eVolo

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“eVolo Magazine announced the winners of the 2010 Skyscraper Competition. Established in 2006, the annual Skyscraper Competition recognizes outstanding ideas that redefine skyscraper design through the use of new technologies, materials, programs, aesthetics, and spatial organization. The award seeks to discover young talents whose ideas will change the way we understand architecture and its relationship with the natural and built environments.

The Jury of the 2010 edition was formed by leaders of the architecture and design fields including: Mario Cipresso, Kyu Ho Chun, Kenta Fukunishi, Elie Gamburg, Mitchell Joachim, JaeYoung Lee, Adelaïde Marchi, Nicola Marchi and Eric Vergne. The Jury selected 3 winners and 27 special mentions among 430 entries from 42 countries.”
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Globalization, sustainability, flexibility, adaptability, and the digital revolution, were some of the multi-layered elements taken into consideration. The first place was awarded to a project for a vertical prison designed by architecture students Chow Khoon Toong, Ong Tien Yee, and Beh Ssi Cze, from Malaysia.

Their project examines the possibility of creating a prison-city in the sky, where the inmates would live in a “free” and productive community with agricultural fields and factories that would support the host city below.
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The recipients of the second place are Rezza Rahdian, Erwin Setiawan, Ayu Diah Shanti, and Leonardus Chrisnantyo, from Indonesia, whose project ‘Ciliwung Recovery Program’ aims to purify and repair the Ciliwung River habitat. The building is designed as an ingenious habitable machine that would collect garbage, purify water, and provide housing to thousands of people that live in the slums along the river.

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The third place was awarded to Ryohei Koike and Jarod Poenisch, from the United States, for their project ‘Nested Skyscraper’ that explores robotic construction techniques for a novel structure of carbon sleeves and fiber-laced concrete. The building is a system of multiple layers of composite louvers which thicken and rotate according to solar exposure, ventilation, and materials performance.

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Among the special mentions there are skyscrapers used as bridges that link different territories, cities in the sky powered by renewable energies, instant deployable buildings for disaster zones, skyscrapers that purify and desalinate sea water, or high-rises that commemorate historic dates. Other proposals create new pedestrian layers for existing cities. Some use the latest building technologies and parametric design to configure environmentally conscious self-sufficient buildings, while others create city-like buildings where different programs are mixed in one structure.

Special Mention: Hermit Mountains – Towers of Ancient Dreams

“We intend to create the mountains for hermits’ lives.

Hermit means to live in remote mountains with scenic landscape, to make oneself as the integral part of nature. This can be regarded as an essential idea in Chinese classical culture, as a standard literatus always dreamed to be a hermit or farmer to some extent. Usually, the literatus expressed their dreams on landscape paintings. In the near future, this dream could be realized in our skyscraper design in the world famous place of interest, Lijiang.”

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Special Mention: Sky Table – A Social Implant

“This project is not only about design, it is about people.

It is regular for US settlement system that people are separated, so natural people relations are broken. But relations, thoughts and ideas are the essence of people society, the basis of modern science, art, politic and all aspects of human life. I want to solve this problem by creating a large public space, the place where people would meet and relate with each other.”
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Chicago Architectural Club

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The Chicago Architectural Club is pleased to announce the 2010 Chicago Prize Competition: MINE THE GAP, a single-stage international design ideas competition dedicated to examining one of the most visible scars left after the collapse of the real estate market in Chicago: the massive hole along the Lake Michigan shore that was to have been—and may yet be—the foundation for a singular 150-story condominium tower designed by an internationally-renowned Spanish architect, a tower which was to have become a new icon for the city and region. What to do with the gap? Whether or not the project is resuscitated, what else can we do with this strategic and highly-charged site? Once the motor of real-estate speculation has stalled, what can we use to propel ourselves, and the discipline, forward?

Register Now

More information about entry fee, jury, deadlines and registration can be found at the Chicago Architectural Club’s webpage. Competitors may submit material online anytime between March 22, 2010 and May 3, 2010. Registration is open, and may be completed anytime before the deadline. The first prize is $ 3,500, the second is prize $ 1,500 and the third prize is $ 750. Up to 3 Honorable Mentions will be awarded.
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The City * The Arch * The River

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Contest organizers today announced the names of nine design teams selected to advance to the next round of the competition “Framing a Modern Masterpiece | The City * The Arch * The River” to invigorate the park and city areas surrounding the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, MO.
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The lead designers and design teams are:

