Design of a Park along the Boulevard of Serbian Army in Banja Luka
 Aerial view of site Sponsors: City of Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Type: Internation, open, anonymous
Fees: none
Languages: English/Serbian
Eligibiility: Architects, Landscape Architects, Designers
Timetable: 5 December 2021 – Design submissions deadline
Awards:
– FIRST PRIZE 15.000,00 EUR (equivalent in BAM)
– SECOND PRIZE 7.500,00 EUR (equivalent in BAM)
– THIRD PRIZE 3.750,00 EUR (equivalent in BAM)
Design Criteria:
Competition Jury will evaluate the submitted competition proposals according to the following criteria:
Meeting the requirements of the competition announcement and program;
The quality of spatial structure and the connection between spatial contents;
Evaluated will be the connectedness and relations of spatial wholes of the complex on two levels including the following:
• a functional one which refers to movement efficiency of users and the availability of spatial contents and sub-wholes of the complex, all in relation to the hierarchy of their purposes;
• spatial-semantic which refers to the metaphorical expression of the spatial structure of the complex.
A design will be evaluated where users orient themselves in an appropriate way, and efficiently access the spatial content they use. The various levels of movement should be undisturbed from each other. A special complexity is the fact that there are two basic types of traffic in the complex, pedestrian and bicycle traffic, and within different categories. In addition, the interrelationship of spatial sub-wholes will be evaluated, which ensures their optimal functioning, having in mind the characteristics of individual, key contents that, including the simultaneous presence of a large number of users, may overlap in their activities.
•Improvement of the identity of the place/location
The attractiveness and recognisability of the space of the park complex and the immediate surroundings will be evaluated through the offered design of urban structures and ambient wholes. In addition to the efficient functioning of the complex, its spatial anatomy must metaphorically express the character and interrelationships of the spatial contents that make it up. The spatial structure should be a “text” that communicates to the user a message about a place where sports, recreation, culture, art and leisure occur and where ideas and emotions are exchanged for the purpose of progress and upgrade of the whole local and wider community, because parks have a specific character as living structures of the urban context, and they are close to each of the inhabitants of Banja Luka and remain as important messages about time. They are to the city like a metaphor is to a poet, without them the city loses its identity.
• Quality of landscape shaped structure and connecting with the existing vegetation
Criteria for evaluating of the shaping of the green structure of the park are as follows: unity and proportionality of constituent elements and the whole landscape, decoration of forms, colour relationship of plant groups entering the composition as well as individual solitary trees, laws of line and air perspective, light and shadow relationships, ways of shaping of the composition, providing balance and the context itself. The vital green fund should be kept, with appropriate interventions in the capacity of conservation, and linked in an environmentally friendly manner to the proposed green matrix design. In the spirit of modern tendencies of landscape design that promotes the importance of ecosystem services and nature-inspired solutions, it is necessary to form creative compositional structures of different colours, contrasting volumes and surface textures, which abound in values and different time rhythms of physiological processes.
• Compatibility with parameters of location
The proposed design must be sustainable in terms of usability, feasibility and maintenance. The concept of space exploitation, the logic of its use, movement, position of the entrance, the sense of keeping users in the space, the performance aspect and maintenance requirements, as well as the use of location parameters will be evaluated.
• Stages of realization
The offered designs will be evaluated through the realization of the possibility of stage realization, i.e. the possibilities of gradual growth and natural development of the content on the principles of sustainability of the existing spatial benefits.
• Rationality of the design
The offered design needs to solve the network of internal traffic as an infrastructure element of support of functioning of the complex.
• Green and Smart approach
Part of the bid invitation task is to formulate the manner of realization of the complex that should be built using the green and smart concept; The connection of modern technological solutions that will enable energy efficiency, i.e. the realization of additional value for all participants in the process of construction and use of the complex, society as a whole, as well as nature itself, will be evaluated.
For the Q&A site and documentation available in English on the following link:
en.banjaluka.rs.ba/competition-park-bl
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 Changdong Station winner – image ©D & B Partners Architects
Whereas international competitions for real projects have become a rarity lately, Korea is a welcome exception. Among the plethora of competition announcements we receive almost weekly, several have ended with foreign firms as winners. But the history of welcoming international participants does go back several years. One notable early example was the Incheon Airport competition, won by Fentress Bradburn Architects (1962-70).
