Weissenhof Urban Planning Competition:
Seeking Strategies for Further Development 
Competition Site Plan, Courtesy Amt für Stadtplanung Stuttgart
Sponsors: City of Stuttgart, Germany and the State of Baden Württemberg Event: International Building Exhibition ‘27
Timetable:
14 January 2022 – Competition launch
11 February 2022 – Registration deadline
20-21 June – Jury convenes
Design Challenge:
After a century of architectural and urban history, the IBA offers the opportunity to rethink the built testimonies of Modernism and to advance the urban design at Weissenhof with a contemporary model. But how can the Weissenhof Estate and its surroundings be developed? What form would a modern and respectful approach to the cultural monuments take? How can the public space be reimagined? These are the questions at the heart of the ideas competition. The objective of the competition is to identify the urban planning potential of the entire Weissenhof neighbourhood, which includes not only the Weissenhof Estate, but also Stuttgart State Academy of Art and Design and Brenzkirche church for example. Together with the local stakeholders, the organisers want to develop strategies for future development of the entire neighbourhood that marries the past and the present in a respectful way. In addition to providing guiding principles, the competition aims to create the conceptual framework for several tangible construction projects for which architecture competitions are to subsequently be held. It centres on a new reception building to serve as a visitor and information centre and to be completed by the IBA presentation year 2027. A further construction project is to take the form of an extension to the Stuttgart State Academy of Art and Design campus. The Academy is directly adjacent to the Weissenhof Estate and wants to combine and reorganise its external locations on the campus. In addition, Brenzkirche church is to be converted, restored and to become part of the overall concept. The site at Bruckmannweg 10 – an empty space in the middle of the Weissenhof Estate that was flattened in the war – is a perfect site for experimental building, reflective of the design approach adopted back in 1927. Registration form:
http://www.pesch-partner.de/01_Ausgang/WHS_Anmeldung.zip For more information:
https://www.iba27.de/wettbewerb-weissenhof/ |
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… 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/ 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… An Ideas Competition in Berlin Seeks Answers 
Winning entry perspective Image: ©AllesWirdGut Architekten
Berlin developer HOWOGE recently staged what was regarded as a “planning Laboratory” competition for a model satellite in northwest Berlin. The brief for this invited competition noted that the urban sprawl, which had accompanied the reunification of Germany(and Berlin) in 1989, was low density in character, occupying wide swaths of suburban areas around the city. With previous high density, and now controversial Berlin projects in mind—the problems with Berlin’s high-density Gropius-Stadt as a warning signal—the sponsor here suggested that lessons learned from past mistakes could be avoided with a high-quality design strategy… Read more… Winner Announced for New Preston Mosque Competition 
LUCA POIAN FORMS Image courtesy RIBA
Facilitator: RIBA
Location: Preston, U.K.
Type: International, open
The competition attracted over 200 entries from 40 different countries.
Five finalists were chosen to participate in a second phase:
Winner
• LUCA POIAN FORMS, London, UK
Finalists - BLANKPAGE Architects, Lebanon
- Borough Architects + buchhandler-nelli + elca, Cambridge, UK
- Mcheileh Studio, New York (Highly Commended by the Evaluation Panel)
- TABE SHOURI, New York
RIBA competition website:
www.architecture.com/competitions Astrakhan Looks to Raise Its Quality of Life Index 
Aerial view of downtown Astrakhan
Planning competitions with a strong landscape component take many forms, including some for plazas and gateways to major town centers, city neighborhood sites with multi-story housing units, university campus plans and finally, comprehensive city plans—the latter either being for new towns, as in China, or strategies for the improvement of existing cities—as was here the case with Astrakhan, a major city on the Volga delta, and the Caspian Sea. Read more… |