* Behnisch Architekten, Gehl Architects, Stephen Stimson Associates, Buro Happold, Transsolar, Applied Ecological Services, Limno‐Tech, Herbert Dreiseitl, Arne Quinze, Peter MacKeith, Eric Mumford
* FIT (Fully Integrated Thinking) Team – Arup, Doug Aitken Studio, HOK Planning Group, HOK
* Michael Maltzan Architecture, Stoss Landscape Urbanism, Rafael Lozano‐Hemmer, Richard Sommer, Buro Happold
* Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, Steven Holl Architects, Greenberg Consultants, Uhlir Consulting, HR&A Advisors, Guy Nordenson and Associates, Arup, LimnoTech, Ann Hamilton Studio, James Carpenter Design Associates, Elizabeth K. Meyer, Project Projects
* PWP Landscape Architecture, Foster + Partners, Civitas, Ned Kahn, Buro Happold
* Quennell Rothschild and Partners and Diller Scofidio + Renfro, Vishkan Chakrabarti, Buro Happold, Atelier Ten, and Nicholas Baume
* Rogers Marvel Architects and Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects, Urban Strategies, Local Projects, Arup
* SOM, BIG, Hargreaves Associates, Jaume Plensa, URS
* Weiss/Manfredi, Magnusson Klemencic Associates, Mark Dion

“The Jury had the challenge of evaluating portfolios that represented designers of international and national recognition, emerging designers and design teams comprised of individuals that provide great promise as collaborators,” said competition manager Don Stastny, of StastnyBrun Architects. “The lead designers and design teams invited to participate in Stage II represent individuals and firms that have local, national and international ties – and have the potential to come up with extraordinary solutions to the design challenges presented by the City, the Arch and the River.”

The nine design leaders and teams now have five weeks to complete their teams and present full qualifications to the competition jury, Stastny said.
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In addition, local contractors, minority, disadvantaged, or women‐owned businesses and others are invited to meet Feb. 18 from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the Old Court House with representatives of the shortlisted design groups for potential teaming opportunities.

“This will be an excellent opportunity for these businesses to learn about the project and to begin considering participating,” Stastny said. “We look forward to a strong turnout.”

The competition, launched Dec. 8, 2009, has three stages. Portfolio submissions in Stage I included a description of the design team, a statement of design intent and philosophy of the lead designer, a profile of the design team and examples of their work. Each team was required to include representatives of architecture, landscape architecture, urban design, engineering and an artist.

Stage II involves the formation of the complete teams capable of executing the project, submission of required paperwork and a jury interview. This phase will culminate April 7, 2010, with the narrowing of the field to four or five teams.

The final stage, Stage III, to take place over the summer, will include a 90‐day design concept competition to explore the finalists’ design approach and test their working methodology.

The competition’s goal is to create an iconic setting for the international icon, the Gateway Arch, honoring its immediate surroundings and weaving connections and transitions from the city and the Arch grounds to the Mississippi River, including the east bank in Illinois.

The public will be invited to two events this spring and summer. A “meet the designers night” will be held in late April. This summer, there will be a public exhibition of the designs. Details will be available soon.

The final jury pick will be announced on Sept. 24, 2010. The project will be constructed by Oct. 28, 2015.

The new design is called for in the National Park Service’s General Management Plan, which was developed with extensive public input over an 18‐month period and approved Nov. 23, 2009.

The competition is sponsored by the CityArchRiver 2015 Foundation, which includes National Park Superintendent Tom Bradley, St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay, community leaders from Missouri and Illinois, academics, architects and national park advocates.

Financial contributions to the CityArchRiver 2015 Foundation are being handled by the Greater St. Louis Community Foundation, a public charity with more than $140 million in charitable assets and representing more than 350 individual funds.

Donors to the competition include: Emerson, Gateway Center of Metropolitan St. Louis (Malcolm W. Martin Memorial Park), Peter Fischer, Emily Rauh Pulitzer, Civic Progress, Wachovia Wells Fargo Foundation, Danforth Foundation, John F. McDonnell, Bryan Cave LLP, Greater St. Louis Community Foundation, National Park Foundation, Monsanto, Alison and John Ferring, Bank of America, David C. Farrell and others who choose to remain anonymous.
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A full list of registrants for the competition, “Framing a Modern Masterpiece: The City + The Arch + The River 2015,” has also been released. It can be found with other competition information at www.cityarchrivercompetition.org.
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Architectural Association School of Architecture

The ‘Concrete Geometries’ Research Cluster at the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London is seeking submissions of work from the fields of art, architecture, sciences and humanities that explore the relationship between spatial form and social or aesthetic processes.
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Over the past decade architecture has witnessed a revolution in design and fabrication tools available to the discipline that has changed the way we imagine space forever. Digital design methods for form finding and implementing have produced an influential body of work, preoccupied with the development of novel, complex and heterogeneous spatial form.

This form, simply referred to as ‘geometry’, is often evaluated through performance driven issues emphasising the environmental and structural parameters that shape it. Yet, throughout history, the emergence of new spatial forms and with them new architectural styles, bear significance beyond advances in technology but in relation to what they offer to the human condition in terms of aesthetic and social processes – issues currently under-represented by the discourse.

‘Concrete Geometries’ is a work-in-progress term derived from the notion of ‘concrete’ as ‘existing in reality or in actual experience’ or ‘capable of being perceived by the senses’ and the abbreviation ‘geometries’ for the constructed environment. ‘Concrete Geometries’ like Concrete Science, Concrete Music or Concrete Art is interested in the particular and immediate, concerned with actual use or practice. ‘Concrete Geometries’ is an attempt to expand this current debate.

