Diana Balmori (Winter 2009)

Recognized in the international design community as one of the principal landscape architecture firms in this country, Balmori Associates is often invited by architecture firms to take part in competitions as the landscape design component of the team. In this role, she was part of a winning team with Zaha Hadid Architects for the Amman Performing Arts Center in Jordan, as well as the winning World Mammoth +Permafrost Museum in Russia with Leeser Architects. Among other international successes have been the winning Campa de los Ingleses riverfront project in Bilbao, Spain, and as a finalist in the 10 Li Ring Park, Sejong, Korea competition. Her minimalist design for the World War II Memorial competition in Washington, DC, as one of five finalists, was a serious contender for the commission. More recently, Balmori Associates was one of five invited finalists in the high-profile Lexington (KY) Town Branch Competition. She was engaged as a consulting firm to manage the realization of the Beale Street Landing project on the Mississippi River, the result of a winning competition entry by RTN of Buenos Aires.
Diana Balmori has held teaching positions at Yale University and the State University of New York (SUNY). After a tenure at Cesar Pelli Architects, where she headed the landscape architecture studio, she founded her own firm in New York in 1990.

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/

A Modern Upgrade for an Industrial Urban Sector

Hangang District Urban Design International Master Competition

1st place entry by Dominique Perrault Architecture (image ©Dominique Perrault Architect)

China’s planning priorities for their urban areas experienced a sharp turn after the post-Mao reforms took place. During the early post-WWII period, when Soviet influence in the early urbanization of China dominated, industrial development took precedence over all other issues, with heritage, conservation, residential planning, and the amenities associated with it, being almost entirely neglected.

Powerhouse Precinct at Parramatta

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Winning design by ©Moreau Kusunoki /Genton

Although one might normally assume that local firms participating in a competition might have a clear advantage over foreign competitors, this has seldom been the case: just see Sydney’s Opera House, won by a Danish architect, and Toronto’s City Hall, won by a Finn—as evidence that well devised competition briefs as adequate documentation can create a level playing field for potential competitors, regardless of their location.

Architecture at Zero

Jensen Architects – Winning entry (Honor Award)

Beginning in 2011, Architecture at Zero, a collaboration between the Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) and the California chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIACA), was established to investigate the role architecture might play in reducing energy consumption in the built environment. Since then, every year has seen a new site and building type selected as a design challenge in what has become one of the world’s most interesting international competitions.  As a sign of its mounting popularity, the competition received 237 registrations from 49 countries and, according to the professional adviser, about 150 entries— all this during the Covid-19 virus pandemic, when all were compelled to work from home.

Zumthor on the Chopping Block?

An Ideas Competition in Opposition to a Concrete Design

Entry by TheeAe (Image © TheeAe)

In early 2020, a group advocating a new approach to the design of the Los Angeles Museum of Art (LACMA)—The Citizens’ Brigade to Save LACMA—organized a competition to counter an existing design by the Swiss Architect Peter Zumthor. Already commissioned by the LACMA administration, the project is slated to begin almost immediately with the demolition of four LACMA buildings—three existing and one new. Moreover, the existing plan to incorporate all of the existing collections under one roof isn’t covered by the Zumthor plan. This obvious lack of exhibit space was the focus of a query by the Ahmanson Foundation, a major donor of artworks to LACMA in the past. Upon not receiving assurances from LACMA that those donated works would be exhibited, but possibly held in storage and hidden from public view, the Foundation cut all ties with LACMA. Finally, the plan by Zumthor foresees the new structure not only occupying much of the new space created by demolition, but extends part of the new building over Wiltshire Boulevard. As one might anticipate from Zumthor, the construction of the structure is also primarily of concrete, thereby raising the cost per SF. So no matter how highly finished this material turns out to be, it does in essence represent a brutalist structure replacing an eclectic ensemble.

Connector as Solution

National Railway Museum Central Hall (U.K.)

Winning entry by Feilden Fowles (image © Fielden Fowles)

If one were to search for a railway museum in the U.K., London would seem to be an obvious choice. But, as it happens, its location is in the northeastern city of York, far from the major cultural and economic centers of the country. But despite its distance from the major metropolitan areas to the south and west, York has managed to become the focal point of research into the history of rail in the U.K., supplemented by a major museum. Here we are not just talking about some posters, but sheds replete with a large collection of vintage trains.

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