Tallin Architecture Biennale 2015: Epicentre of Tallinn, EstoniaSponsor: Estonian Centre of Architecture
Location: Tallinn, Estonia
Type: Open, international, ideas, one stage
Language: English
Eligiblity: Open to all architects and students of architecture.
Entrance Fee: None
Awards:
1st Prize – €4,000 2nd Prize – €2,000 3rd Prize – €1,000 Submission Deadline: 9 May 2015
Jury:
Endrik Mand – Chief Architect of Tallinn; representative of Tallinn Urban Planning Department Villem Tomiste – representative of Union of Estonian Architects; founder and leader of Stuudio Tallinn Winy Maas – director and founder of MVRDV; director of The Why Factory research institute at Delft University of Technology Design Challenge:
Tallinn Architecture Biennale (TAB) is an international architecture festival that introduces Estonian architectural culture, deals with current problems in architecture, and looks into the future of the architect’s profession. TAB offers a series of events for top professionals, young starting architects as well as citizens interested in architecture. The title of TAB 2015 is “Self-Driven City”. This year’s Tallinn Architecture Biennale will study the changes in urban space in the context of the Third Industrial Revolution. The Third Industrial Revolution, or the Digital Revolution, is a concept that focuses on the digitalisation of technologies and the development of network society. The Third Industrial Revolution is associated with numerous things: decentralisation of the energy market, custom solutions taking the central place in production, the use of information technology in all fields, the Internet of Things, network-based information society etc. It is predicted that urban space will be most influenced by the technology of self-driving cars, which is also the central topic of this year’s TAB vision competition. For more information, go to: http://media.voog.com/0000/0037/4217/files/TAB2015_Vision_Competition_Brief.pdf
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SWA/Balsley Wins Paveletskaya Plaza Landscape Competition 
Aerial view at night – courtesy SWA/Balsley 5+ Design
Of the nine railway stations in Moscow, Paveletskaya is the largest and one of the last of those that opened around the turn of the century. Compared to other Moscow stations, Paveletskaya, designed by Alexander Krasovsky and opened in 1900, represented a lower-key presence in its sprawling configuration, similar to palaces such as a Sans Souci without the ornamentation. The original site for the recent competition included a small park facing the station, bordered on one side by the Ring Road. Post WWII, the site was bifurcated by a road, thus separating the front entrance of the station from the grassy area facing it. 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/
Image Courtesy Network Rail
From Grand Central Station to King’s Cross in London, railway stations have often represented some of the major architectural accomplishments of our times. But those edifices have been primarily located in great cities. In the U.K. there are over 2,000 stations located in medium-sized, small, and rural communities. Most of those are ‘quick stop’ locations, and not the destination terminals where space requirements often result in state of the art design. In July of last year, U.K.’s Network Rail, in collaboration with the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) launched a competition to identify a concept for a design that would be suitable for the medium to small-sized rail stations, at the same time updating the program to fit the modern needs of such a facility. The competition was open internationally and received 213 entries from 34 countries last September. Read more… The Urban Confluence Silicon Valley Competition
Urban Confluence Silicon Valley winner: ©SMAR Architecture Studio
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Pedestrian perspective
The result of an effort from a professor at the TUM (Technische Universität München) to restore the Budludzha Monument in Bulgaria, located in a remote location on a mountain top in that country, we discovered that it originally was the result of a 1959 design competition won by the young Bulgarian architect, Georgi Stoilov. Read more… A Flawed Plan Leads to Budget Issues
Competition rendering of project looking south to Mies museum ©Herzog de Meuron
Once considered on the forefront of modern architecture in post-WWII Europe, Berlin has had its share of questionable decisions concerning important urban projects in recent history. Beginning with the rebirth of the Berlin Palace (Humboldt Forum) on the Spree by Italian architect, Franco Stella, and now followed by Herzog de Meuron’s controversial addition to Mies’s 20th Century Art Museum, the times when one could look to Berlin as a signpost of architectural innovation can only be viewed in the rear view mirror.
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