Set up as an cross-disciplinary Research Cluster at the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London, ‘Concrete Geometries’ investigates the intimate relationship between spatial form and human processes – be they social or aesthetic – and the variety of new material entities this relationship might provoke. By bringing together art, architecture, sciences and humanities, we hope to connect fields of knowledge that are currently fragmented through disciplinary boundaries.
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The call is structured into two thematic fields

A: Geometry and Perception
B: Geometry and Social Processes

The cluster wishes to address such questions as:
- How is spatial form socially and experientially relevant?
- How does it choreograph human processes?
- Can it stimulate emotional or behavioral responses or create particular aesthetic experiences?
- Can social cultures be pattered through formal configurations of space?
- How can the articulation of a space support acts of inhabitation, appropriation or other types of direct
engagement?
- How do we perceive space visually and bodily?
- What social or aesthetic consequences does the formal articulation of space have for our everyday lives and the production of reality?
- What kind of associations emerge between spatial form and social actors?

To advance this research, we are seeking submissions that provide practical or theoretical contribution. Submissions may include works of art or design, architectural projects or case studies, urban studies, research papers, scientific experiments and other forms of inquiry that address the objectives outlined.

10 Projects and 10 Texts will be selected by the curatorial board for inclusion in an exhibition, symposium and publication at the Architectural Association School of Architecture in 2010.

The call is open to students, practitioners and researchers from the fields of Architecture, Fine Art, Design, Urban Design, Geography, Neuroscience, Behavioral Psychology, Spatial Cognition, Social Science, Ethnography, Anthropology and other disciplines concerned with such questions.
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Deadline for submissions: 12th April 2010
Notification of participants: 3rd May 2010
Exhibition: 12th May – 29th May 2010
Public Symposium: October 2010
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Curatorial board:
+ Alain Chiaradia, Urbanist, Director Design Economics Partnership
+ Prof. Dr. Alexa Färber, European Ethnologist, Humboldt University Berlin
+ Olaf Kneer, Director Concrete Geometries Research Cluster, The Architectural Association
+ Kieran Long, Author, Editor and Architecture Critic
+ Prof. Dr. R. Beau Lotto, Neuroscientist, Institute of Ophthalmology, University College London
+ Marianne Mueller, Director Concrete Geometries Research Cluster, The Architectural Association
+ Stefano Rabolli Pansera, Director Beyond Entropy Research Cluster, The Architectural Association
+ Michael Weinstock, Director Emergent Technologies, The Architectural Association
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Submission formats:
All material to be submitted by email only. Submissions in English language only.
Please place the word “submission” in the subject line of your email.
Maximum email size is 15MB.

Text-based submissions:
+ Abstracts: maximum of 300 words including title / Manuscripts: maximum of 5000 words including title.
Text should be submitted as an attachment in Microsoft Word .doc or .rtf format and can be accompanied
by relevant images in PDF or JPEG format
+ Short biography, including the author’s name, mail, e-mail address and phone number and the thematic
field you wish to contribute to.
Please note that any writing should be accessible to a general audience.

Image-based submissions:
+ Maximum of 10 images or drawings per project
+ drawings to be submitted PDF format, images as JPEGs.
Guide size A4 width at 300dpi resolution
+ Statement: maximum of 600 words including title describing the work as an attachment in Microsoft
Word .doc or .rtf format
+ Short biography, including the author’s name, mail, e-mail address and phone number and the thematic
field you wish to contribute to.

All material should be emailed to:
submission@concrete-geometries.net
For further information visit www.concrete-geometries.net
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AIA NY – Figment

“FIGMENT, one of Governors Island’s key cultural partners, has joined forces with The Emerging New York Architects Committee (ENYA) of the American Institute of Architects New York Chapter and the Structural Engineers Association of New York (SEAoNY) to sponsor a competition to design and construct an architectural pavilion for the 2010 summer season on Governors Island, the City of Dreams Pavilion. The registration deadline is February 8, and the deadline for entries is February 16.”
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“Since Governors Island first opened to the public in 2004, the attention and interest that this new public place has received has increased exponentially. In 2009, over 275,000 people visited the island through its summer season (late May to mid October) to engage in a variety of arts and cultural programs, as well as to enjoy summertime activities like picnicking and bike riding on the island.

FIGMENT, one of the island’s key cultural partners, has joined forces with The Emerging New York Architects Committee of the American Institute of Architects New York Chapter (ENYA) and the Structural Engineers Association of New York (SEAoNY) to sponsor a competition to design and construct an architectural pavilion for the 2010 summer season on Governors Island, the City of Dreams Pavilion.

The City of Dreams Pavilion will be a gathering place for people to meet, learn about the arts programs on the island, be able to enjoy a planned or impromptu performance or lecture, and experience the interaction of art and the historic context of Governors Island.

Our theme for the pavilion, the City of Dreams, points toward the future. If we imagine a future New York City where anything is possible, what would it look like? In our wildest and most optimistic dreams, what is the future of the city?

