Surface Magazine has launched its 2015 Avant Guardian photography contest, now in its 15th year. Calling for submissions now through June 1, the competition provides emerging photographers the chance to be featured in Surface's October issue and their upcoming New York exhibition.
25 photographs will be shortlisted by Surface editors; ultimately 10 winners will be selected by a well-respected judging panel that includes architectural photographers Ingmar Kurth and Hélène Binet, as well as Stephen Hilger (Pratt Institute), Roy Schwalbach (Jack Studios), and photographers Youssef Nabil and Delfino Sisto Legnani. For more information or to submit your work, visit surfacemag.com.
The Society of Architectural Historians (SAH) have announced the winners of the 2015 Publication Awards in Chicago, as part of their 68th Annual International Conference Awards ceremony. David Brownlee, Keith Morgan, Pauline Saliga, and Stanley Tigerman were also inducted as Fellows of the Society of Architectural Historians for their "lifelong contributions to the field of architectural history."
Awarded annually, the SAH Publication awards honor excellence in "architectural history, landscape history, and historic preservation scholarship," alongside outstanding architectural exhibition catalogs. Eligible publications must have been published in the two years immediately preceding the award, with nominations for the 2016 Publication Awards opening on June 1.
Learn more about the winning publications after the break.
Now for the first time, Guggenheim has unveiled the six fully developed designs competing to become Guggenheim Helsinki. Selected from 1,715 entries in world's the most popular architectural competition, the remaining finalists have spent the past five months refining their designs after being shortlisted by an independent 11-member jury, of which includes Studio Gang's Jeanne Gang and former Columbia University dean Mark Wigley.
Applications are once again open for world’s best public library award. As part of the Danish Agency for Culture's Model Program for Public Libraries project, the prize aims to generate new ideas about how the design of public libraries can change to meet the changing needs of today’s society. Considered libraries must "take digital developments and local culture into consideration" and "welcome a diversity of population groups with an open and functional architectural expression in balance with its surroundings and a creative use of IT to improve user experiences." Learn more about the prize (here) and submit a library, here. Candidates for the “Public Library of the Year Award” have until June 15, 2015 to apply.
The Japanese Institute of Landscape Architecture (JILA) will be celebrating its 90th anniversary in May 2015, and is pleased to host an international competition for design proposals envisioning future Tokyo with/without parks in 2105, 90 years from today.
After deliberating over eight shortlisted proposals to reimagine the St. Petersburg Pier, the Pier Selection Committee has narrowed the competition down to three designs. Though the proposals vary widely in aesthetics, the finalists all approached the project as an opportunity to express the past while embracing modern forms and incorporating strong public programs.
Next on the agenda, the Pier Selection Committee will conduct an initial public meeting on April 23 in which finalists will present clarifications on their designs, followed later that day with a second meeting to announce the teams' rankings. Based on these proceedings, one design will be chosen for further development, in collaboration with the city. Check out the three finalists, after the break.
The organisers behind The Next Helsinki, a competition masterminded by architect and critic Michael Sorkin, have announced that they have received over 200 international entries. Launched as an alternative to the controversial Guggenheim Helsinki project, the competition called upon architects, urbanists, artists, and environmentalists to imagine how Helsinki and the South Harbour site allotted to the proposed museum could be transformed for the maximum benefit of the city’s residents and visitors.
The sixth international competition by Building Trust International, this year’s “Cool School” design competition is in its final stage. Participants were challenged with the task of designing a school addition for 100 students responsive to the extreme climatic conditions of Mongolia, emphasizing adaptability, aesthetics, and comfort. Of over 180 submissions, one winner and nine honorable mentions will be selected by a jury and announced on May 1, 2015.
In celebration of the creative designs, Building Trust International has created a Facebook gallery of all the competition entries. Check out 12 selected designs after the break.
Now in its second year, the AIA Portland is seeking entries for its ideas competition - "2015 STITCH II." Open to everyone, the competition asks participants to reinvent an unused site beneath Portland's I-405 bridge into an active public space or shelter. While the specific programming is left to the participants' discretion, designs must respond to the specific context of the neighborhood. Registration is open now and submissions are welcomed through June 1, 2015. Three winners will be chosen by a multidisciplinary jury and announced at a ceremony on June 9, receiving monetary prizes between $100 and $500. For more information, visit aiaportland.org. To register, visit eventbrite.com. You can see last year’s winner, here.
