Chengdu’s Natural History Museum Competition

Winning design courtesy Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects (All images © Steelblue)

Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects (PCP) in collaboration with China Southwest Architectural Design and Research Institute Corp Ltd. has prevailed over a strong field to win the competition for a Natural History Museum in Chengdu, China. The other finalists included Zaha Hadid

School as Civic Hub

Prague’s LOŠBATES School Competition

First prize entry © Pelletier de Fontenay / Valerio Sartori (image courtesy CCEA MOBA)

Sponsored by LOŠBATES, an administrative entity established by four adjacent municipalities on the outskirts of Prague, this competition for a primary and secondary school, won by the Canadian firm, Pelletier de Fontenay with Valerio

Russian Open Competition for Alternative Layout Design in Standard Housing

1st category prize entry by AKVS (Image courtesy STRELKA-KB, © AKVS Architecture)

Of all the nations that had been part of the Soviet Bloc after World War II, only the Russian Federation itself has lagged behind most of its neighbors in the design and construction of affordable housing. During that post-Cold War

SMÍCHOV ELEMENTARY SCHOOL: An International competition in Prague

Movies in the Park: Garage Screen Summer Cinema Competition in Moscow

Network Rail Footbridge Design Ideas Competition

Winning design © Gottlieb Paludan Architects with Strasky, Husty and Partners

The U.K. is no stranger to pedestrian bridge competitions. Both the Salford Pedestrian Bridge competition (2013) and Tintagel Castle Pedestrian Bridge (2014) were commissioned by virtue of a request for qualifications and the shortlisting process. Both were administered by the

Kazan’s New Garden City Competition

A Museum as Entertainment Landscape

The Taoyuan Museum of Arts Competition

Courtesy: TMOA ©Joe Shih. Architects + Riken Yamamoto and Field Shop

Repository Library as Public-Friendly Asset

Southern Branch of the National Central Library and National Repository Library, Taiwan

Image: courtesy Taiwan National Central Library ©BAF

Sverdlovsk Philharmonic Concert Hall Competition

Image courtesy Ministry of Construction and Infrastructure ©Zaha Hadid Architects

Zaha Hadid Architects prevailed over the entries of 47 other firms to win the Sverdlovsk Concert Hall Competition in Yekaterinburg, Russia. Staging this competition in the Urals, in a remote location in European Russia from the centers of power, is testimony that culture

SMÍCHOV ELEMENTARY SCHOOL:
An International competition in Prague

Winning project by Office Ou (image © Office Ou)

The features of a truly international competition were quite in evidence in Prague’s SMÍCHOV School search for an ideal elementary school design: the event attracted 66 entries from around the world, and the winners were a team from Canada and Poland. The sponsors went so far as to even estimate the number of hours spent by all of the architects who submitted entries for the competition (58,800). One can only imagine what that number might have been for the Helsinki Guggenheim competition, which attracted 1,715 entries.

OFFICE 52 at Carnegie Mellon

Form and Dichroic Light
Scott Hall at Carnegie Mellon University
Michelle LaFoe and Isaac Campbell
OFFICE 52 Architecture
Forward by Cesar Pelli, FAIA
Introduction by Michael J. Crosbie, FAIA
Leete”s Island Books, Maine USA
Hard cover; 96 pages in color
ISBN 9780918172709

In his introduction to Form and Dichroic LIght, Michael Crosbie never mentions the term, “wild card,” to describe Office 52’s participation in the invited competition for the Carnegie Mellon Engineering Building. The four finalists, picked from a list of 17 firms, also included three household names: ZGF, Wilson, and BCJ (Bohlin Cywinski, Jackson). So what possible chance could a firm, which had just recently opened a small office in Portland, Oregon, have against a competition lineup of this magnitude? But as OFFICE 52 Principal, Isaac Campbell explained, as a small firm, “we were quite nimble,” and the $50,000 stipend the firms all received to produce a design could allow OFFICE 52 more time to undertake the research involved than might be the case with a larger office, where a cost controller is constantly focusing on the operation.

