Re-imagine PlayType: Open, RfP Eligibility: The competition is open to design professionals from around the country. Teams exhibiting professionally diverse expertise are encouraged. All entries must include a licensed Landscape Architect in the State of Colorado and must meet a 15% participation goal for Denver Minority or Women owned businesses (M/WBE). Design Challenge Denver Parks and Recreation (DPR) is challenging currently accepted definitions of play and is looking to re-think play as a unique, multi-faceted experience in an urban, multi-generational space in Denver’s Historic City Park. Highly motivated, qualified and experienced design teams are asked to submit their qualifications and ideas for this challenge. The new space will be unique and will include community context and advocacy. Click here for complete RFP The proposed project area is located in the western part of the park in the general vicinity of the existing Dustin Redd playground, a large, incredibly popular, wooden structure, built in 1996 by community volunteers, that is fast approaching the end of its useful lifespan. The need to remove this beloved but unsustainable structure opens up the opportunity to create a new space and experience surpassing our imagination, unique yet well suited to City Park. This new space will be innovative and dynamic in its design, invite all park visitors and neighbors while underscoring how play in all of its forms is an essential characteristic of healthy living for all citizens. Finding a location, selecting the appropriate size and scale of the project, determining any and all of its elements is part of the challenge for this competition. Selection Process The competition consists of the following steps: - Submittal of team/firm qualifications
- Selection of 10 to 15 teams to submit design concepts
- Public display and jury selection of 3 to 5 finalists;
An honorarium of $1,500 will be available to selected firms for preparation for the final round. - Public presentation and Q&A of finalists’ concepts and ideas
- Selection of successful team/design concept
- Contract execution with the City to develop a final design, cost estimate, CDs for a Phase 1, and oversee construction of Phase 1. There will be a project hold between design development and CDs/construction for phase 1 to allow for fundraising.
Timetable 22 March 2012 – Questions deadline 13 April 2012 – 1st Submittal Deadline (submitted digitally 13 April 2012 – Notify Short Listed Firms 1 May 2012 – 2nd Submittal Deadline (submitted digitally
Submittals
All submittals are made electronically to: City and County of Denver
Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR)
reimagineplay@denvergov.org |
©Bauen+Wohnen
 An article, Trois tourettes et un jardin (Three Turrets and a Garden) by Swiss landscape architect, Valérie Hoffmeyer, in Werk, Bauen + Wohnen, is another recent example highlighting the value of green space in the design of mid-rise residential buildings. At a time when developers endeavor to maximize their profits by turning to highrise buildings, even when higher density is at stake, referencing the Garden City concept has been turning up as a more frequent theme.
Read more… 
Aerial view ©Grimshaw Architects
After the conclusion of the second stage of the Nyugati Railway Station Competition, Grimshaw Architects has been declared the winner. This conclusion was reached by a jury after twelve teams had been shortlisted from the initial stage of the competition in an RfQ process. 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/ 
Boardwalk photo: Courtesy Atlantic Beach
Boardwalks, especially on oceanfront locations, have a pretty universal look. But how they fit into their local context is another matter. Topography, real estate and commerce all play a role in their function, and to some extent, design. In the case of Miami Beach, it’s primarily a promenade; Brooklyn’s 2.7 mile Coney Island boardwalk stretching all the way to Brighton Beach is a mixture of promenade and commerce, with the latter at both ends. In the case of Atlantic City, it’s mostly about retail.
Read more… 
Winning entry – Hyunjoon Min Architects Office
National Library of Korea Data Preservation Center Competition
Retrofitting existing buildings is nothing new. The abandonment of old factory structures, especially in the northeast of the U.S., has been occurring at a rapid pace ever since those businesses ceased to be profitable in the face of foreign competition. However, in North America, retrofitting those structures has seldom been the subject of a design competition. In Korea, the recent plethora of design competitions for all types of projects has also included several for providing a new life for abandoned buildings. Read more… 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… 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… |