Thirty-two projects have been announced as the winners of the Inaugural Knight Cities Challenge, sharing in a prize pool of $USD5 million. An initiative of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the challenge received an overwhelming number of entries, with winners selected from a pool of over 7000 submissions. Each of the projects proposed strategies for the civic and economic development of one of the 26 cities in which the Knight Foundation invests, including Detroit, Akron Ohio, San JoseCalifornia, LexingtonKentucky, and BiloxiMississippi.
The winning proposals each addressed one or more of the Knight Foundation’s “three drivers of city success”: (1) Talent: Ideas that help cities attract and keep the best and brightest, (2) Opportunity: Ideas that create economic prospects and break down divides, (3) Engagement: Ideas that spur connection and civic involvement.
Budapest-based art program Hello Wood has put out an open call for Project Village, their 2015 workshop and symposium to be held between July 11 and July 19. This year's event follows the success of Hello Wood's workshop in the summer of 2014, which saw participation from over 120 architects, artists and designers from 25 countries.
Courtesy of Social Cooperation Architects (SCoopA)
Architects, Engineers, Artists, Designers and students from all around the world are invited to participate in the Expo Milano 2015 with projects that propose solutions to the theme of the Expo Milano 2015 “Feeding the planet, energy for life.” Participants are also being encouraged to submit proposals that solve some of the main challenges that our society is facing, such as the rapid population growth and all the problems that this brings (destruction of the ecosystems, social divisions, scarcity of resources, etc.). This exhibition desires to showcase different architectural, construction, urban and social solutions promoting its different authors in the Universal Exposition.
The winners will be selected by the group Social Cooperation Architects (SCoopA) to exhibit their proposals at the Expo Milano 2015. In addition, a virtual platform will be established to foment the dialog between the different participants and proposals.
CTRL+SPACE has launched its Istanbul Community Market Ideas Competition. Seeking designs from students and professionals (developed individually or in teams of four or less), the competition challenges participants to create a site-specific, multi-functional market with a strong public element. Submissions are welcomed now until June 27 and winners will be announced on July 17, 2015. Three winning designs will receive monetary prizes from 500€ to 3500€, and five merit award recipients will also be selected. For more details or to register, visit ctrl-space.net.
Walk21 Vienna has launched its Walking Visionaries Awards, a challenge that invites people from around the globe to explore the many ways walking can be implemented into our daily lives to support sustainable and livable cities. Submit a solution now through April 30, 2015 for a chance to participate in the Walk21 Conference in Vienna, Austria in October 2015. 30 winners will receive a free ticket to the conference and given the chance to meet leading professionals and share their ideas with other visionaries through mediums such as lectures, round table discussions, and workshops. Additionally, the winners' solutions will be published in the conference documentation. Selected by both public opinion and a jury vote, winning submissions will be announced in June 2015. For more information or to submit an idea, visit walk21vienna.com.
At the request of the Tristan da Cunha government, RIBA has launched of a design competition in search of ideas for a more self-sustainable and innovative future of Edinburgh of the Seven Seas community on the remotest inhabited island in the world.
Situated 1,750 miles southwest of Cape Town in the South Atlantic Ocean, Tristan da Cunha’s activity is largely governed by the severe maritime weather. Only reachable some 60 days annually, the island’s community of Edinburgh of the Seven Seas is home to 270 people. Of the four islands Tristan da Cunha contains (two of which are UNESCO World Heritage sites), it is the only one to support a permanent residence.
Bob Borson of Life of an Architect has announced the 2015 Architect Playhouse Competition, now in its fourth year. The competition is free to join, open to everyone, and assists the Dallas CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates), an organization that helps abused and neglected children. Organized and funded by Borson, it asks participants to design a playhouse that embodies originality, creativity, and can be constructed for $5000 or less. The winners (between two and five entries) will have their designs built and displayed at the Dallas CASA Parade of Playhouses, where they will be raffled to benefit the nonprofit organization. Registration is open now and designs must be submitted by April 20th. Winners will be announced May 4th. Check out last year's winners after the break, and visit here to register.
