The Olympic Park Legacy Company Design Teams Shortlist More than 100 teams from all over the world submitted expressions of interest for the Legacy Company’s design competitions for the new public space, visitor centres and playground within the future Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. Five teams have been selected for the south park competition and another five selected for the north park competition. The selected teams are: South Park Competition: - Agence Ter (Paris) in collaboration with architects Heneghan Peng (Ireland), engineering consultants (park) Buro Happold (Bath), engineering consultants (buildings) ARUP (London), lighting designers Bartenbach LichtLabor (Austria); and quantity surveyors Gardiner & Theobald
- Gustafson Porter (London) in collaboration with architect Niall McLaughlin (Ireland), engineers ARUP (London) and quantity surveyors Davis Langdon
- James Corner Field Operations in collaboration with engineers ARUP (London), Make Architectstomato, planting and horticulture by Piet Oudolf, lighting designers and consultants L’Observatoire International (New York), events and live activity planning by Groundbreaking, play consultants Playlink, and quantity surveyors Deloitte
- Ken Smith Landscape Architect in collaboration with Michael Maltzan Architecture (California), civil, structural and sustainable engineers Buro Happold (Bath); landscape designer Piet Oudolf; public space program and management ETM associates (New Jersey) and cost consultant, design project manager, specification consultant Davis Langdon
- West 8 (Netherlands) in collaboration with architect Benthem Crouwel Architekten BV bnaBuro Happold (Bath); and quantity surveyor Davis Langdon (Australia)
North Park Competition: - Cottrell &Vermeulen Architecture Ltd (London) in collaboration with structural engineer Engineers HRWOR Consulting (London) and quality surveyor Stockdale
- David Kohn Architects (London) in collaboration with landscape architects David Buck (London), Davies White (Surrey), consultancy Alan Baxer & Associates LLP (London) and project managers and cost consultants Jackson Coles (London)
- erect architecture (London) in collaboration with consulting structural engineers Tall engineers (London), service engineers Max Fordham (London), landscape consultants Land Use Consultants (London), artist and enabler Ashley McMormick (London), quantity surveyor Huntley Cartwright (Surrey) and play safety experts Children’s Play Advisory Service (Coventry)
- The Landscape Partnership (London) in collaboration with Sarah Wigglesworth Architects (London), structural engineers Jane Wernick Associates (London), M&E engineers Skelly&Couch (London); and cost management by Turner & Townsend (London)
- Ushida Findlay architects (London) in collaboration with landscape architect and masterplanner Grant associates (Bath), structural and services engineer ARUP (London), lighting designer Speirs and MajorDavis Langdon and play design best practice and enabling by Play England
The short-listed teams will be invited to submit a concept design in November which will be judged by an expert panel. The winner will be announced by the end of the year. For further details of the projects, the Legacy Company’s aims and the shortlisted design teams please see Latest Update on the dedicated competition microsite. |
Countryside Dilemmas – New Rural Planning 
1st Place – ©Tianjin University Team
Planning used to be at the bottom of Chinese students’ lists of design priorities. One western architect, whose firm was at the forefront in the design and implementation of numerous planning projects in China, surmised that planning was an area that received little attention in the university curricula. So when planning for a major metropolitan area has occurred, the Chinese have almost always turned to outside international firms for ideas and implementation. 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 Chicago Architecture Club Shines the Spotlight on Another Endangered Landmark 
Public Pool Image: ©Perkins&Will
What do Bertrad Goldberg and Helmut Jahn have in common? Besides having high-profile buildings threatened by demolition, both served as subject matter for two competitions sponsored by the Chicago Architecture Club (CAC)—raising public consciousness about their impending fate. They both produced buildings in a city famous for its architecture that have been abandoned: Goldberg’s Future Prentice Women’s Hospital, demolished in 2014 after a valiant effort by preservationists to save it from the wrecking ball; and Jahn’s Thompson Center, now the object of a similar effort by the State of Illinois to sell it to a developer. Read more… An Ideas Competition in Berlin Seeks Answers 
Winning entry perspective Image: ©AllesWirdGut Architekten
Berlin developer HOWOGE recently staged what was regarded as a “planning Laboratory” competition for a model satellite in northwest Berlin. The brief for this invited competition noted that the urban sprawl, which had accompanied the reunification of Germany(and Berlin) in 1989, was low density in character, occupying wide swaths of suburban areas around the city. With previous high density, and now controversial Berlin projects in mind—the problems with Berlin’s high-density Gropius-Stadt as a warning signal—the sponsor here suggested that lessons learned from past mistakes could be avoided with a high-quality design strategy… Read more… Winner Announced for New Preston Mosque Competition 
LUCA POIAN FORMS Image courtesy RIBA
Facilitator: RIBA
Location: Preston, U.K.
Type: International, open
The competition attracted over 200 entries from 40 different countries.
Five finalists were chosen to participate in a second phase:
Winner
• LUCA POIAN FORMS, London, UK
Finalists - BLANKPAGE Architects, Lebanon
- Borough Architects + buchhandler-nelli + elca, Cambridge, UK
- Mcheileh Studio, New York (Highly Commended by the Evaluation Panel)
- TABE SHOURI, New York
RIBA competition website:
www.architecture.com/competitions Astrakhan Looks to Raise Its Quality of Life Index 
Aerial view of downtown Astrakhan
Planning competitions with a strong landscape component take many forms, including some for plazas and gateways to major town centers, city neighborhood sites with multi-story housing units, university campus plans and finally, comprehensive city plans—the latter either being for new towns, as in China, or strategies for the improvement of existing cities—as was here the case with Astrakhan, a major city on the Volga delta, and the Caspian Sea. Read more… |