The current state of the world is such that both the economy and natural resources are limited in ways we have never experienced in our lifetimes. A new way of thinking is necessary to solve the problems that the world faces. Inevitably, the result will be a change in harmful habits that have driven the world to its current state. One place to start to activate and energize these changes in within the architecture and design community, where the movement toward sustainable design has only scratched the surface of what is possible and necessary.

Instead of a typical design competition, the City of Dreams Pavilion asks entrants to consider how they will construct this temporary structure in the most efficient and sustainable way possible. Entrants should consider the entire lifecycle of building materials in their submission. Whether they do this by identifying companies that produce “cradle to cradle” products, garnering sponsorships from environmental or socially conscious groups, or re-using waste from construction sites, the materials used and the construction process should have as little impact as possible on the environment.

Entrants should submit where their materials are to come from, how their structures will be transported to the site, how they will eliminate waste during construction, and how they plan to disassemble and reuse the materials after the island closes for the season. In other words, entrants are being asked to consider using “borrowed” materials—from existing construction sites and from places where the materials can be returned after the season is over and the temporary structure is disassembled.

In the end, the goal is to create a pavilion that has net zero impact and that serves as a prototype for a new, truly sustainable, way of thinking about design and construction.
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Essential requirements of the proposal are as follows:

* Create a gathering place for 50 or more people, providing shade and rain cover
* Consider the full lifecycle of the materials used—where they come from and where they will go after the island closes for the 2010 season
* Provide for the design and construction of the project, including sourcing all materials
* All materials must be able to be transported on the Coursen Ferry (12’6” clearance)
* The structure must be freestanding, and cannot penetrate the ground to a depth greater than 6”
* The design must be approved by the Governors Island Preservation and Education Corporation (GIPEC), the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC), and the NYC Department of Buildings prior to construction
* Include a budget that anticipates all costs of fabrication, transportation, installation, and de-installation
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Optional considerations:

* How will the pavilion support educating the public about arts programs on the island?
* How will the pavilion support informal performances or lectures?
* What other kinds of activities could take place in the pavilion?
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Process:

* Submissions open: January 1, 2010
* Registration deadline: February 8, 2010
* Deadline for entries: February 16, 2010
* Notification of finalists, with comments: March 1, 2010
* Finalist proposal revisions due: March 31, 2010
* Selection of winner: April 15, 2010
* Construction start: May 10, 2010
* Construction completion: by June 5, 2010
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Selection criteria that the jury will consider:

* Proposal feasibility and buildability
* Lifecycle considerations and overall environmental impact
* Adherence to theme
* Design impact
* Innovative use of materials
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To enter:

Register by February 8, 2010, by following the links below. The fee to enter is a tax deductible donation to FIGMENT, which will be applied to the costs of building and maintaining this project, as follows:

* Student entries – $20
* Individual entries – $50
* Group entries – $80

Entries are encouraged from individuals or teams of architects and non-architects of any age or experience level, provided they are prepared to carry out the project. Attribution of the winner and finalists will be given based on the names of the individuals who enter, rather than to any firm with whom they are affiliated.

The final entry should be submitted via email by registered entrants by February 16, 2010, and should include a total of three (3) 11”x17” pages in PDF format. The first two (2) pages should detail the proposed design, and the third page should include supporting documentation such as materials, budget, construction schedule, etc. The entries should not disclose the names of the entrant(s) in the PDF file, only in the covering email.”
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Check all the details at FIGMENT
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Pruned

Coinciding with the next issue (#18) of Kerb, the annual landscape architecture journal edited by students at RMIT, Melbourne, is their first ever international design competition, PlastiCity FantastiCity. The competition brief sounds wildly open ended, which could frustrate some but hopefully will only foster astonishing visions of the future city.
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Imagine the limitless world of a child. Creative boundaries have not yet been conceived, limits not yet understood. We want to see your city in all its wildness. A child can compose a world of immeasurable fantasy and pleasure yet the regulations that we currently adhere to have diminished our ability to make this our reality.

What if when you take a lunch break, parks literally broke from the earth, airlifted above the clouds escaping into the sunlight, landing within the hour leaving you at peace with the world?
PlastiCity FantastiCity is remodeling the constructed city at any chosen scale to become a world of playful opportunity, where nothing that manifests itself in today’s cities is present. This ideas competition seeks a multidisciplinary approach to discover new potentials and possibilities within the world and in particular for the Landscape Architecture profession.
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“MEtreePOLIS, by NYC-based HWKN’s contribution in Kerb 17: Is Landscape Architecture Dead?, envisions a genetically modified Atlanta, Georgia, a hundred years from now: stratified like a forest, with a canopy at the top collecting water and energy and a single-surface city floor below of bio-renewable moss with no roads or pavements.

Watch Matthias Hollwich and Marc Kushner give a tour of their “fantasticity”:

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The registration deadline is December 18, 2009, and the submission deadline for panels is January 18, 2010.
Winners will receive cash prizes in addition to page spreads in Kerb 18.