Harbour Landing Ferry Terminal / KBMP Architects, West 8, Greenburg Consultants. Image Courtesy of WATERFRONToronto
Waterfront Toronto has unveiled five proposals for the Jack Layton Ferry Terminal and Harbour Square Park design competition. The finalists were tasked with transforming Toronto'swaterfront by revitalizing the existing ferry terminal and park through an extensive gradually-implemented masterplan. See all five proposals, including designs by nARCHITECTS and Diller Scofidio + Renfro, after the break.
On January 13 2012, the Italian cruise ship Costa Concordia struck an underwater reef and capsized off Isola del Giglio, Tuscany, resulting in 32 deaths. In response to the disaster, matterbetter has announced the Concordia Lighthouse Competition, which invites teams of architects, students, engineers, and designers to "redefine a contemporary lighthouse typology."
Warsaw-based firms KAMJZ and Kurylowicz & Associates have shared their proposal for an office building in Poland, as part of the Gdańsk Central Business District Development Strategy. Centrally located at the interchange of several arterial roads and public transit routes, the complex will house a mixed-use program combining office spaces with retail, leisure, sport, and civic functions.
Learn more about the project and view selected images after the break.
This first-prize competition winning proposal by nps tchoban voss and Hager Partner gives new life to the municipal outdoor pool facility in Nauen, Germany. Commissioned for future construction, the recreation center brings a multi-functional layout to the complex, activating the space year round and providing the public with a recreational hub.
Recent graduates Bumjin Kim of MIT and Minyoung Kim of Columbia University have won first place in ARCHmedium's Lisbon Open Room competition for their project "Urban Platform".
One of 67 teams to enter the competition's "Young Architects" category, the team developed a modular urban intervention for Lisbon, Portugal, with the intention of "[providing] a more flexible space" for the city's urban centre. Learn more about the winning project and view selected images after the break.
AZPML and SHARE architects have won a competition to the design a new prominent office tower in Vienna. The building, Schnirchgasse 11 “aims to strike a balance between a distinctive identity for the complex and an efficient operation, both in terms of flexibility of use and environmental performance,” by taking on a rhomboidal shape derived from the site’s geometry and shade conditions.
More about the competition-winning scheme, after the break.
Winning Entry: Exhibition Space. Image Courtesy of UNESCO
Last month the UNESCO office in Afghanistan, in collaboration with the Afghan Ministry of Information and Culture, announced the winning design for the Bamiyan Cultural Center. An Argentina-based team, led by Carlos Nahuel Recabarren alongside Manuel Alberto Martínez Catalán and Franco Morero, was selected from 1,070 design entries from teams in 117 different countries. Now, all of these submissions will be posted in an online gallery on the Bamiyan Culture Centre website for the next three months. “The competition achieved beyond expectation and contributed to portray a new and positive image of the culture sector in Afghanistan. This exhibition aims to showcase the extraordinary effort that the architectural community and each and every applicant put into this competition,” writes UNESCO.
With generous financial aid from the Republic of Korea, the culture center will be built on land adjacent to the Cultural Landscape and Archaeological Remains of Bamiyan World Heritage property. The center aims to promote art, history, music and community interaction. When evaluating the submissions the seven-member jury focused on “design principles emphasizing innovation, community needs, environmental consciousness, sustainability, and connection to the natural and cultural landscape of the Bamiyan Valley.”
Read on after the break for a round-up of images from some of the most interesting, unusual and unique proposals. You can search by ID number, Team Leader or Country to view the full project board with descriptions, renders and plans on the online gallery.
First Place: "EMPTY" / Zigeng Wang. Image Courtesy of Blank Space
The 2015 Fairy Tales competition, hosted by Blank Space, has drawn to a close with four winners and 11 honorable mentions emerging victorious. Now in its second year, the competition attracted over 1,200 entries from 65 countries and challenged participants in a number of fields to design architectural projects inspired and accompanied by fictional stories.
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