Runway for Your Imagination Sponsor/organizer: Urban Redevelopment Authority of Singapore (URA)
Type: open, ideas (two categories)
Language: English
Fees: None
Timetable:
27 March 2020 – Submission deadline
Awards:
Open category
1st$5,000
2nd4,000
3rd3,000 Tertiary (student) category
1st$3,000
2nd2,000
3rd1,000 Design Challenge:
The site was Singapore’s second international airport from 1955 to 1981 and is currently used as a military airbase. The place holds many rich memories as a nation, being the birthplace of Singapore’s national carrier, Singapore Airlines, in 1971. It also hosted the historic supersonic Concorde between 1977 to 1980 when it was jointly operated by Singapore Airlines and British Airways. Many of the former airport buildings such as the passenger terminal buildings, control tower and aircraft hangars remain today, but have been re-purposed for other uses. The most distinctive feature of the airbase is the 3.8 km long runway. With the relocation of Paya Lebar Airbase from the 2030s onwards, the airbase and its surrounding industrial areas can progressively be transformed into a highly liveable and sustainable new town, built on its unique heritage as a former airport and airbase. The possibilities are immense, and we would like to hear how you envision this place to be in future, including ideas on how some of the former airport buildings and parts of the runway can be repurposed to celebrate the area’s rich aviation heritage. A selection of the ideas received will be exhibited for public viewing, and useful ideas and concepts from the competition will be distilled into design principles and used for the development of a planning brief for the future master planning of the area. - Topic 1: “Concept Master Plan”
Participants are to come up with a broad concept master plan and ideas for the redevelopment of the airbase and the surrounding industrial area. As an indicative guide, the study area is comparable to Tampines estate which has about 300,000 residents. The concept master plan should illustrate the vision of what the community of the future can be like in the next 20 – 30 years, with residents living in a highly liveable and sustainable town. The plan should include ideas for exciting new ways to live, work, play, learn and move. It should also include ideas on how the future Paya Lebar Town can develop its own distinct identity and unique sense of place anchored on its rich heritage and history. - Topic 2: “Transforming the Runway”
The runway is a distinctive feature in the landscape, at about 75m wide and 3.8km long, and orientated along Singapore’s prevailing North-East and South-West wind directions. In order to commemorate the aviation heritage of the future new town, parts of the runway can be retained and transformed into a new public space for everyone to enjoy. Participants are to develop concept proposals for the use of significant stretches of the runway as a multi-functional community space for people of all ages and abilities. The ideas should illustrate the programming of activities along the runway and how these relate to possible developments next to the runway. Design strategies to transform the re-purposed space into a significant landmark while retaining the memory of it as a former runway that served the airport should be included. - Topic 3: “Rejuvenating Paya Lebar Airport”
Participants are to develop concept proposals for the cluster of former airport buildings comprising the terminal building, control tower offices and hangers. These buildings are distinguished by their distinctive identity and architecture related to their former airport functions. Participants can propose a precinct master plan and design strategies for the re-purposing of the former airport buildings and structures to give them a new lease of life. Proposals can include the injection of new buildings and public spaces that integrate with the retained buildings to create a unique precinct identity within the future town.
Competition website:
https://www.ideas.gov.sg/public/Runway_for_Your_Imagination |
Art Gallery of Nova Scotia Competition 
Image: ©KPMB Architects
Not to be outdone by other Canadian provincial capitals, Halifax has chosen to make its own ambitious museum statement on the city’s waterfront. New museums in Vancouver, BC, Calgary and Fredericton, New Brunswick, the latter two by KPMB Architects, are either in development or already under construction. Saskatoon’s Remai Modern by KPMB and OMA’s Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec in Montréal were more recently completed, and Vancouver’s new Art Museum by Herzog & de Meuron is still under development. 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/ Urban Adaptation Competition
Image ©Francesco Allaixand Julio Orduña
Recently we are beginning to see a resurgence of wood as a primary building material, not only for detached residential housing, but also for multi-family and commercial urban structures. Masonry, steel, and composite materials are still the bread and butter of the construction industry; but wood may be making serious inroads into the future of commercial buildings. Yes, we have seen the use of wood in interiors of large buildings: one of the more impressive projects being that of the Christ the Light Cathedral by SOM in Oakland, California. Read more…
Aerial view of site – Courtesy National Finnish Museum
When major cultural institutions in Finland plan a new building project, one can almost always assume that an open competition will be the vehicle by which the client settles on the building’s design. The only question is, will this be organized in a format open to local, Scandinavian, or international architects. In the case of the National Museum of Finland annex competition, it was open to architects throughout the world — resulting in 185 entries. Read more…
The Opening of Taichung’s Central Park by Catherine Mosbach/Philippe Rahm
View from the south with downtown Taichung in the distance image: ©Mosbach/Rahm
The abandonment and closing of airports, including decommissioning those that were used for military purposes, has presented design communities with several opportunities to convert them entirely to civilian purposes. Notable among those which have been the result of competitions are Orange County Great Park, Irvine, California (Ken Smith Landscape Architects), The Estonian National Museum (Dan Dorell, Lina Ghotmeh and Tsuyoshi Tane), and Toronto’s less successful Downsview Park competition, whereby the winning design by OMA, with trees as the primary feature, has been basically ignored. Instead, the area has become the site of numerous commercial and residential projects.
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