COLDSCAPES: New Visions for Cold Weather CitiesSponsor: Kent State University’s Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative (CUDC)
Type: open, ideas, single-stage Eligibility: Designers Fee: US$20 Language: English Timetable 24 May 2013 – Registration deadline 12 July 2013 – Submission deadline Prizes
Three $1,000 awards each Jury
• Shane Coen (Founder and Principal of Coen+Partners, Minneapolis, Minnesota)
• Gary Toth (Director of Transportation Initiatives at Project for Public Spaces, New York City, New York)
• Aase Kari Mortensen (Senior Architect at Snøhetta, Oslo, Norway)
• Greg Peckham (Managing Director at LAND Studio, Cleveland, Ohio)
• Patrick Coleman (CEO of The Winter Cities Institute, Anchorage, Alaska) Design Challenge:
To improve livability in cold weather cities by inspiring artists, architects, landscape architects, and urban designers to creatively engage the built environment year-round. COLDSCAPES aims to provoke a critical assessment of idealized representations from warmer seasons and challenge designers to engage more creatively with the unique conditions presented by winter. Submissions should explore new visions and emerging possibilities for enhancing livability in cold weather cities. We’re interested in encouraging designers to inspire other designers to become cultural change agents, ultimately enabling cities to embrace their winter identities. Projects may fall within the domain of a particular discipline (architecture, public art, landscape architecture, urban design) or may cross over multiple disciplines. Entrants are encouraged to explore responses within a wide range of scales: city-scale urban form, mid-scale public spaces, or smaller street interventions. The competition does not specify a single site for submissions. Entrants may choose their own specific sites from around the world or submit proposed interventions that could be deployed in multiple geographic locations. The submission should provide an effective visual (and potentially aural, if using video) presentation of a built project or conceptual proposal that responds to critical design questions. What novel urban experiences can designers enable for winter city residents? How can the built environment become more responsive to changing outdoor conditions, enabling long-term resiliency? What visualization techniques can be employed to meaningfully communicate the ephemeral atmospheric qualities of winter environments? How can the urban environment respond to the needs of vulnerable populations in cold climates and increase opportunities for social inclusion? Entries:
A maximum of three Images (maximum size of 1024 x 768 pixels) or Video no more than 3 minutes in length For more information, go to: http://www.cudc.kent.edu/cold/index.php/competition/ |
©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… |
