Form4 Architecture has been awarded first place in the 2013 WAN Civic Buildings Competition for a proposal that promises to be a "catalyst for metropolitan living" in Taichung, Taiwan. The new city center, titled "Luminous Moon-Gate," was selected out of 46 entries in the "Future Schemes" category.
This competition is a call for methods and forms that inspire hope and dreams through new technology, creative logic, and aesthetic intuition. Its purpose is to encourage the development of new design methods for better architecture and better cities (and, broadly, better design in general), and to recognize groups and individuals who have taken up this challenge.
Poland-based GowinSiuta Studio has won "Changing the Face 2013 Rotunda Warsaw," an annual design competition (now in its 13th year) to revamp the "sawtooth-topped Rotunda, a favorite landmark and meeting spot in central Warsaw." Alongside being awarded the $15,500 prize money, the practice also plans to see their proposal realized by 2015. The studio's proposal, entitled Modern Urban Oasis / Warsaw City Lounge, transforms the Rotunda into an integral part of a public square.
DawnTown, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting architecture in Miami, is announcing an open call for portfolios to their new competition: DAWNTOWN DESIGN/BUILD 2.
The Institute without Boundaries (IwB) is seeking curriculum partners for Connecting Divided Places, a project that investigates social, economic, environmental, and cultural divisions in cities. They are calling out to municipalities, not-for-profit organizations, and companies interested in working with them to address the wicked problems dividing their cities and regions. They are looking for organizations interested in collaborating on design solutions that make for more balanced, healthier, and resilient city-regions of the future. They want to know what challenges your city is facing.
The American Institute of Architects New York State (AIANYS) has announced a new competition celebrating design and professional excellence in publicly funded buildings in New York State. The Excelsior Awards will provide a model for future state-funded building design and professional practice and advocacy.
Building Trust International is very pleased to announce their 5th Design Competition. The challenge is to design a health facility that can easily be relocated. This could be in response to a natural disaster, or to inoculate and educate in areas with specific medical emergencies or outbreaks, it will also help aid agencies that don't have the funds or means to purchase land, offering short term leasing opportunities.
Eight international teams have been shortlisted to design a 100-meter tall Observation and Broadcast Tower for the historic city of Çanakkale. The competition, now in its second stage, has required each team to develop their schematic designs before submitting them to the jury in February.
As stated by the competition brief, “competitors are strongly recommended to consider the technological requirements of the broadcasting tower and recreational potentials of a public entity with equal emphasis.” Once complete, the forested hilltop site will be transformed into a public destination, offering exhibition spaces, recreational facilities and observation decks, in addition to an “iconic antenna tower.”
The complete shortlist includes:
The Curate Award recognizes that we are all curators. Everything we choose and collect to surround us has meaning. Great curatorial expressions and ideas on how to exhibit can be communicated in all artistic forms and media, by anyone, whether in the art world or not. Participation in the competition is not limited to aspiring or established curators; anyone with a great concept is encouraged to enter.
In collaboration with the Union of Estonian Architects, the Arvo Pärt Centre has announced a two-stage competition for designing a building for the Arvo Pärt Centre in Laulasmaa, near Tallinn. The aim of the competition is to find the best architectural solution for the building, which will house the Arvo Pärt archive at its core.
The competition will be carried out in two stages. The deadline for the first stage is 22 January 2014, when the applications for participating need to be submitted. The second stage will see up to 20 architect teams complete design concepts with technical drawings.
The total prize fund for the two-stage competition is 30,000 euros, and the final results will be announced on 20 June 2014. More after the break.
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The design for the Qom Central Building of Construction Engineering Organization by Partar Architecture Studio began with “a key question that discussed the feasibility and impossibility of imagining a unique design which best suits the spatial quality of traditional Iranian architecture." Partar’s design process was based on this challenge, and has led to an interesting proposal that attempts to bridge the art of architecture and the technology of construction using an understanding of the phenomenological aspects of Persian art and ornament, coupled with traditional Persian building techniques.
Pink Floyd, "considered to be one of the icons of revolutionary, progressive music," was adept at using "sonic experiments and philosophical lyrics to cross social boundaries and redefine values." The international design competition A House for Pink Floyd similarly aimed to translate that philosophy into a built architecture, the focus of which being on "creating any object of architecture that transcends rules and standardization and innovates through itself."
With no constraints to site, program or size Arqbauraum's entry, "based on man meeting with himself, and doing so through the senses," aims to "return to man a place for him to pulse with the world, a space that appealed to solidarity and to the strength of the use of words."
Architecture for Humanity Denver (AfH) and Open Tech Forever (OTF) are demonstrating that it is possible to build an open source, compressed earth block (CEB) house that meets the Living Building Challenge 2.1 standard.
To commemorate its Bicentennial, the Chilean government has launched an initiative called "Bicentennial Legacy" to regenerate, revitalize, and consolidate the public spaces, heritage sites, and urban icons of the country.