Movies in the Park: Garage Screen Summer Cinema Competition in Moscow

Winning entry by SYNDICATE (image © SYNDICATE, courtesy Strelka-KB)

Garage Screen, a program of film screenings on contemporary art and culture, was launched in 2012 and introduces viewers to notable examples of Russian and foreign feature films, documentaries, and experimental films. Since its inception, the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art has selected and shown films and videos examining issues of contemporary art and culture in all their manifestations, rare documentary films on the lives and lifestyles of prominent and little-known artists, musicians, architects, and performing artists, as well as films about the creation of exhibitions and works of art.

A Museum as Entertainment Landscape

The Taoyuan Museum of Arts Competition

The competition for the Taoyuan Museum of Arts is similar to now what has become the typical invited format for major projects in Taiwan. In this case, 14 architectural teams submitted their qualifications, and four qualified for the second competition stage. They were Q-LAB + menacoo architecten, Joe Shih. Architects + Riken Yamamoto and Field Shop, Ricky Liu & Associates, and JJPan and Partners, Architects and Planners + MVRDV.

Repository Library as Public-Friendly Asset

Southern Branch of the National Central Library and National Repository Library, Taiwan

The primary reason for establishing a “Southern Branch” of Taiwan’s National Central Library And National Repository Library was logical: the main National Central Library was running out of space to store an increasingly large quantity of physical and digital items. One might have assumed this could have all been accomplished by building a large warehouse-type storage facility. Nothing of the kind happened here. The site of the competition announced by the competition organizers for the design of a new building was in a small city of 80,000 in southern Taiwan.

The San Francisco Transbay Terminal Competition

City and Developer as
Infrastructure Catalyst

Not since the Golden Gate Bridge and BART has San Francisco experienced an infrastructure project of the magnitude and importance as the recently completed Transbay Transit Terminal. The subject of a 2007 competition won by Pelli Clarke Pelli (PCP) with Peter Walker Landscape Architects, the project is only missing some rail connections, which will enable passengers to connect to many parts of the state in the foreseeable future.

Ph: (502) 451-3623; Fax: (502) 451-3623

Website: https://competitions.org

E: scollyer@competitions.org

IMPORTANT NOTICE : Unless otherwise indicated, photographs of buildings and projects are from professional or institutional archives. All reproduction is prohibited unless authorized by the architects, designers, office managers, consortia or archives centers concerned. The Competition Project, Inc. is not held responsible for any omissions or inaccuracies, but appreciate all comments and pertinent information that will permit necessary modifications during future updates.

Welcome Dave

Chengdu’s Natural History Museum Competition

School as Civic Hub

Russian Open Competition for Alternative Layout Design in Standard Housing

SMÍCHOV ELEMENTARY SCHOOL: An International competition in Prague

Movies in the Park: Garage Screen Summer Cinema Competition in Moscow

Network Rail Footbridge Design Ideas Competition

Kazan’s New Garden City Competition

A Museum as Entertainment Landscape

Repository Library as Public-Friendly Asset

Sverdlovsk Philharmonic Concert Hall Competition

2017 Annual is here!

• Half price on 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015 Annuals.
• 2017 Annual now available in PDF format Look inside.

Recent Competitions

SMÍCHOV ELEMENTARY SCHOOL:
An International competition in Prague

OFFICE 52 at Carnegie Mellon

Movies in the Park: Garage Screen Summer Cinema Competition in Moscow

A Museum as Entertainment Landscape

The Taoyuan Museum of Arts Competition

Repository Library as Public-Friendly Asset

Southern Branch of the National Central Library and National Repository Library, Taiwan

The San Francisco Transbay Terminal Competition

City and Developer as
Infrastructure Catalyst

Welcome Dave

2017 Annual is here!

Recent Competitions

SMÍCHOV ELEMENTARY SCHOOL: An International competition in Prague

The Taoyuan Museum of Arts Competition

Southern Branch of the National Central Library and National Repository Library, Taiwan

City and Developer as Infrastructure Catalyst

SMÍCHOV ELEMENTARY SCHOOL:
An International competition in Prague

City and Developer as
Infrastructure Catalyst