Among the more recent successes of foreign firms was the Busan Opera House competition, won by Snøhetta (2013-) and the Sejong Museum Gardens competition, won by Office OU, Toronto (2016-2023).
Read more… Preparation and Organization of Design Competitions 
[phase 1] Benjamin Hossbach / Christian Lehmhaus / Christine Eichelmann
210 × 230 mm, 192 pp.
over 600 images
softcover
ISBN 978-3-86922-316-2 (English)
ISBN 978-3-86922-240-0 (German)
Dom Publishers
€48 in EU (For price abroad, see below)
Founded in 1998 in Berlin, Phase 1 has been a principal player in the organization and facilitation of design competitions, not only in Germany, but abroad as well. The accomplishments of the firm have been well documented in three volumes—The Architecture of Competitions—beginning in 2i006. Whereas these books mainly focused on the results of the competitions they have administered, the present work, Fundamentals of Competition Management, takes one from the very beginnings of the competition process to its conclusion. The authors envisioned the publication as “three three books in one: one „blue book“ with example projects, one „yellow book“ with statements and the „white book“ with the actual guideline to competition management.”
Although there have been a number of handbooks covering the administration of designcompetitions a study covering the entire process in such detail is a welcome addition to the the literature in this field. As a contribution to this important democratic process that has yielded exceptional design for decades, this volume is not only valid for Europe, but a current overview of the process for those globally who wish to raise the level of design by virtue of a design competition. -Ed Foreign institutions wishing to obtain a copy of the book will recieve a discount to cover the cost of foreign shipping.
To obtain a copy for that offer, go to: [email protected] 
1st Place: Zaha Hadid Architects – night view from river – Render by Negativ
Arriving to board a ferry boat or cruise ship used to be a rather mundane experience. If you had luggage, you might be able to drop it off upon boarding, assuming that the boarding operation was sophisticated enough. In any case, the arrival experience was nothing to look forward to. I recall boarding the SS United States for a trip to Europe in the late 1950s. Arriving at the pier in New York, the only thought any traveler had was to board that ocean liner as soon as possible, find one’s cabin, and start exploring. If you were in New York City and arriving early, a nearby restaurant or cafe would be your best bet while passing time before boarding. Read more… 
Helsinki Central Library, by ALA Architects (2012-2018)
The world has experienced a limited number of open competitions over the past three decades, but even with diminishing numbers, some stand out among projects in their categories that can’t be ignored for the high quality and degree of creativity they revealed. Included among those are several invited competitions that were extraordinary in their efforts to explore new avenues of institutional and museum design. Some might ask why the Vietnam Memorial is not mentioned here. Only included in our list are competitions that were covered by us, beginning in 1990 with COMPETITIONS magazine to the present day. As for what category a project under construction (Science Island), might belong to or fundraising still in progress (San Jose’s Urban Confluence or the Cold War Memorial competition, Wisconsin), we would classify the former as “built” and wait and see what happens with the latter—keeping our fingers crossed for a positive outcome. Read More… 
2023 Teaching and Innovation Farm Lab Graduate Student Honor Award by USC (aerial view)
Architecture at Zero competitions, which focus on the theme, Design Competition for Decarbonization, Equity and Resilience in California, have been supported by numerous California utilities such as Southern California Edison, PG&E, SoCAl Gas, etc., who have recognized the need for better climate solutions in that state as well as globally. Until recently, most of these competitions were based on an ideas only format, with few expectations that any of the winning designs would actually be realized. The anticipated realization of the 2022 and 2023 competitions suggests that some clients are taking these ideas seriously enough to go ahead with realization. Read more… 
RUR model perspective – ©RUR
New Kaohsiung Port and Cruise Terminal, Taiwan (2011-2020)
Reiser+Umemoto RUR Architecture PC/ Jesse Reiser – U.S.A.
with
Fei & Cheng Associates/Philip T.C. Fei – R.O.C. (Tendener)
This was probably the last international open competition result that was built in Taiwan. A later competition for the Keelung Harbor Service Building Competition, won by Neil Denari of the U.S., the result of a shortlisting procedure, was not built. The fact that the project by RUR was eventually completed—the result of the RUR/Fei & Cheng’s winning entry there—certainly goes back to the collaborative role of those to firms in winning the 2008 Taipei Pop Music Center competition, a collaboration that should not be underestimated in setting the stage for this competition Read more… |
