Sudbury 2050: Urban Design Competition Create a 2020 Vision for Sudbury’s Urban Core in 2050 Sponsor: McEwen School of Architecture (MSoA)
in collaboration with the community
Type: International, open, ideas
Fee: none
Language: English
Location: Sudbury, Ontario
Eligibility: (1) Design professionals and (2) students registered in a full-time program
Timetable:
28 August 2020 – Submissions due
Awards:
Professionals – 50,000 CAD (total)
Students –10,000 CAD (total)
People’s Choice – 3,000 CAD
Jury: TbD
Process:
Participants are asked to treat this competitions as if it were for a real project:
“Entrants are being asked to present their ideas for high level design solutions for the urban core, reflecting the major building projects being proposed. At the same time, entrants are challenged to propose the broader context in which the urban core resides – the proximity of Lake Ramsey and its adjacent parks, the connections to greenways and watercourses as well as the relationship to surrounding neighbourhoods.”
Design Challenge:
The goal of this Urban Design Ideas Competition is to explore a wide range of options and opportunities for the evolution of the city’s urban core and to ultimately set out urban design principles, that will guide its future development.
Proposed projects for the urban core— $300 million
The City is in an unprecedented position of having an impressive roster of new building projects being proposed for the urban core: a relocated main Library, a relocated Art Gallery, a new Convention/Performance Centre, associated hotel and parking structures, as well as major residential developments.
Additional to those projects, a new Arena/Event Centre is presently proposed for a location outside of the urban core; however, there have been several appeals related to that decision. In the context of this Ideas Competition, entries should reflect the potential for that project to be located in the urban core.
Each of these projects prompts complex questions related to urban infrastructure, design and architecture.
The development of the proposed projects will potentially vacate buildings, such as the existing Main Library and the existing Community Arena.
How can these existing buildings be adapted and regenerated, for the benefit of the community, as an overall strategy for repurposing buildings?
For more information and to register:
https://sudbury2050.ca/ |
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/
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…
View to winning entry ©KDA
Foundation non-profits are no strangers to good architecture. Ford Foundation’s forward-looking headquarters in New York City by Roche Dinkeloo was an early example of a non-profit using architecture as a vehicle for serving to brand it as a progressive institution. In 2001 the California Endowment went one step further, staging an invited competition for their new headquarters in Los Angeles. Read more… 
Winning entry by Cui Kai (© Cui Kai)
Master plans have been around for ages; but master plans for very large cities with all their support systems are relatively new. Milton Keynes (MK), located in Buckinghamshire in southern England, and begun in the late 1960s, is one of the most successful of the new cities, now having a population of almost 250,000. Its success lies mainly on the lessons learned from the establishment of the planning which generated the new towns in the U.K. during the 1940s and 50s, many of which have not fared well in the test of time. MK’s success was based primarily on the careful separation of high density from residential where the influence of the “garden city” could be seen. Here the idea of a live/work environment was even incorporated. Read more… |
