Kazan’s New Garden City Competition

University College Dublin’s Ambitious Plan

Competing for an Arrival Experience and Plan at UCD

Winning design: Image:©Steven Holl Architects and Malcolm Reading Consultants

A designer of hospitals once remarked that a full vacant floor should be added to every new hospital facility to accommodate the rapid changes in the technical demands of the industry. Although on

Addressing Affordable Housing in Bentonville

Waterscape Park Design for the Sustainable Tourism

Development of Tushemisht and Drilon, Pogradec, Albania

Sponsor: Albanian-American Development Foundation / AADF – Pogradec, Albania Type: international, open, RfQ Fee: none Language: English Eligibility: Open to International Architecture/Engineering Companies or to Consortiums of International companies and professionals in cooperation with a local Architecture/Engineering partner Timetable: 14 June 2018 – RfQ deadline

WHY ANOTHER BUILDING?

SMAR Architecture Prevails in Final Round in Lithuania

Image: ©SMAR Architecture Studio

After several near misses in some recent high profile competitions, Aalto Museum, Guggenheim Museum, Lima Museum of Contemporary Art, SMAR Architecture Studio (Madrid/Western Australia) was rewarded with the commission for the Science Island project in Kuanas, Lithuania. Against

Paying Homage to a Storied Parliament Building

The Reichstag Visitors Center in Berlin/Tiergarten

Winning entry by Markus Schietsch (Image ©Markus Schietsch Architekten)

If ever there was a pressing need for a facility acting as arrival feature and processing point for a world-renowned landmark structure, a Visitors Center for the Reichstag had to be at the top of the list.

Future Campus – University College Dublin International Design Competition

Sponsor: University College Dublin Type: International, RfQ, invited Eligibility: The first stage is a global search for an integrated multidisciplinary design team, based on relevant skills and past experience. Fee: none Compensation: Honorarium for the anticipated five finalists: €40,000 Language: English Timetable: 26 March 2018 – Deadline for RfQ submissions Jury: • Professor Andrew

Aarhus New School of Architecture

Young Architects win a Restricted Competition

over High-Profile Competitors

“Today the majority of design competitions are exclusively based on prequalification, which means that only established companies that have participated in numerous building projects qualify. The competition format that was chosen for this project challenged this, and the result shows that it

Designing on a Small Budget: A New Front Yard for the Berkshire Botanical Gardens

Berkshire Botanical Center House from road

The front yard of one of the oldest Botanical Gardens in this country is getting a much needed arrival gateway. To provide a design solution to complement the Berkshire Botanical Garden’s newly renovated and expanded Center House last spring, the BBG announced the launch of a design

SO-IL Re-invents Place Mazas in Paris

View of site from south Rendering ©SO-IL

In Paris, it’s no longer just about Grands Projets. Lately, the French have become more focused on areas bordering the Seine River, and how to turn them into more attractive destinations for locals and visitors alike. The most recent projet, and the subject of a competition, was Place Mazas, located on the Right Bank of the Seine in the 12^th District. Partially because of the bordering highway’s proximity to the river, the site is underused and hardly regarded as a high profile destination.

Now that may all change. The competition, won by the New York-based firm, SO-IL, has conceived a plan, which will create a series of park areas and structures relating to the current needs of the community. Sustainability is almost always on the front burner in these competitions, and this was no exception. SO-IL’s plan for the site’s only major building is a seven-story structure made primarily of wood. Although situated all by itself at the end of a street—bordering on the Seine—its shape and size serve to address the composition of the streetscape in a very logical, spatial manner. According to the intent of the winner, “This volume includes a housing program in co-living typology, with several interior and exterior shared spaces for the residents as well as a public restaurant on the ground floor.”

Arsenal Basin Rendering ©SO-IL

The rest of the site is devoted to “public activities,” opening up views to the Seine River and includes a repurposed 1905 lockhouse and a “temporary pavilion” hosting facilities like public co-working spaces, a fabricaion lab, an event room and a terrace offering views on the Arsenal Basin, the river, and the surrounding city, “as well as a facility for homeless care already established on site.” Labeling the pavilion as a “temporary” structure is based on the assumption that neighborhoods are always evolving, and that future changes could be in store.

35 years of COMPETITIONS

Recalling Some of the Most Memorable, Both Built and Unbuilt

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.

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/

New Kaohsiung Port and Cruise Terminal, Taiwan

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.

Seoripul Open Storage Museum in Seoul

In visiting any museum, one might wonder what important works of art are out of view in storage, possibly not considered high profile enough to see the light of day? In Korea, an answer to this question is in the making.

It can come as no surprise that museums are running out of storage space. This is not just the case with long established “western” museums, but elsewhere throughout the world as well. In Seoul, South Korea, such an issue has been addressed by planning for a new kind of storage facility, the Seouipul Open Storage Museum. The new institution will house artworks and artifacts of three major museums in Seoul: the Seoul Museum of Modern Art, the Seoul Museum of History, and the Seoul Museum of Craft Art.

Take Back the City Competition

Belfast Looks Toward an Equitable and Sustainable Housing Model

If one were to look for a theme that is common to most affordable housing models, public access has been based primarily on income, or to be more precise, the very lack of it. Here it is no different, with Belfast’s homeless problem posing a major concern. But the competition also hopes to address another of Belfast’s decades-long issues—its religious divide. There is an underlying assumption here that religion will play no part in a selection process. The competition’s local sponsor was “Take Back the City,” its membership consisting mainly of social advocates. In setting priorities for the housing model, the group interviewed potential future dwellers as well as stakeholders to determine the nature of this model. Among those actions taken was the “photo- mapping of available land in Belfast, which could be used to tackle the housing crisis. Since 2020, (the group) hosted seminars that brought together international experts and homeless people with the goal of finding solutions. Surveys and workshops involving local people, housing associations and council duty-bearers have explored the potential of the Mackie’s site.” This research was the basis for the competition launched in 2022.

Alster Swimming Pool Restoration, Hamburg

Alster Swimming Pool after restoration (2023)

Linking Two Competitions with Three Modernist Projects

Hardly a week goes by without the news of another architectural icon being threatened with demolition. A modernist swimming pool in Hamburg, Germany belonged in this category, even though the concrete shell roof had been placed under landmark status. When the possibility of being replaced by a high-rise building, it came to the notice of architects at von Gerkan Marg Partners (gmp), who in collaboration with schlaich bergermann partner (sbp), developed a feasibility study that became the basis for the decision to retain and refurbish the building.

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

Website: https://competitions.org

E: scollyer@competitions.org

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Kazan’s New Garden City Competition

University College Dublin’s Ambitious Plan

Addressing Affordable Housing in Bentonville

Waterscape Park Design for the Sustainable Tourism

WHY ANOTHER BUILDING?

Paying Homage to a Storied Parliament Building

Future Campus – University College Dublin International Design Competition

Aarhus New School of Architecture

Designing on a Small Budget: A New Front Yard for the Berkshire Botanical Gardens

SO-IL Re-invents Place Mazas in Paris

2022 Annual is here!

• 2022 Annual now available in PDF format Look inside.

• Half price on 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015 Annuals.

Recent Competitions

35 years of COMPETITIONS

Recalling Some of the Most Memorable, Both Built and Unbuilt

Young Architects in Competitions

When Competitions and a New Generation of Ideas Elevate Architectural Quality

New Kaohsiung Port and Cruise Terminal, Taiwan

Seoripul Open Storage Museum in Seoul

Take Back the City Competition

Belfast Looks Toward an Equitable and Sustainable Housing Model

Alster Swimming Pool Restoration, Hamburg