Source: Pruned
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American Institute of Architects (AIANY)

THREE FINALISTS ANNOUNCED FOR INTERNATIONAL SIDEWALK SHED DESIGN COMPETITION
Finalists Receive $5,000 to Further Develop Designs for Sidewalk Shed of the Future
Winner Will Receive $10,000 and See their Design Built in Lower Manhattan

The New York City Department of Buildings (DOB) and the New York Chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIANY) announced the three finalists for the urbanSHED International Design Competition. The finalists will now advance to the final and second stage of the unique competition, which seeks to create a new standard of sidewalk shed design that improves the pedestrian experience while maintaining or exceeding the required safety standards in New York City. The competition is being sponsored by DOB, AIANY, Alliance for Downtown New York, ABNY Foundation, Illuminating Engineering Society New York City Section (IESNYC) and New York Building Congress with additional support from the NYC Department of Transportation (DOT), the NYC Department of City Planning (DCP) and the Structural Engineers Association of New York (SEAoNY).

Of the 164 innovative designs submitted by architects, engineers, designers and students from around the world, the finalists are:

“urbanCLOUD”:
developed by Kevin Erickson, Brodie Bricker, Dan Campbell, Johann Riscahu and Mathew Strack of KNEStudio in New York, NY

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“Urban Umbrella”:
developed by Young Hwan Choi from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, PA

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“Tripod”:
developed by Jonace Bascon, AIA, Derrick Choi, AIA and Lynn Hsu, RA, of XChange Architects in Brookline, MA.

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“The quality of the submissions made selecting the finalists a difficult decision,” said Commissioner Robert LiMandri. “We were impressed with the new and creative ways the design teams re-imagined New York’s sidewalk shed. The rare opportunity that this competition has offered the global design community will have everlasting impact on this City’s streetscape, and I look forward to the next stage of the competition.”

“The AIA New York Chapter is gratified that the international design community responded to the urbanSHED call with creative solutions to redefining sidewalk safety and amenity,” said Rick Bell, Executive Director of AIANY. “The winning solutions and the honorable mentions focus attention on how our streetscape can be improved by attention to the basics of architecture: light, air, materials, structure and form. Design matters!”
Honorable mentions were awarded to: Tenzin M. Phuntsok of the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, MI; “Kit-Of-Parts,” developed by Craig Tooma, Asaf Yogev, Frank Scanlon, Tim Jagisch and Jiro Baskin of New York, NY; and “64.8265,” developed by Michael Sullivan of the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills. The finalists and three honorable mention winners were announced last night at the AIANY’s annual Heritage Ball at Chelsea Piers in Manhattan.

The submitted designs addressed New York City’s dense urban environment in a variety of innovative ways, from suspending the shed from the roof of the building to slanting the top of the shed away from the street to allow more light and space. Designs were evaluated by the competition’s jury on criteria such as safety, sustainability and constructability, as well as the impact on the streetscape and pedestrian experience, use of both natural light and the required electrical lighting, and improvements to structural components. Each finalist will receive $5,000 to further develop their design in Stage II of the competition. The grand prize winner, to be announced in December, will be awarded $10,000. As part of the top award, the Alliance for Downtown New York will facilitate the construction of a full-scale prototype on a job site in Lower Manhattan as part of its RE: Construction art program. All designs will be featured at www.urbanshed.org.

The jury was comprised of City Planning Commissioner Amanda M. Burden, FAICP; David M. Childs, FAIA, of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill; Craig Dykers, AIA MNAL, of Snøhetta; Buildings Commissioner Robert LiMandri; Jean Oei of Morphosis; Department of Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan; Craig Michael Schwitter, P.E., of Buro Happold North America; Frank Sciame of the New York Building Congress; and Ada Tolla of LOT-EK. Susanna Sirefman of Dovetail Design Strategists is the competition advisor overseeing the development and management of the competition.

The three finalists will receive recommendations from a technical advisory group of leading design and construction industry stakeholders led by: Fatma Amer, P.E., First Deputy Commissioner at DOB; Rick Bell, FAIA, Executive Director of the AIANY; Carl Galioto, FAIA, senior principal at HOK New York; Dan Eschenasy, P.E., Chief Structural Engineer at DOB; Ken Buettner of the Hoisting and Scaffolding Trade Association; John Delucia, Director of Street Reconstruction at the NYC Department of Transportation; Skye Duncan, Urban Designer at the NYC Department of City Planning; Andrew Hollweck, Vice President of the New York Building Congress; Laurie Kerr, Senior Policy Advisor on Buildings and Energy at the NYC Mayor’s Office of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability; Caleb McKenzie of IESNYC; Brigit Pinnell, Executive Director of the Jamaica Center BID; and David N. Rackmales, P.E., of U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Further information on the competition is available at www.urbanshed.org.

