KURANDZA – A Learning Center in Mozambique  Sponsor: Kurandza non-profit NGO, San Francisco Administrator: archstorming Type: open, international, one-stage Languages: English, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese Eligibility: Architects and students of architecture, regardless of location; Teams may consist of 1 to 4 persons Fees: See timetable Timetable: 29 June 2022 – End of early registration (€60/team) 27 July2022 – End of regular registration (€80/team) 24 August 2022 – End of advanced registration (€100) 14 September 2022 – Submission deadline 11 October 2022 – Winners announced Awards: 1st Prize – €6,000 + Construction 2nd Prize – €2,000 3rd Prize – €1,000 10 Honorable mentions (All of the above will receive certificates of achievement and the official competition book.) Jury: – Yasaman Esmaili, Studio Chahar, Tehran (Iran) – Joao Boto, ROOTSTUDIO, Lisbon (Portugal) – Shrutihi Ramakrishna, Made in Earth, Bangalore (India) – Samista Jugwanth, Zutari, Durban (South Africa) – Elisabetta Colavbianchi, Kurandza (San Francisco, CA) (More to be added) Design Challenge: This Sub-Saharan Africa country is ranked 139th out of 159 countries on the UNDP’s Gender Inequality Index. Women are exposed to threats of diseases, discrimination and violence. Around 94% of girls in Mozambique enroll in primary school, but despite this high number, only 11% of girls continue to study in secondary schools. As girls grow older, they are met by an increasing domestic workload and more responsibilities. Many girls have no choice but to stay at home to do chores or work to help their families. Teen pregnancies prove to be a major reason for girls dropping out of school early. 30 to 40 percent of girls are pregnant before they turn 18 years old. Taking care of a child, working and performing household chores can be overbearing and leave these girls no time for school. This competition is calling for proposals to design a new learning center for the NGO Kurandza. Kurandza is focused on making sure that girls and women in their community are able to finish their studies and don’t have to drop out of school early. To accomplish that mission, they are building a new learning center where girls can feel safe and comfortable, a place where they can learn, play, run and discover. Architecture should bring them a dynamic place where they can interact with each other and the surrounding environment. The projects will have to use locally sourced materials, easy to build constructive systems and be self-sufficient in terms of energy. They will have to be respectful with the local traditions and nature. The program of the new learning center will be similar to that of a regular school. The goal of this competition is to create spaces that are flexible and can change their function if necessary. The new learning center will have three classrooms, a kitchen, a multipurpose room, a childcare room, an office, a storage room and a bathroom. Outside, the learning center will contain an area for sports and outdoor activities, a space for a playground for the girls to play, which will encourage them to engage in physical activities. For more information: https://www.archstorming.com/info.html |
Vilnius Railway Station and Public Square Competition  Vilnius Station competition Image: ©Zaha Hadid Architects How do you find a common thread that can connect an eclectic collection of buildings, visually as well as physically, all located within a one-block site, located just across from Canada’s Parliament building in Ottawa. To identify this common thread that could tie everything together, the client turned to a design competition for answers. With the aid of consultants, [phase eins] from Berlin and experts from Canada’s’ own Université de Montréal’s School of Architecture, the client turned to an invited international format to finally settle on six teams that could rethink the site. Read More… Ottawa Parliamentary Precinct Renewal Competition  Culminating in a year’s long process, the winner of the Ottawa Parliamentary Precinct was David Chipperfield Architects, one of the six shortlisted firms designated to participate in the competition. An April 10th viewing of the public presentation of the six finalists was viewed by scores on Facebook. From the impressions gained from that event, it was apparent that Chipperfield and Behnisch were the probable frontrunners. Chipperfield’s presentation emphasized the materiality of their design as a design strategy intended to embrace the architectural context of the precinct. Together with a very straightforward circulation plan, in the end, this had to be a major factor in the jury’s decision. Read more…  After narrowing the field to three finalists and reviewing their presentations via ZOOM, the competition jury gave the nod to KUTONOTUK of Charlottesville, VA as the winner. The winning team is led by principals, Leena Cho and Matthew Jull, faculty members at the University of Virginia’s School of Architecture. Second place went to FORMA from New York City, and third place was awarded to Lewis Williams with Hudson Architects from Norwich, England. Presentations of all three finalists can be seen here: https://competitions.org/2022/03/atlantic-beach-nc-boardwalk-design-competition/ 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/ AL_A Prevails over a Star-studded Cast  After over a year of planning, the choice of a site, and the establishment of criteria for the staging an international competition for a new concert hall, the process recently culminated in the choice of an architect for the design of the new Philharmonic in Belgrade, Serbia. Once a rather drab, nondescript city under the Tito regime, Belgrade has been reimagining itself to take its place as a major European city, including cultural attractions one might attach to such a claim. Read more…  Boardwalk photo: Courtesy Atlantic Beach Boardwalks, especially on oceanfront locations, have a pretty universal look. But how they fit into their local context is another matter. Topography, real estate and commerce all play a role in their function, and to some extent, design. In the case of Miami Beach, it’s primarily a promenade; Brooklyn’s 2.7 mile Coney Island boardwalk stretching all the way to Brighton Beach is a mixture of promenade and commerce, with the latter at both ends. In the case of Atlantic City, it’s mostly about retail.
Read more…  Winning entry – Hyunjoon Min Architects Office National Library of Korea Data Preservation Center Competition Retrofitting existing buildings is nothing new. The abandonment of old factory structures, especially in the northeast of the U.S., has been occurring at a rapid pace ever since those businesses ceased to be profitable in the face of foreign competition. However, in North America, retrofitting those structures has seldom been the subject of a design competition. In Korea, the recent plethora of design competitions for all types of projects has also included several for providing a new life for abandoned buildings. Read more… 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… |