“BRIDGING”: Yongxin Old City Wenxing Bridge Renewal Plan 
Sponsor: Yongxin County People’s Government, Yongxin, China
Media support: Urban Environment Design (UED) magazine
Type: International, ideas, one-stage
Language: English
Fee: None
Eligibility: Students and design professionals
Timetable:
1 September 2020 – Registration deadline
15 September 2020 – Submission deadline
Q&A will only be responded to via the below email address.
Site:
Located on the western border of Jiangxi, Yongxin County is a famous general county in the country and the center of the Hunan and Jiangxi Provincial Committee of the Jinggangshan Revolutionary Base. Yongxin embodies its unique gene of “rich humanity, red history and beautiful ecology”. However, the development of the old city, like many other counties in China, is facing numerous issues such as slow economic development, lack of industrial vitality, gradual brain drain, urgent needs to improve the infrastructure and city’s appearance. Therefore, how to protect, inherit and take full advantage of Yongxin’s rich and unique cultural resources and historical genes are both challenging and promising for the development of Yongxin in the new era.
In this context, taking the features and culture of Yongxin Old City as the carrier, guided by design, culture and art, Yongxin Old City has carried out practical operation to solve difficulties as well as future-oriented renovation and transformation through events, communities and industries. Attaching a spatial value to Yongxin Old city via culture revival, environmental improvement, affluent life and model setting. The city will finally realize its renewal plan through the endeavor such as creating an old city regeneration model, reviving the old city’s culture, reconstructing the ancient city ecological circle, consolidating the ancient city industrial foundation.
Awards:
1st Prize – 300,000RMB (before tax, about USD42,000)
2nd Prize – 200,000RMB (before tax, about USD28,000)
3rd Prize – 100,000RMB (before tax, about USD14,000)
Note: The prize-winning entries will have the opportunity to negotiate for their implementation in Yongxin County.
Jury: To be determined Design Challenge:
“BRIDGING” Yongxin Old City Wenxing Bridge International Design Competition not only aims to connect the physical space on both sides of the river, but also focus on connecting the old city culture and people’s life, linking the new and old urban areas, and activating the blocks and landscape belts on both sides of the river.
The competition takes “BRIDGE-COMPLEX” as the theme, transcends the conventional “bridge” functions of transportation and tourism, strives for the “bridge” design with a variety of possibilities and implementation. “Building” (refers to Linjiang Building) as an important node will be integrated, linking the life and space of both banks, further would enrich the modern typology content of “bridge”. The competition focuses on promoting the old city’s renewal plan with the mode of “BRIDGE-COMPLEX”, creating a new local “bridge” life of the old city, taking it as the generator of urban spirit and cultural life, cultivating new urban characteristics, and providing rich and vivid new perspectives, new stages and new highlights for the future life of the old city. For more information and to enter:
wenxingbridge.chinabuildingcentre.com/en_index.html
Email: wenxingbridge@chinabuildingcentre.com
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Chungji National Heritage Museum Competition
Image ©Ona Architects + Jongjin Lee architects + Laguillo Arquitectos
For those unfamiliar with Korean Heritage and its symbols, the choice of the jury for a new complex to house artifacts, now located at various scattered sites, would seem to beg more information, especially when one views the designs of the non-selected finalists—all quite modern. Some of this can certainly be explained by the subject matter of the new museum’s holdings, another by the site in broader terms. Some might say that emphasis placed on the heritage element in the design brief fostered an interpretation leading to the choice of the winning design: “The site chosen for the new Chungji National Museum is logical: Chungju, located in the central part of the Korean Peninsula, is the center of the so-called ‘Jungwon culture,’ which has played an important role geographically and historically since ancient time. Jungwon culture developed around the Namhan River, which runs through the central region from east to west, and the relics showing this are currently scattered and stored in various museums.”
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/ University of Florida’s College of Design Construction and Planning’s New Addition 
Development phase image courtesy ©Brooks + Scarpa
If architects have had one complaint concerning the planning and realization of a project, it has been with planners and especially construction managers, both of whom often display a lack of knowledge about architecture. The survival of a well-conceived design can hang in the balance when there is a knowledge gap at the planning and realization end.
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Houston Endowment’s New Headquarters on the Bayou
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The Makasiiniranta South Harbor Competition
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Read more… Vltava Philharmonic Hall Design Competition 
View to Concert Hall from bridge ©BIG
Classical music is still part of a vibrant musical scene in Prague, with at least four principal venues hosting concerts, ballet and opera. As a modern European city, the only missing venue from these choices is a state of the art concert hall. Other European neighbors have also recently staged competitions for such projects: Munich, won by Cukrowicz Nachbaur Architekten of Bregenz, Austria; Belgrade, won by AL_A of London; and Vilnius, Lithuania, won by Arquivio Architects of Spain. It should be noted, however, that one of the most important competitions for a concert hall, not only in Europe, but the world, was the 1961 Berlin Philharmonic hall competition, won by Hans Scharoun (below). It was the interior of that building, in particular, that served as a model for many others that followed, one of the first being Los Angeles’ Disney Hall by Frank Gehry. Read more… |
