Open Call for 2019 Shenzhen Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism\Architecture: Eyes of the City ExhibitionSponsors: Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism\Architecture
Type: Open, international
Languages: Chinese, English Timetable:
31 May 2019 – Submissions deadline
Challenge: The Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism\Architecture is the only biennial exhibition in the world based exclusively on urbanism and urbanisation. Co-organised by the neighbouring cities of Shenzhen and Hong Kong, the three-month event brings together international practitioners and theorists from a diverse range of disciplines to promote discourse and public engagement with globally shared issues in and around urbanism.
The eighth edition of the Biennale launches in Shenzhen on 15 December 2019. The location is the Futian district of Shenzhen, with Futian Railway Station acting as the main Biennale hub supported by clusters of sub-venues across the city. For the event, the space in and around the station will be re-designed and transformed in line with the 2019 Urban Interactions theme. The open call asks what kind of digitally-augmented city we want to build for tomorrow and seeks responses to a series of specific questions set out in a curatorial statement that relate to the interrelationships of people, technology and the city.
Applicants can submit in one of three categories:
Design projects
Designers, architects, architectural offices and practitioners are challenged to conceive installations that demonstrate an experimental approach to the Biennale theme and specific context while engaging visitors in a highly interactive participatory relationship with their spatial environment. Participants are encouraged to form multi-disciplinary teams combining expertise from research and industry that will open up new perspectives on the relation between users and urban space, and which will create a legacy for the city of Shenzhen.
Research projects
Research-based practices, universities and research centres operating in and around the design disciplines are invited to propose innovative research projects that explore the potential of design practice as a mediating tool between digital and physical spaces in the future city. Proposals should aim to use the Biennale locale as a testing ground for new methods of research and practice that can be applied by scientific and professional communities worldwide.
Critical essays
Scholars, critics, philosophers, historians, thinkers and researchers operating in and around the design disciplines are encouraged to propose contributions to ignite further modes of theoretical exploration into the relationship between cities and technologies. Proposals should open up new perspectives on relationships between design practice, user experience and urban space and should aim to contribute to outlining new theoretical ways of conceiving the city. For more information, go to: www.eyesofthecity.net |
©Bauen+Wohnen
 An article, Trois tourettes et un jardin (Three Turrets and a Garden) by Swiss landscape architect, Valérie Hoffmeyer, in Werk, Bauen + Wohnen, is another recent example highlighting the value of green space in the design of mid-rise residential buildings. At a time when developers endeavor to maximize their profits by turning to highrise buildings, even when higher density is at stake, referencing the Garden City concept has been turning up as a more frequent theme.
Read more… 
Aerial view ©Grimshaw Architects
After the conclusion of the second stage of the Nyugati Railway Station Competition, Grimshaw Architects has been declared the winner. This conclusion was reached by a jury after twelve teams had been shortlisted from the initial stage of the competition in an RfQ process. 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/ 
Boardwalk photo: Courtesy Atlantic Beach
Boardwalks, especially on oceanfront locations, have a pretty universal look. But how they fit into their local context is another matter. Topography, real estate and commerce all play a role in their function, and to some extent, design. In the case of Miami Beach, it’s primarily a promenade; Brooklyn’s 2.7 mile Coney Island boardwalk stretching all the way to Brighton Beach is a mixture of promenade and commerce, with the latter at both ends. In the case of Atlantic City, it’s mostly about retail.
Read more… 
Winning entry – Hyunjoon Min Architects Office
National Library of Korea Data Preservation Center Competition
Retrofitting existing buildings is nothing new. The abandonment of old factory structures, especially in the northeast of the U.S., has been occurring at a rapid pace ever since those businesses ceased to be profitable in the face of foreign competition. However, in North America, retrofitting those structures has seldom been the subject of a design competition. In Korea, the recent plethora of design competitions for all types of projects has also included several for providing a new life for abandoned buildings. Read more… 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… 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… |
