“Balancing Pavilion”Sponsors: • Schusev State Museum of Architecture, Moscow
• National Center of Contemporary Art (NCCA)
• Project Russia magazine Type: open, international Languages: English, Russian Eligibility: Architects, artists, engineers, interdisciplinary groups Fee: None Location: Vyksa (Nizhny Novgorod area), Russia Timetable: Registration deadline – 22 March 2013
Project submission deadline – 30 March 2013 Budget: Approximately 20,000 Euros for realization of the project Awards: 1st prize: 60,000 roubles (approximately 1,500 Euros) Jury: Odile Decq – architect, winner of the “Golden Lion” for the contribution to world architecture (Architectural Biennale in Venice, 1996).
Dmitry Alexeev – architect, artist, founder and director of architectural bureau «SSSR», curator of «Art-Ovrag» festival.
Evgeny Asse – architect, artist, founder and rector of architectural school MARCH.
Daniel Dendra – architect and urbanist, founder of anOtherArchitect, Berlin.
Lorenzo Fernandez-Ordonez – architect, professor at the Higher School of art and architecture of European university (Madrid).
Anna Gor – director of Volga department of the National Center of contemporary art.
Konstantin Grouss – choreographer, director and art director of the Art Project “ZERO Dance Gallery” and International Cultural Project «Art-Residence», curator of «Art-Ovrag» festival.
Irina Korobyina – director of State Museum of Architecture named after Schusev, Moscow.
Alexei Kozyr’ – architect, founder of «Alexei Kozyr’ Architectual studio».
Alexei Muratov – architect, chief editor of the «Project Russia» magazine.
Irina Sedykh – chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Charity Foundation «OMK-Uchastie». Design Challenge: “Under BALANCING PAVILION we understand the transformative, possibly mobile object which has one or several points of support, which can be installed in different locations throughout the city. This object can stand on the ground, but not on the base or the ribbon foundation; its part should be separated from the ground. In this case, we are giving maximum of freedom. The more original is the project, the better. Function of the object – pavilion for exhibitions of contemporary art and holding the workshops. It has to be possible to use throughout the year, with period of service no less than 5 years.” For more information and to enter, go to: http://street-art-ovrag.ru/?p=3669&lang=en#more-3669 |
The Urban Confluence Silicon Valley Competition 
Image ©SMAR Architecture
After several stops and starts, a decision to name the winner of the Urban Confluence Design Competition appears to be nearing its conclusion. In 2017, three founders of a local non-profit established The San Jose Light Tower Corporation (SJLTC). The founders of the non-profit, Restauranteur Steve Borkenhagen, construction company executive, Jon Ball and filmmaker Thomas Wohlmut, saw its primary mission in designing and building a new tower as a San Jose and Silicon Valley landmark. This idea was based on the memory of the original San Jose Electric Light Tower (1881-1915), a 22-story structure, located in downtown San Jose and came down as the victim of a gale, never to be rebuilt. 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/
Aerial view of site – Courtesy National Finnish Museum
When major cultural institutions in Finland plan a new building project, one can almost always assume that an open competition will be the vehicle by which the client settles on the building’s design. The only question is, will this be organized in a format open to local, Scandinavian, or international architects. In the case of the National Museum of Finland annex competition, it was open to architects throughout the world — resulting in 185 entries. Read more…
The Opening of Taichung’s Central Park by Catherine Mosbach/Philippe Rahm
View from the south with downtown Taichung in the distance image: ©Mosbach/Rahm
The abandonment and closing of airports, including decommissioning those that were used for military purposes, has presented design communities with several opportunities to convert them entirely to civilian purposes. Notable among those which have been the result of competitions are Orange County Great Park, Irvine, California (Ken Smith Landscape Architects), The Estonian National Museum (Dan Dorell, Lina Ghotmeh and Tsuyoshi Tane), and Toronto’s less successful Downsview Park competition, whereby the winning design by OMA, with trees as the primary feature, has been basically ignored. Instead, the area has become the site of numerous commercial and residential projects.
Read more…
SMAR’s Winning Entry Gets the Green Light
Image: ©SMAR Architecture
The winning competition entry in the 2016 Science Island competition in Kaunas, Lithuania by SMAR Architects may only take five years to realize—from the date of the competition to completion. This is encouraging news, as the duration of such projects resulting from a competition can often take much longer—sometimes up to 8-10 years. Read more…
Night view of the memorial tapestry from Independence Avenue, with Gehry’s sketch of the Normandy cliffs.
Explaining the contributions of a World War II hero and later President of the United States on a very modest site on Independence Avenue just off the Washington Mall is tantamount to asking an author to describe the life of this person in no more than one paragraph. But on September 17th, after a long and bumpy journey, lasting almost 20 years and navigating a warren of the DC approval processes and public scrutiny, the Eisenhower Memorial finally was dedicated and opened to the public. Designed by Frank Gehry, it has received mixed reviews, the majority being more positive. But most have pointed out that the memorial is more impressive at night than in full daylight. This is due primarily to the illumination of an almost block-long metallic tapestry—featuring a sketch by Gehry, which depicts his interpretation of the cliffs of the Normandy coastline where the Americans landed on D-Day. Read more… |
