Terreform ONE has named “The Lucent Cube” and “Self Growing Lab” as joint winners of ONE Prize 2014: Smart Dock, an open ideas competition for a ONE Lab educational facility at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. The challenge captured the attention of 99 teams from more than 22 countries. Ultimately, two winners, a third prize and an honorable mention were honored.
More details and the winning projects, after the break.
The winners, as described in a letter from Christian Hubert, jury chair:
“The two first prize projects represent two poles of conceiving ONE Lab that complement each other. One of them, THE LUCENT CUBE, is elegant, straightforward, and functional. It occupies the open space of Building 128, along with the “eave” space assigned to ONE Lab. Like the functional spaces proposed by the developer, it is a simple box. The multi-story structure distributes the program areas in a clear and intelligent manner, with more public functions at the lower floors, new vertical circulation, more private uses above, and a roof garden at the top (interior) level. Although some jurors found the project somewhat unadventurous, its simple luminescence and polycarbonate materials provided a clear identity and believable material vocabulary.
“The other winning project, SELF GROWING LAB was unabashedly assertive in its formal language and technological optimism. The project seemed poised to take over the whole building, and even to burst out of it. The self-growing lab evokes many of the technologies and growth forms associated with Terreform ONE’s body of work. The project’s strength is primarily metaphorical, and its bio-technologies are unproven but innovative. Some jurors found it too resolutely formal and its functional spaces insufficiently defined.
“The third place project, COL-LAB, mediates between the ONE Lab facility and a new public space for the Navy Yard. The designers suggested using the roof on the courtyard side as a public area for seating and display -- an idea that transforms the scope of the project from a purely interior space into a public outdoor roofscape. The functional spaces for ONE Lab are at the upper levels, with a new raised roof structure. While such construction might well desirable, it is not feasible in reality because of regulatory constraints. This, however, did not affect the judging, but the project would suffer if the roof could not be raised, since the programmatic spaces for ONE Lab would be reduced.
“Honorable mention went to SKOOL HAUS, a project that starts from a metaphorical evocation of hand-made wooden boat construction, which may seem strangely at odds with a building whose function was to assemble giant engines for modern warships. The project presentation was highly evocative, and its finesse appealed to many jury members, even if at times it strained their credulity. Nonetheless, it underscored the relation of ONE Lab to the water, even suggesting that large parts of the program could be launched onto the water, and that overturned boat-like forms could provide unexpected opportunities for functional use.”
News via Terreform ONE.