Contact: Tony Sclafani / Carly Sullivan (DOB) – (212) 566-3473
Emily Nemens (AIANY) – enemens@aiany.org or (212) 358-6126
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from Metropolis

METROPOLIS MAGAZINE ANNOUNCES NEXT GENERATION® 2010
DESIGN COMPETITION: ONE FIX FOR THE FUTURE (AND $10,000)

“Metropolis, the leading magazine for architecture and design professionals, announces the focus for its annual Next Generation® Design Competition: ONE DESIGN FIX FOR THE FUTURE. The winner receives a $10,000 prize and the kind of career-building attention that previous winners have enjoyed: they’ve become leaders in their fields, the subject of PBS TV series, and received notice from manufacturers, design firms, governments, important design schools, major NGOs – and, of course, clients.

Next Generation® 2010, sponsored by Herman Miller, is expected to attract hundreds of entries from around the world. Entries for ONE DESIGN FIX FOR THE FUTURE are due January 29, 2010.

Metropolis established the Next Generation® Design Competition in 2003 to publicize the conviction that drives everything that Metropolis does editorially: Good design is not a frill, not an expensive luxury, but is basic to how things work, from buildings, to cities, to consumer products and energy grids. Faced with great environmental challenges, we must all assure that the buildings and devices in our world are not only functional, but contribute to a sustainable way of life in the future. Everything we use, live in and work in must work better for this to happen. And great design can make this happen just as much as great engineering and great dedication.

ONE DESIGN FIX FOR THE FUTURE, the Next Generation® Design Competition, challenges designers of all kinds – architects, interior designers, product designers, landscape designers, graphic designers, and communication designers. We are looking for entries that propose ONE DESIGN FIX to our designed environment, fixes that can be applied to the way that the designer himself or herself may actually live today: the products we use at home or work, our home or workplace, our city, or any commercial application. We are looking for a design fix that may be quite humble or affect only a small thing, but which in scale, deployed throughout our society, can improve our future by making it more sustainable, energy-efficient, less damaging to the environment.

The winner will probably not be something that is explicitly environmentally re-engineered. It will be a brilliant, possibly quite small and – naturally – beautiful and elegant fix that will benefit the environment in the long run. The winning entries will display the entrant’s training, imagination and passion for improvement in a completely unexpected way. We are looking for first-rate design imagination applied to a difficult, overlooked or completely mundane problem – resulting in a solution that is practical, clearly thought out and presented, and will have real-world consequences for the human community.

“We are the leading design industry magazine with a culture of sustainability,” says Susan S. Szenasy, Metropolis editor-in-chief. “So we’re putting our money where our editorial heart is. We believe that the design profession has the tools and techniques that the world needs, and that good design is a way of solving problems.” Horace Havemeyer III, Metropolis’ publisher, adds: “Designers are fixers. And Metropolis wants to show how much good design – not just good intentions – can add to the building of a more sustainable world in the future.”

“We are particularly pleased that Herman Miller, Inc. is sponsoring Next Generation® 2010,” says Peter Lenahan from Metropolis magazine. “Herman Miller says that as a company, they design ‘furnishings and related services that improve the human experience wherever people work, heal, learn and live. We think that Herman Miller’s values are perfectly aligned with what Next Generation® 2010 ONE DESIGN FIX FOR THE FUTURE is trying to achieve.”
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The competition will be judged by a distinguished international panel facilitated by Ms. Szenasy, consisting of:
- Tama Daffy Day, FASID, IIDA, LEED AP, Principal at Perkins+Will
- Ellen Lupton, Director, Graphic Design MFA Program, Maryland Institute College of Art
- Joel Makower, Co-founder and chairman, Greener World Media and Clean Edge
- Christopher Sharples,R.A. Co-founder and Partner, SHoP Architects, P.C.

Entries for ONE DESIGN FIX FOR THE FUTURE are due January 29, 2010. For full information about how to enter, visit http://www.metropolismag.com/nextgen.
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About Next Generation®
The Metropolis Next Generation® Design Competition was created in 2003 to promote activism, social involvement, and entrepreneurship in young designers. Metropolis saw the need for a new type of competition, one that went beyond the usual beauty pageants for finished projects, a competition that would generate and reward ideas.

The Next Generation® winners and runners-up are a testament to the success of this mission. Each project recognized has embodied the core values of good design-incorporating systems thinking, sustainability, accessibility, materials exploration, historic relevance and technology-while forwarding our thinking on what designers can accomplish. The breadth of proposals has been stunning: building projects, urban planning and community building schemes, responsive interior environments, population pressure issues, new materials, ergonomics, product design, social and housing solutions, environmental management, water purity, and waste disposal in crisis situations and so on. The prize of $10,000 in seed money for developing the projects, plus the publicity they receive, have helped winners’ and runners-ups’ projects leap from the drawing board to implementation and production. http://www.metropolismag.com/nextgen

About Metropolis magazine
Professionals in all areas of design–architecture, interior design, landscape architecture, technology, industrial design, and graphic design–rely on Metropolis magazine each month for dynamic journalism that spans the gamut of their profession. The Metropolis Tour, hosted by more than 70 leading architecture and design firms in North America since 2007, explores today’s increasingly complex design issues with lessons of regional architecture and modern preservation, innovation and research in design, and features compelling Metropolis-produced films. Visit http://www.metropolismag.com to subscribe to the magazine and access a wealth of continually updated content and professional design resources.”
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from AIA NY