Young architects and designers are invited to submit work to the annual Architectural League Prize Competition. Projects of all types, either theoretical or real, and executed in any medium, are welcome. The jury will select work for presentation in lectures, digital media, and an exhibition opening in June 2014. Winners will receive a cash prize of $1,000. A catalogue of winning work will be published by The Architectural League and Princeton Architectural Press.
Five architect and landscape architect-led teams have been shortlisted to redesign and re-imagine the grounds of London’s world famous Natural History Museum. The major project will aim to “create an innovative exterior setting that matches the architectural excellence of the iconic 19th Century site, whilst ensuring that the Museum grounds are easily accessible to all visitors.”
Without further ado, the leaders of the five teams are:
The call for entries for the eighth edition of the European Prize for Urban Public Space is now open. This honorific competition has been held on a biennial basis since 2000 with the aim of recognising, encouraging and publicising examples of good practice in the ways in which European cities are dealing with the many challenges they must confront. Undergoing processes of exponential growth and far-reaching transformation, these cities are facing the fact that the age-old democratic ideal of striving for cohabitation on an equal basis within a plural society is in jeopardy.
BIG has been announced as the winner of an international design competition for the new Cité du Corps Humain (Museum of the Human Body) in Montpellier. Rooted in the city’s long medical history and world renowned medical school, which dates back to the 10th century, the 7,800 sqm museum will “explore the human body from an artistic, scientific and societal approach through cultural activities, interactive exhibitions, performances and workshops.”
It’s design, orchestrated by eight undulating forms which “weave together” to create an underlying continuous space, will serve as a mediator between nature and city - Charpak Park and the Montpellier city hall. Stunning views, access to daylight and critical internal connections will all be revealed by the Museum’s shifting form.
Read on for more from the architect...
Besting a shortlist of four, Ann Beha Architects has been selected by the Department of State’s Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations (OBO) to rehabilitate the U.S. Embassy in Athens’ chancery facility and campus. The mid-century facility, a protected architectural landmark, was originally designed by the famed Bauhaus architect Walter Gropius with the consulting architect Pericles A. Sakellarios.
UPDATE: The video detailing Diller Scofidio + Renfro's winning proposal for Moscow's Zaryadye Park has just been released. In it the three partners discuss the central idea behind the proposal - "Wild Urbanism" - in which plants and people are of equal importance and "nature and architecture are merged into a seamless whole." They explain how each of Russia's varied landscapes - its tundra, steppe, forest, and wetland - will be imported to the park and overlapped into "enfolded nodes" that will house sustainable, artificial micro-climates that will allow for year-round use of the park.
The Strelka Institute has announced the winner of the two-stage international competition to design Zaryadye park, Moscow's first park in over 50 years: Diller Scofidio + Renfro.
The consortium led by the New York-based firm, beat out an impressive shortlist. Russian-led TPO “Reserve” came second and MVRDV third.
Zaryadye Park, 13 acres of land just a minute’s walk from the Kremlin and the Red Square, is hoped to “project a new image of Moscow and Russia to the world.” See the renderings from Diller Scofidio + Renfro's winning proposal for Moscow's new and most important public space, after the break...
Shortly after the jury demanded further work to be done on the shortlisted proposals, The London School of Economics (LSE) has selected Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners (RSHP) to design the new Global Centre for the Social Sciences. Besting proposals from OMA, Hopkins, Heneghan Peng and Grafton, RSHP’s winning design was also voted the public’s favorite by an overwhelming margin.
Seoul-based architectural firms, PWFERRETTO + UTOP, were recently selected winners of a competition commissioning a new pottery museum in the Goheung region of South Korea. The winning entry extends the museum experience throughout the 97,000 square meter site and is organized around four concepts, "genius loci, traditional village, landmark roof and nature journey."
Industry leaders recently came together to announce the winners of the 2013 Architecture at Zero competition, which included five professional and one student awardee. The competition, which is co-sponsored by AIA San Francisco and Pacific Gas & Electric, focuses specifically on the design of zero-net energy structures.
While zero net energy is easily achieved in smaller buildings, it's a challenge in larger structures - and the competition challenged entrants to think big. With the aim of being as close to zero net energy as possible, competition entries had to be a mix of affordable and market rate housing units and include a full neighborhood-serving grocery store on the ground level.
Read more for the winners...
Out of the 11 high-profile, anonymous entries shortlisted in early October, only 3 are still in the running to design the Nobel Foundation’s new headquarters in Blasieholmen.
With completion aimed for 2018, the Nobel Center plans to become on of Stockholm’s most attractive destinations. Not only will the Center’s large auditorium host the annual Nobel Prize Award Ceremony, but it will offer key amenities to serve its surrounding public; In addition to a library, restaurant and retail shop, the Center will include spaces for exhibitions, school programs, events, and interdisciplinary meetings.
The proposals, listed in no particular order, are:
