Type: International, RfQ Search manager: Malacolm Reading Consultants Eligibility: Firms and teams with an impressive track record Registration date: 15 March 2021 The NG200 Project is a rare opportunity to work with the National Gallery to reimagine some of its key public spaces to improve the visitor experience. Additionally, the new Research Centre (likely Read more…
Type: International, open, anonymous, two-stage Eligibility: Students in graduate and undergraduate degrees and recent graduates of an accredited program within the past four years with a degree in architecture or engineering Registration fee: none Process: Up to fifteen (15) teams will be shortlisted from phase 1 of the competition from which 3 teams will Read more…
Type: International, open, anonymous, two-stage Competition manager: RIBA, U.K. Eligibility: Open to all registered architects in their countries of origin or in their present location Registration fee: £35 + VAT Once your payment has been processed, you will be issued with a Unique Registration Number (URN) and a Declaration of Authorship Form. Process: Up Read more…
Image ©Francesco Allaixand Julio Orduña Recently we are beginning to see a resurgence of wood as a primary building material, not only for detached residential housing, but also for multi-family and commercial urban structures. Masonry, steel, and composite materials are still the bread and butter of the construction industry; but wood Read more…
University Clinic, Würzburg, Germany – Neurology / Women’s and Family Clinic Sponsor: Freistaat Bayern (Staatliches Bauamt Würzburg) Administration: [phase eins], Berlin Type: open, RfQ, limited, anonymous Number of participants in Phase 1: 20 Number of participants in Phase 2: 5-10 Eligibility: Architects residing in countries belonging to EU or WTO Language: German Timetable: 28 January Read more…
Sponsor: Government of Canada through PSPC Administration: Phase eins, RAIC Type: RfQ, invited, international Languages: English and French Process: The procedure will maintain the competitors’ anonymity. The names of the competitors qualified to participate in the competition will not be communicated to the jury. Oversight PSPC has engaged the RAIC to oversee the overall competition Read more…
Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library Competition Aerial view ©Snøhetta Until now, the establishment of presidential libraries at the conclusion of their terms has followed the founding of the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Library after World War II. The first exception to this was the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library, established in 1962.* Now a Read more…
Type: RfQ, restricted Language: German Eligibility: Architects, landscape architects, planners (EU) Fees: None Timetable: 26 January 2021 – Deadline for submission of documents Awards – €250,000 total (Each participant in the competition phase will receive €5,000 for their submission.) Number of participants (15) The five preselected participants are: • Bauchplan Landschaftsarchitekten und Stadtplaner Read more…
Sponsor: Haifa Award Language: English Eligibility: International, for professional architects who hold an accredited architectural degree in their country – no geographic restrictions Fees and Timetable: 30 December 2020 – Early bird registration deadline (€120) 7 January 2021 – Q&A deadline 20 February 2021 – Late registration (€150) 10 April 2021 – Deadline for Read more…
Sponsor: Harvard Graduate School of Design Language: English Fees: none Eligibility: Early career architects – no geographic restrictions Applicants must have received their degree from an accredited institution in the last 15 years. Timetable: 31 January 2021 – Deadline for submissions Award: $100,000 Two-year Traveling fellowship The winning architect is expected to dedicate roughly Read more… |
The Urban Confluence Silicon Valley Competition  Image ©SMAR Architecture After several stops and starts, a decision to name the winner of the Urban Confluence Design Competition appears to be nearing its conclusion. In 2017, three founders of a local non-profit established The San Jose Light Tower Corporation (SJLTC). The founders of the non-profit, Restauranteur Steve Borkenhagen, construction company executive, Jon Ball and filmmaker Thomas Wohlmut, saw its primary mission in designing and building a new tower as a San Jose and Silicon Valley landmark. This idea was based on the memory of the original San Jose Electric Light Tower (1881-1915), a 22-story structure, located in downtown San Jose and came down as the victim of a gale, never to be rebuilt. 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/  Aerial view of site – Courtesy National Finnish Museum When major cultural institutions in Finland plan a new building project, one can almost always assume that an open competition will be the vehicle by which the client settles on the building’s design. The only question is, will this be organized in a format open to local, Scandinavian, or international architects. In the case of the National Museum of Finland annex competition, it was open to architects throughout the world — resulting in 185 entries. Read more…
The Opening of Taichung’s Central Park by Catherine Mosbach/Philippe Rahm
 View from the south with downtown Taichung in the distance image: ©Mosbach/Rahm
The abandonment and closing of airports, including decommissioning those that were used for military purposes, has presented design communities with several opportunities to convert them entirely to civilian purposes. Notable among those which have been the result of competitions are Orange County Great Park, Irvine, California (Ken Smith Landscape Architects), The Estonian National Museum (Dan Dorell, Lina Ghotmeh and Tsuyoshi Tane), and Toronto’s less successful Downsview Park competition, whereby the winning design by OMA, with trees as the primary feature, has been basically ignored. Instead, the area has become the site of numerous commercial and residential projects.
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SMAR’s Winning Entry Gets the Green Light  Image: ©SMAR Architecture The winning competition entry in the 2016 Science Island competition in Kaunas, Lithuania by SMAR Architects may only take five years to realize—from the date of the competition to completion. This is encouraging news, as the duration of such projects resulting from a competition can often take much longer—sometimes up to 8-10 years. Read more…  Night view of the memorial tapestry from Independence Avenue, with Gehry’s sketch of the Normandy cliffs. Explaining the contributions of a World War II hero and later President of the United States on a very modest site on Independence Avenue just off the Washington Mall is tantamount to asking an author to describe the life of this person in no more than one paragraph. But on September 17th, after a long and bumpy journey, lasting almost 20 years and navigating a warren of the DC approval processes and public scrutiny, the Eisenhower Memorial finally was dedicated and opened to the public. Designed by Frank Gehry, it has received mixed reviews, the majority being more positive. But most have pointed out that the memorial is more impressive at night than in full daylight. This is due primarily to the illumination of an almost block-long metallic tapestry—featuring a sketch by Gehry, which depicts his interpretation of the cliffs of the Normandy coastline where the Americans landed on D-Day. Read more… |