MORE THAN 270 PARTICIPANTS REGISTER FOR INTERNATIONAL SIDEWALK SHED DESIGN COMPETITION
Competitors from 28 Countries Are Submitting Designs for a Safer, More Appealing Sidewalk Shed in New York City

The New York City Department of Buildings (DOB) and the New York Chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIANY) today announced that 273 designers from around the world have registered for the urbanSHED International Design Competition. The competition seeks to develop a new standard of sidewalk shed design that improves the pedestrian experience while maintaining or exceeding the required safety standards in New York City. The registration period has ended, and proposals must be submitted no later than 5 p.m. on Friday, October 2. Of the 273 competitors, 177 are professional designers, including architects and engineers, and 96 are students. Nearly 20% of the registrants live outside the United States, including Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, Croatia, Denmark, Egypt, France, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, Russia, Serbia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan and the United Kingdom.

Sidewalk sheds are typically built over public space to protect pedestrians during construction activity, and there are currently more than 6,000 sidewalk sheds installed and in use today at New York City’s buildings and construction sites, spanning more than 1,000,000 linear feet. The competition, which was launched on August 13, is being sponsored by DOB, AIANY, Alliance for Downtown New York, ABNY Foundation, Illuminating Engineering Society New York City Section (IESNYC) and New York Building Congress with additional support from the NYC Department of Transportation (DOT), the NYC Department of City Planning (DCP) and the Structural Engineers Association of New York (SEAoNY).

“This competition provides a unique opportunity to re-design the landscape of New York City. We have received an amazing response, and it shows that there’s a worldwide interest in obtaining that opportunity,” said Buildings Commissioner Robert LiMandri. “This great City has continued to grow and evolve to better serve its people, and this one-of-a-kind competition is another step in that direction. Sidewalk sheds are a part of life in a vertical city, but there’s room for improvement when it comes to their safety, strength and design. I wish good luck to all of the participants and may the best design win.”

“A greener, safer and more street-smart sidewalk shed can transform the urban landscape,” said Rick Bell, the executive director of the AIANY. “Design matters, whether for grand new buildings, or for the street-side scaffolding that protects passers-by. Challenging the design community during the current construction lull to think about the future fits into the AIA New York Chapter’s commitment to encouraging the creation of livable and sustainable communities, for both today and tomorrow.”
“We are grateful to DOB for taking the lead on a competition that promises to help improve the look and feel of construction sites citywide,” said Richard T. Anderson, President of the New York Building Congress. “In a city that is constantly evolving, through new buildings and renovations in all five boroughs, construction sheds represent the building industry’s front door. The Building Congress and its Foundation have advocated just such a program that can enhance the relationship between the industry and the community at large, while supporting active construction sites.”

“IESNYC is excited to see how lighting design will enhance each of the hundreds of submissions and looks forward to the global perspectives on lighting that will emerge from all the submissions for the urbanSHED competition,” said Kelly Seeger, President of IESNYC.
“The overwhelming response to urbanSHED is just the latest example of the enthusiasm we’ve seen from all corners of the globe to bring a fresh perspective to our streets,” said DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan. “While sidewalk sheds might seem like a sacrifice we have to make, the entrants clearly see them as an opportunity to reshape our public space and improve our streetscape in unexpected ways.”

“Negotiating sidewalks should not be an ominous adventure,” said City Planning Commissioner Amanda M. Burden. “The design competition for a new city sidewalk shed provides a unique opportunity to rethink how these ubiquitous structures can bring amenity and delight to the pedestrian. I am anxious to review the design submissions to discover what creative and inventive minds have brought to this challenge.”
The competition is taking place in two stages. During Stage I, the jury will select up to three designs based on criteria such as the design’s safety, sustainability and constructability.
Designs also will be evaluated on their impact on the streetscape and pedestrian experience, use of both natural light and the required electrical lighting, and improvements to structural components. The finalists will be announced during AIANY’s annual Heritage Ball at Pier Sixty of Chelsea Piers on October 8. Following Stage I, all of the submitted designs will be featured on the competition’s Web site at www.urbanshed.org – including the finalists’ proposals.

The finalists, who will be awarded $5,000 each, will participate in Stage II, where they will further develop their designs to meet or exceed current technical and structural requirements to assure safety and stability. The finalists’ designs also must be cost-effective to produce, install, maintain, and reuse over time. During Stage II, the jury will select a winning design and announce their decision in December 2009. The winner, whose design will become an approved standard, will receive a $10,000 cash prize. As part of the top award, the Alliance for Downtown New York will facilitate the construction of a full-scale prototype on a job site in Lower Manhattan as part of its RE:Construction art program.

