Interview: Donald Stastny (Fall 2010) with Barry and Melody Finnemore

with Barry and Melody Finnemore

 

COMPETITIONS: How did you get started in competition management?

 

Don Stastny: It started as part of the development of the city of Portland’s Downtown Plan. The block that eventually became Pioneer Courthouse Square was proposed as a 10-story parking garage. That proposal coalesced the community – the design community and the lay community – into thinking about what they wanted downtown Portland to be. There was quite a conversation between politicians, business leaders and designers about what the square should be, and there was so much controversy involved that no one with the city wanted to deal with the politics of it.

 

pioneer square
Pioneer Courthouse Square, Portland Oregon – Competition (1980)
Designer – Willard Martin

When we were selected to manage the process, we focused on three things: defining a program for the square, developing a budget and determining how to select a design with so many ideas floating around. We formed a technical advisory committee, a design advisory committee and a citizens advisory committee, and held 162 public and private meetings over three years.


The program was for an open square with coverage limited to a third of the site, and a public square in the European style. The budget came in at just over four million dollars. And we decided that we would hold a design competition with some “insurance policies” built in.


It was important to note that this wasn’t just about design, but also about commerce and politics in the city and what the square should be for the community. We had very few U.S. examples of public squares at that time, so much of the competition was about defining what a civic square in an American city should be.

COMPETITIONS: Which competition(s) gave you the most satisfaction?

 

DS: Those that have been the most rewarding are in a way the most conflicting: the Oklahoma City and Flight 93 memorials. With both we were dealing with a rush toward “memorialization.”

 

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Enlightening Libraries: Student Design Competition

Sponsor: AIAS, Kawneer

Type: Student, ideas

Language: English

Eligibility: All architecture and design students worldwide may enter. Additionally, young designers that have graduated within 18 months of the registration deadline may enter.

Fee: Free for AIAS member. $10 for non-members.

Timetable:

14 October 2012: Registration

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Live-Make: Industrial Arts Center Cincinnati

Sponsor: AIA Cincinnati

Type: Open, ideas

Language: English

Eligibility:

All individuals and team members must be 18 years of age and over. Team and Firm Submissions must designate a primary contact person for communication purposes only. There is no limit to the number of members on a

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Reimagining York’s Guildhall Complex: Connecting River and City

Sponsor: City of York Council, RIBA

Type: Open, ideas, international, 2-stage

Language: English

Eligibility: Open internationally to registered architects and architect-led teams. Architects should be registered with the Architects Registration Board (ARB) in the UK, or a recognized overseas regulatory authority.

Timetable:

6 November 2012

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Art in Architecture Competition – Berlin

Sponsor: German Federal Government

Competition organizer: [phase eins], Berlin

Type: Open, international, 2-stage

Language: German

Timetable:

29 October 2012 – Submission deadline for 1st stage

Competition process:

The competitionʼs jury, a team of artists, architects as well as members of the ministry, will evaluate

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Next Generations Design Competition

Sponsor: METROPOLIS magazine

Type: open, international

Language: English

Fee: $75.00

Eligibility: open to any designer or architect in practice for ten years or less, as well as design students. The $10,000 prize is intended to support designers whose entries reflect considerations of inclusive design, systems thinking, sustainability,

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Water_Works (new schedule)

Type: Open, one-stage

New Timetable:

Registration Deadline: November 12, 2012

Questions Deadline: December 10, 2012

Submission Deadline: January 7, 2013

Jury Review: January 2013

Website: http://us5.campaign-archive2.com/?u=267756cee400a7407bd996bd7&id=7abe0d1714&e=2b0bf2ba79

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M+ Museum Design Competition

Sponsor: Hong Kong SAR Government

Type: Open, international, two-stage, Expressions of Interest (EOI)

Language: English

Fee: None

Eligibility: Licensed architects

Timetable:

15 October 2012 (noon, HK time) – Deadline for expressions of interest

December 2012 – Shortlisted teams announced

Compensation:

Shortlisted teams will be

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Looking for an Iconic Answer: The Oceanside High School Performing Arts Center

Looking for an Iconic Answer:

The Oceanside High School Performing Arts Center

by Larry Gordon
cover
Winning entry by Harley Devereaux

Oceanside High School has a location that many other big public campuses may envy. The 2,500-student school is an easy walk to some of California’s most beautiful beaches and also is close to the big open spaces of the U.S. Marines’ Camp Pendleton base along the Pacific coast. What’s more, the campus is just to the west of the Interstate 5, the main freeway route that puts downtown San Diego only about 40 minutes away.

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Designing a Museum Addition: No Easy Task in Quebec

Designing a Museum Addition:

No Easy Task in Québec

by David Theodore
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Winning entry by OMA/Provencher Roy et Associés, architectes
All photos courtesy of Catalogue des Concours Canadiens, L.E.A.P., Université de Montréal

The Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) made architectural history in 2010 by winning an open international competition for a new museum—in a place where international architects hadn’t won one for over fifty years. What’s more, they won in a city that’s been on the UNESCO World Heritage list since 1985. This aggressiveness in foreign markets is business-as-usual for the world’s top firms. But surprisingly, the competition wasn’t in China or Russia or India or Brazil, but rather Canada. OMA won the international competition for an addition to the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec (MNBAQ) in Québec City.

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