InstantHouse Competition: Kindergarten for Children ages 3 to 6Sponsors: Federlegno Arredo S.r.l. for MADE Expo, in association with the Department of Architecture and Urban Studies of the Politecnico di Milano. Type: open, ideas, one-stage Eligibility: The Competition is open to graduates and students of architecture, engineering and industrial design. Degrees must have been earned after 31 January 2008 and students must have been enrolled in university courses on 31 January 2013. Languages: Italian and English Fee: none Timetable: 3 June 2013 – Deadline for submission of registration forms and entries Prizes: Prize for the winning entry: EUR 1,500 (one thousand five hundred euros); Runner up: EUR 1,000 (one thousand euros); Third prize: EUR 750 (seven hundred and fifty euros); The Jury reserves the right to award honorable mentions. Design Challenge: The project may encompass a single building or several buildings, and the architecture should fit the surrounding area and ideally form a bridge between the neighbourhood and the children. The design should emphasise the relationship between architecture and nature, between indoors and outdoors, as a must for a nursery school that aims to create an organic link between the children, nature and the city. The Competition also requires projects to include the area outside the property, i.e. for outdoor learning, using nature, the cityscape and the environment as drivers of the architectural proposal. The project should thus also devote some thought to developing an innovative programme capable of accommodating both individual spaces and collective spaces. Almost as if the city were somehow contaminating “outside” users, and in turn, the users were contributing certain aspects of their experience to the local neighbourhood and community. An open, inclusive school made of welcoming, exciting spaces that nonetheless also protects and envelops the children and helps them to relate to the outside world, the neighbourhood and the city. The design concept should seek the most innovative use of space for the various educational functions, and likewise the most innovative use of materials and techniques, while displaying a unique environmental sensitivity. The challenge therefore lies in designing a project that is affordable, well constructed and financially and socially sustainable. For more information, go to: http://www.instanthouse.it/en/competition |
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…  Professional winner: Brooklyn Bridge Forest (image © Pilot Projects Design Collective) While looking for new adventures on a visit to New York City, friends suggested that I take time to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge—certainly a New York icon. For those intending to undertake this trek across the bridge for the first time, the bridge consists of layers, with a large platform for pedestrians on top of a lower level for cars and the metro system. Traversing this connection for the first time between Manhattan and Brooklyn is not just about getting from one place to another, but experiencing a great scenic view of both boroughs and occasionally interacting with other bridge crossers. As for the latter, they provide a flavor of the city’s demographics, as opposed to similar experiences one might have of the city’s inhabitants when riding the city’s subway system. Read more… |