The jury is comprised of City Planning Commissioner Amanda M. Burden, FAICP; David M. Childs, FAIA, of the Municipal Arts Society; Craig Dykers, AIA MNAL, of Snøhetta; Buildings Commissioner Robert LiMandri; Jean Oei of Morphosis; Department of Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan; Craig Michael Schwitter, P.E., of Buro Happold North America; Frank Sciame of the New York Building Congress; and Ada Tolla of LOT-EK. Susanna Sirefman of Dovetail Design Strategists is the competition advisor overseeing the development and management of the competition.

The finalists will receive recommendations from a technical advisory group of leading design and construction industry stakeholders including: Fatma Amer, P.E., First Deputy Commissioner at DOB; Rick Bell, FAIA, Executive Director of the AIANY; Ken Buettner of the Hoisting and Scaffolding Trade Association; John Delucia, Director of Street Reconstruction at the NYC Department of Transportation; Skye Duncan, Urban Designer at the NYC Department of City Planning; Carl Galioto, FAIA, senior principal at HOK New York; Andrew Hollweck, Vice President of the New York Building Congress; Laurie Kerr, Senior Policy Advisor on Buildings and Energy at the NYC Mayor’s Office of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability; Caleb McKenzie of IESNYC; Brigit Pinnell, Executive Director of the Jamaica Center BID; and David N. Rackmales, P.E., of U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Competitors must submit illustrations of their design concept as it would appear when installed at the DOB headquarters at 280 Broadway in Manhattan. The current sidewalk shed installed at 280 Broadway exemplifies many of the complexities that shed contractors must face when erecting these structures, including heavy pedestrian traffic, car passenger access, street parking, public doorways, loading docks, parking garage entries, bus shelters, coffee carts, storefront, retail and DOT signage. Further information on the competition, including details on eligibility, schedule, and judging criteria, is available at www.urbanshed.org.

For more Information, please contact:
Tony Sclafani / Carly Sullivan (DOB) (212) 566-3473
Emily Nemens (AIANY) enemens@aiany.org or (212) 358-612
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from ReBurbia

“Inhabitat announced the Top 20 finalists of the Reburbia design competition to revitalize the suburbs. Reburbia invited architects, urban designers, renegade planners and imaginative engineers to design future-proof spaces and systems using the suburban structures of the present, from small-scale retrofits to large-scale restoration.”

Here is the Second Finalist:

T-Tree: A Towering Community of Sustainable Residences
Designed By: Adil Azhiyev, Ivan Kudryavtsev (Light+Space)

Project Description:

“For our T-trees social housing project we used the concept of a “tree”. It is not a totally new idea, others worked with the concept in the 70s and 80s. The whole visual image of a building is constructed with two interwoven design principles. The first is supporting a core – the central block that contains the elevator and the stairs. The second is the communication module. As the trunk of the tree, which is where the blocks are mounted a branch with leaves, in this project – it is communication modules.

With a future of increasing energy, living costs, climate change, high population density, urbanization it is no surprise that we are now seeking new solutions. Everyone wants to live in a green, sustainable environment in suitable house, with low construction costs.
The basis of the apartment is a cubic shaped living module with 3m sides.

At the request of the opportunities and possible variations of easy assembling, replacing, or adding extra module depenidng of a family needs, made in recycled materials (wood, plastic, glass, aluminium), each prefabricated module consist in build-in facilities, furniture, toilets, shower, kitchen etc. depending on function of each cell, also wind mills are additional modules on the top, produce energy which cover 25% of required energy.
The module remains unchanged, which makes assembling easier. For people with disabilities, entrance in each floor will be aligned with elevator entrance.”

Source: ReBurbia
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from ReBurbia

“Inhabitat just announced the Top 20 finalists of the Reburbia design competition to revitalize the suburbs. Reburbia invited architects, urban designers, renegade planners and imaginative engineers to design future-proof spaces and systems using the suburban structures of the present, from small-scale retrofits to large-scale restoration.”

Here is the First Finalist:

AIRBIA: A Suburban Airship
Designed By: Alexandros Tsolakis / Irene Shamma

Project Description:

“Airbia proposes a new eco-friendly and efficient transportation system linking the suburbs and city centre. Corresponding to the lack of coherent public transportation in the majority of the sprawling cities, a set of airships is designed to form an additional network over the urban tissue.

The proposed network bases its flexibility on the limited required infrastructure (just overground platforms) and facilities, easy hovering, landing and passenger access. The target is to develop a set of routes covering nodal points of the suburbia, travelling all the way to the borders of the city centre creating a ring around it. This network would potentially replace the use of cars and trains as transportation between the suburbs and the city centers.

Being inspired by the zeppelin technologies, the proposed airship engages the idea using helium to hover, which is proven to be a sustainable and economical approach.
The proposed airship has a capacity to carry 400 people and travel with an avarage of 150 km/h speed on a hight between 30 – 500 meters. Instead of having a major airship station, Airbia proposes a more dispersed network of station-platforms, that constist of staircases, lifts and ticket spaces. This way the system becomes much more flexible, since these drop off – pick up platforms can be placed almost anywhere in the city.”

Source: ReBurbia
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