Moscow Flower Fest Urban Landscaping & Design CompetitionSponsor: City of Moscow Location: Moscow, Russia Awards:
Grand Prix for Architectural and Landscape Improvement Objects”: US $85, 000
People’s Choice Award: 1,000,000 rubles (US $17,660)
Winner of the Vertical Floral Composition nomination-: 200,000 rubles (US $3,532)
Winner of the Flower Compositions with Potted Plants nomination: 300,000 rubles (US $5,298)
10 winners of the amateur nomination will receive 100,000 rubles each (US $1,756) Timeline:
7 June 2017: Deadline for application After the end of the applications reception all the best projects will get into the shortlist. The implementation of competitive entries will occur between July 1st & August 4st. The winners of the competition in each nomination will be selected by jury, which includes leading Russian and world-class specialists of other nationalities in the field of landscaping architecture and design, floristics, as well as representatives of the competition the Government of the City of Moscow. Design Challenge: The Open International Urban Landscaping and Design Competition is a part of the “Moscow.Flowers.Sweets” Festival. Participants are offered to suggest solutions for landscape and floral compositions to improve Moscow urban spaces in the city centre and its outskirts. The competition is organized with support of the Government of the City of Moscow and monitored by The Agency for Strategic Development Center. Such a large-scale competition is held in Moscow for the first time. Moreover, for the first time in the history of international floral festivals, participants will be given the opportunity to work themselves on the real improvement of city sites, the creation of maximally comfortable urban environments and special rest and recreation zones. The Competition’s organisers are guided by the traditions of top international floral festivals, such as the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, the Jersey Battle of Flowers, the Italian Genzano Infiorata, Flower Carpet Brussels, Bloemencorso Bollenstreek in Holland, and more. Prizes of the Open International Urban Landscaping and Design Competition will be awarded in four categories:
1.Architectural-landscaping objects of city development with implementation of 10 projects on 7 pedestrian streets and squares of Moscow: Rozhdestvenka, Kuznetsky Most, Arbat, Nikolskaya, Kamergersky, as well as Novopushkinsky Skver and Tverskaya Ploschad.
2.Vertical floral compositions will be displayed by five installations on Stoleshnikov Pereulok.
3.Thirteen designed flowerbeds on Nikolskaya street will be allocated to our flower compositions, with potted plant nomination.
4.Amateur gardeners will compete at 10 special other venues further from the centre (10 flowerbeds at each venue). Application is open on official website: www.moscowflowerfest.ru/ |
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/ 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. Read more…
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.
Read more…
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. Read more… 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. Read more… 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. Read more… |
