Call for Submissions: Calamity Atelier

Written by Sponsored Post
Published on November 27, 2018

YAC - Young Architects Competitions and Arte Sella launched “Calamity Atelier,” a competition of ideas to regenerate the greatest and most prestigious art park in the world which was heavily damaged by an unprecedented storm last October. A total prize of 15,000€ will be awarded to winners selected by a renowned international jury that features Sou Fujimoto, Kongjian Yu (Turenscape), Patrick Lüth (Snøhetta) and Michele De Lucchi, among others.

Brief

Mount Olympus, Mount Ararat, Mount Sinai. In any culture and religion, mountains have been a place to encounter the divine. There, where the earth extends to the sky, human beings have always found further meaning. The mountains are a mystical place where one can be in contact with the invisible, with transcendence. It is a place where human adventures culminate. It is a place to find answers to the most anguished enigmas.

In a world where sacred spaces erode daily, mountains are still pure locales. They are spaces that are difficult to reach. There, human structures hardly affect ancestral balances and can still generate valuable experiences.

Without a doubt, one can experience transcendence at Arte Sella.

Arte Sella is situated between two stone peaks. For more than 30 years, it has attracted renowned contemporary artists and architects. Here, creative geniuses have left their mark generating the most important art-nature route in the world.

However, it is known that mountains can be fickle and nature can be both a mother and a cruel stepmother. During the night of October 29, 2018, an unprecedented storm hit Arte Sella. It damaged hectares of secular woods and left a trail of devastation: mud, uprooted stumps, and felled trees.

Today Arte Sella is wounded and severely damaged. Now more than ever, it needs creativity and planning. For this reason, YAC is pleased to present Calamity Atelier. This competition aims to regenerate the largest art park in the contemporary scenario. It will do so by creating a system of ateliers and architectural works in order to bring back artists and visitors to the mountains.

What dwellings can be built for the greatest artists in the world? How do you encourage people to go back to places that have been severely hit by a natural disaster through architecture?

Architects will have the opportunity to design a system of works placed on the mountains which have been damaged by the storm. Such a system will aim at taking back the fascination and beauty of one the most outstanding artistic experimentation scenarios in the world. Like modern sanctuaries, the interventions that the competition aims to generate will have to transform the place into a pilgrimage destination for visitors and artists. Season after season,
they will have the chance to witness and contribute to the rebirth of the park. Everything will occur in the endless cycle of nature. Here, nature is represented by one of its most unpredictable and magniloquent expressions: mountains.

Yac gives thanks to all the designers who will take part in this challenge.