Tours & Saint-Pierre-des-CorpsSponsor: l’Institut pour la ville en mouvement
Location: Tours, France
Type: Open, two stage, international
Languages: French, English
Eligibility: The competition is intended for teams of at least two people, at least one of whom is qualified in urban design (architect, urban planner, landscape architect…). All the members of the team must be aged under 40 at the deadline for the submission of entries (March 20, 2015). Teams should be as multidisciplinary as possible (urban planners, landscape architects, researchers, artists, etc.).
Process: This is a two stage competition. 7 teams shortlisted at the end of the first stage will be invited to take part in an on-site workshop in order to develop their ideas and projects in relation to the context and in interaction with local actors (municipalities, conurbation, experts, inhabitants, shopping and business centres). At the end of the workshop, each project is presented at a feedback session during which the teams will seek to explain the objectives and methods of their passages proposal.
During the three weeks following the workshop, the teams will put their project together and send a final version consisting of an explanatory booklet (maximum 15 pages), two A0 format panels and a summary (maximum 4000 characters) to the following address: [email protected] A nine member international jury will meet to analyse the 7 final projects and choose the winning project.
Awards: Each team chosen to take part in the workshop and which has submitted the required materials, will receive a payment of €1500 including VAT, and the cost of their travel, meals and accommodation will be covered by the organisers.
The competition winning team will receive a prize of €10,000, sufficient to complete all the project design tasks. The costs of implementation of its project on the identified site may not exceed €100,000 including VAT in 2016.
Timetable: 20 March 2015 – deadline for applications 10 April 2015 – announcement of the seven finalists 28 May-1 June 2015 – workshop in situ 22 June 2015 – final submissions Design Challenge:
The city of Tours is crossed by the A10 highway partly on elevated sections, a railway line, to waterways and a secondary street network.
The challenge: how to revitalise the connections at the metropolitan scale and between Tours and Saint-Pierre-des-Corps while keeping the A10 motorway in service?
The competition “what if the A10 motorway opened up (an) urban passage(s)?” is a call for urban and architectural project ideas on the topic of passages. “Zoning-based planning and big mono-functional infrastructures have helped to create new barriers, sometimes uncrossable, particularly for the most vulnerable (pedestrians, children, the elderly, the poor, foreigners). What types of new passages can be designed as shortcuts, transition spaces, to facilitate access to different centres of urban life, at a time when citydwellers are asking for more quality, more attention to individual needs, open space with more character, faster and more comfortable access to the city, particularly on foot.”
For more info, go to: http://passages-ivm.com/en/edition/tours-saint-pierre-des-corps-competition-open |
Changdong Station winner – image ©D & B Partners Architects
Whereas international competitions for real projects have become a rarity lately, Korea is a welcome exception. Among the plethora of competition announcements we receive almost weekly, several have ended with foreign firms as winners. But the history of welcoming international participants does go back several years. One notable early example was the Incheon Airport competition, won by Fentress Bradburn Architects (1962-70).
Among the more recent successes of foreign firms was the Busan Opera House competition, won by Snøhetta (2013-) and the Sejong Museum Gardens competition, won by Office OU, Toronto (2016-2023).
Read more… Preparation and Organization of Design Competitions [phase 1] Benjamin Hossbach / Christian Lehmhaus / Christine Eichelmann 210 × 230 mm, 192 pp. over 600 images softcover ISBN 978-3-86922-316-2 (English) ISBN 978-3-86922-240-0 (German) Dom Publishers €48 in EU (For price abroad, see below) Founded in 1998 in Berlin, Phase 1 has been a principal player in the organization and facilitation of design competitions, not only in Germany, but abroad as well. The accomplishments of the firm have been well documented in three volumes—The Architecture of Competitions—beginning in 2i006. Whereas these books mainly focused on the results of the competitions they have administered, the present work, Fundamentals of Competition Management, takes one from the very beginnings of the competition process to its conclusion. The authors envisioned the publication as “three three books in one: one „blue book“ with example projects, one „yellow book“ with statements and the „white book“ with the actual guideline to competition management.” Although there have been a number of handbooks covering the administration of designcompetitions a study covering the entire process in such detail is a welcome addition to the the literature in this field. As a contribution to this important democratic process that has yielded exceptional design for decades, this volume is not only valid for Europe, but a current overview of the process for those globally who wish to raise the level of design by virtue of a design competition. -Ed Foreign institutions wishing to obtain a copy of the book will recieve a discount to cover the cost of foreign shipping. To obtain a copy for that offer, go to: [email protected] 1st Place: Zaha Hadid Architects – night view from river – Render by Negativ Arriving to board a ferry boat or cruise ship used to be a rather mundane experience. If you had luggage, you might be able to drop it off upon boarding, assuming that the boarding operation was sophisticated enough. In any case, the arrival experience was nothing to look forward to. I recall boarding the SS United States for a trip to Europe in the late 1950s. Arriving at the pier in New York, the only thought any traveler had was to board that ocean liner as soon as possible, find one’s cabin, and start exploring. If you were in New York City and arriving early, a nearby restaurant or cafe would be your best bet while passing time before boarding. Read more… Helsinki Central Library, by ALA Architects (2012-2018) The world has experienced a limited number of open competitions over the past three decades, but even with diminishing numbers, some stand out among projects in their categories that can’t be ignored for the high quality and degree of creativity they revealed. Included among those are several invited competitions that were extraordinary in their efforts to explore new avenues of institutional and museum design. Some might ask why the Vietnam Memorial is not mentioned here. Only included in our list are competitions that were covered by us, beginning in 1990 with COMPETITIONS magazine to the present day. As for what category a project under construction (Science Island), might belong to or fundraising still in progress (San Jose’s Urban Confluence or the Cold War Memorial competition, Wisconsin), we would classify the former as “built” and wait and see what happens with the latter—keeping our fingers crossed for a positive outcome. Read More… 2023 Teaching and Innovation Farm Lab Graduate Student Honor Award by USC (aerial view) Architecture at Zero competitions, which focus on the theme, Design Competition for Decarbonization, Equity and Resilience in California, have been supported by numerous California utilities such as Southern California Edison, PG&E, SoCAl Gas, etc., who have recognized the need for better climate solutions in that state as well as globally. Until recently, most of these competitions were based on an ideas only format, with few expectations that any of the winning designs would actually be realized. The anticipated realization of the 2022 and 2023 competitions suggests that some clients are taking these ideas seriously enough to go ahead with realization. Read more… RUR model perspective – ©RUR New Kaohsiung Port and Cruise Terminal, Taiwan (2011-2020) Reiser+Umemoto RUR Architecture PC/ Jesse Reiser – U.S.A. with Fei & Cheng Associates/Philip T.C. Fei – R.O.C. (Tendener) This was probably the last international open competition result that was built in Taiwan. A later competition for the Keelung Harbor Service Building Competition, won by Neil Denari of the U.S., the result of a shortlisting procedure, was not built. The fact that the project by RUR was eventually completed—the result of the RUR/Fei & Cheng’s winning entry there—certainly goes back to the collaborative role of those to firms in winning the 2008 Taipei Pop Music Center competition, a collaboration that should not be underestimated in setting the stage for this competition Read more… |