. It’s right across from some of the older neo-gothic sandstone buildings, and there’s a sense that it’s very solid. The building was to include a variety of programs and quarters for the faculty, and it also incorporates a law library and lots of general teaching spaces. But the main component is the law school. As a big competition, they had advisors from the architectural side – and the jury included James Weirick, Chris Johnson, Tom Heneghan from U of Sydney (all professors). It was a completely open submission of interest, worldwide. It was reduced to just a few teams and we had to assemble a very detailed – but short – submission for the second phase. We were limited to a certain number of pages and it had to include an interpretive program and outline what we were thinking about the site.
 Faculty of Law, Library and Teaching Complex, University of Sydney
COMPETITIONS: Like a narrative of some sort?
RFJ: A narrative and a sketch – but only a few pages. Based on those submissions, they selected teams for the competitions (There were several competitions held simultaneously – the law school was just one). Then there was a full competition, and the interesting thing for me — and the unique aspect to this competition — was that we submitted our material, which included panels, a model, etc., and they were put on public display. The public could go have a look for about a month or so prior, and then we each made our design presentations to the jury. But it was also open to the public.
COMPETITIONS: So there was the proper jury but also the public?
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Sponsor: RIBA Type: Expressions of interest Location: London Language: English Fee: £50 Eligibility: Expressions of Interest are invited from architect‐led teams, which should also include the services of a structural engineer, M&E engineer and quantity surveyor. Other specialists including landscape architects, acousticians and theatre consultants may also be proposed at this stage. Timetable:7 October 2011
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The eight short-listed design teams have been announced for the competition to redevelop the Windermere Steamboat Museum on the shores of Lake Windermere in the Lake District National Park. The Lakeland Arts Trust recently secured initial support for a £7.4m Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) bid*, including £494,000 development funding, to take the project forward. The
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The announcement of the finalists of the International Design Competition for Aberdeen’s City Garden Project was revealed today. The six finalists have been selected to go on to the second stage of the competition after a unanimous vote by the jury panel. Over 55 submissions were received from across the world with many opting to
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Sponsor: Navy Pier, Inc. Type of competition: RFQ, three-stage Language: English Location: Chicago Eligibility: Qualified design teams Registration Fee: None Jury: CHAIRMAN Ms. Sarah Garvey – Retired, The Boeing Company John G. Shedd AquariumVICE-CHAIRMAN Mr. Pat Daly – The Daly Group LLCSECRETARY/TREASURER Ms. Andrea Zopp – The Chicago Urban LeagueEX-OFFICIO Mr. David Mosena –
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The Trust for the National Mall will host the official launch of the National Mall Design Competition at 11:00 AM on Thursday, September 8. The National Mall Design Competition will challenge architects and landscape architects to devise creative, sustainable solutions to the National Mall’s restoration needs.
The 36-week competition
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Sponsor: Comune di Villaputzu
Type of competition: Open, international, ideas Language: Italian Location: Villaputzu, Italy Eligibility: Participants must be licensed architect or engineers in their own countries. Entrants may be individuals or teams, in the latter case it is necessary to indicate a team leader. Registration Fee: EUR 50 Jury: To be announced Awards:
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Sponsor: City of London, Canada
Type of competition: Request for Qualification – Two-stage. Canada only.
Language: English
Location: London, Canada
Eligibility: Open to Canadian design professionals (landscape architects, architects, urban planners). Eligible consultants must have on their team a lead
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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/
Winning entry ©Herzog de Meuron
In visiting any museum, one might wonder what important works of art are out of view in storage, possibly not considered high profile enough to see the light of day? In Korea, an answer to this question is in the making.
It can come as no surprise that museums are running out of storage space. This is not just the case with long established “western” museums, but elsewhere throughout the world as well. In Seoul, South Korea, such an issue has been addressed by planning for a new kind of storage facility, the Seouipul Open Storage Museum. The new institution will house artworks and artifacts of three major museums in Seoul: the Seoul Museum of Modern Art, the Seoul Museum of History, and the Seoul Museum of Craft Art.
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Belfast Looks Toward an Equitable and Sustainable Housing Model
Birdseye view of Mackie site ©Matthew Lloyd Architects
If one were to look for a theme that is common to most affordable housing models, public access has been based primarily on income, or to be more precise, the very lack of it. Here it is no different, with Belfast’s homeless problem posing a major concern. But the competition also hopes to address another of Belfast’s decades-long issues—its religious divide. There is an underlying assumption here that religion will play no part in a selection process. The competition’s local sponsor was “Take Back the City,” its membership consisting mainly of social advocates. In setting priorities for the housing model, the group interviewed potential future dwellers as well as stakeholders to determine the nature of this model. Among those actions taken was the “photo- mapping of available land in Belfast, which could be used to tackle the housing crisis. Since 2020, (the group) hosted seminars that brought together international experts and homeless people with the goal of finding solutions. Surveys and workshops involving local people, housing associations and council duty-bearers have explored the potential of the Mackie’s site.” This research was the basis for the competition launched in 2022.
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Alster Swimming Pool after restoration (2023)
Linking Two Competitions with Three Modernist Projects
Hardly a week goes by without the news of another architectural icon being threatened with demolition. A modernist swimming pool in Hamburg, Germany belonged in this category, even though the concrete shell roof had been placed under landmark status. When the possibility of being replaced by a high-rise building, it came to the notice of architects at von Gerkan Marg Partners (gmp), who in collaboration with schlaich bergermann partner (sbp), developed a feasibility study that became the basis for the decision to retain and refurbish the building.
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A Church Ruin as Reconciliation Memorial
View of winning design from south ©Heninghan Peng Architects
For those tourists visiting Berlin today, the sudden approach to the ruins of a 1895 church building located on the city’s downtown Breitscheidplatz would certainly arouse their curiosity. One of the few remaining relics of World War II in the city, the church has now been the subject of a competition: Redesign and renovation of the Old Tower of the Friedrich Wilhelm Memorial Church (Umgestaltung des Alten Turms der Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächnis-Kirche).
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