The Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IAAC) launched the book of its 9th Advanced Architecture Contest: Design for Biocities. The publication includes the more than 130 proposals that were selected among the 202 proposals received from over 50 countries.
This year’s competition challenged students and professionals from all over the world to propose how to design urban spaces, cities, buildings, objects, or solutions of any scale, directed towards the transition to Biocities. The responses explored how we might adapt to the changing relations between human and natural systems in a moment of climate crisis. Cities have always reflected the civilizations that built them, and at this critical moment where climate change is transforming our living environment, architects and designers had the
possibility of rethinking our position of domination in relation to all that surrounds us. The proposals were looking to respond to the rising concerns of the bursting of planetary boundaries, which regulate the stability and resilience of the earth system as it currently stands, and they urged the need to simultaneously look at nature based as well as advanced technological solutions to reimagine resilient cities of the future.
The book includes the winner's proposals. The first prize went to Jiawei Liang from China who reimagined Wengding, a 400-year-old village in the Southern Yunnan province, reimagining mythology, spirituality and ecology, thinking through what it means to rebuild while reacting to cultural heritage in the face of climate disaster. Second prize was for Laurie Bédard, Raphaëlle Benoit, Philippe Champagne from Canada, that under the title “Projecting the Bioregion” explores sensitively the question of ideas of tourism and development though a close look at town and country Charlevoix in Quebec, suggesting the need for a balance between human and non-human through multi scale, place based, and landscape approach. The third prize went to Daniela Haroni, Maya Levy and Matan Zeev Shadmi from Israel that under the title “Patchwork: Stopping Deforestation with Urbanization” takes the Patchwork theory, a strategy used in forest fire management, suggesting to look at the potential for inhabiting ring-shaped cities which could act as these artificial patches.
The jury included Anna Ramos (Director of the Mies van der Rohe Foundation), Claudia Pasquero, Daniel Ibañez (IAAC Director), Donald Bates (Chair of Architectural Design Melbourne School of Design), Marc Palahi (Director of the European Forest Institute), Xavier Matilla (Chief Architect of Barcelona) or Suwapat Rodprasert & Pongpol Punjawaytegul (former competition winners), among others.
Advanced Architecture Contest is one of the oldest digital online competitions worldwide, that has been announced bi-annually since 2006 and has been making publications co-edited by ACTAR since then.
Competition Results
https://advancedarchitecturecontest.org
Design for Biocities Book
Published by
Actar Publisher, New York, Barcelona
www.actar.com
Edited by
Vicente Guallart
Award Contest Coordinator
Laia Pifarre
Content Coordinator
Esin Aydemir
Alex Hadley
Title
Design for BiocitiesAuthor
Institute for Advanced Architecture of CataloniaPublisher
Actar PublisherPublication year
2023Binding
SoftcoverLanguage
English
