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/ |
Countryside Dilemmas – New Rural Planning 
1st Place – ©Tianjin University Team
Planning used to be at the bottom of Chinese students’ lists of design priorities. One western architect, whose firm was at the forefront in the design and implementation of numerous planning projects in China, surmised that planning was an area that received little attention in the university curricula. So when planning for a major metropolitan area has occurred, the Chinese have almost always turned to outside international firms for ideas and implementation. 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/ The Chicago Architecture Club Shines the Spotlight on Another Endangered Landmark 
Public Pool Image: ©Perkins&Will
What do Bertrad Goldberg and Helmut Jahn have in common? Besides having high-profile buildings threatened by demolition, both served as subject matter for two competitions sponsored by the Chicago Architecture Club (CAC)—raising public consciousness about their impending fate. They both produced buildings in a city famous for its architecture that have been abandoned: Goldberg’s Future Prentice Women’s Hospital, demolished in 2014 after a valiant effort by preservationists to save it from the wrecking ball; and Jahn’s Thompson Center, now the object of a similar effort by the State of Illinois to sell it to a developer. Read more… An Ideas Competition in Berlin Seeks Answers 
Winning entry perspective Image: ©AllesWirdGut Architekten
Berlin developer HOWOGE recently staged what was regarded as a “planning Laboratory” competition for a model satellite in northwest Berlin. The brief for this invited competition noted that the urban sprawl, which had accompanied the reunification of Germany(and Berlin) in 1989, was low density in character, occupying wide swaths of suburban areas around the city. With previous high density, and now controversial Berlin projects in mind—the problems with Berlin’s high-density Gropius-Stadt as a warning signal—the sponsor here suggested that lessons learned from past mistakes could be avoided with a high-quality design strategy… Read more… Winner Announced for New Preston Mosque Competition 
LUCA POIAN FORMS Image courtesy RIBA
Facilitator: RIBA
Location: Preston, U.K.
Type: International, open
The competition attracted over 200 entries from 40 different countries.
Five finalists were chosen to participate in a second phase:
Winner
• LUCA POIAN FORMS, London, UK
Finalists - BLANKPAGE Architects, Lebanon
- Borough Architects + buchhandler-nelli + elca, Cambridge, UK
- Mcheileh Studio, New York (Highly Commended by the Evaluation Panel)
- TABE SHOURI, New York
RIBA competition website:
www.architecture.com/competitions Astrakhan Looks to Raise Its Quality of Life Index 
Aerial view of downtown Astrakhan
Planning competitions with a strong landscape component take many forms, including some for plazas and gateways to major town centers, city neighborhood sites with multi-story housing units, university campus plans and finally, comprehensive city plans—the latter either being for new towns, as in China, or strategies for the improvement of existing cities—as was here the case with Astrakhan, a major city on the Volga delta, and the Caspian Sea. Read more… |
