This open international competition aims to collect design works of public space for hutongs in Baitasi neighbourhood. Shortlisted works will be implemented in a simulated way during Beijing Design Week, and the winning designs will be selected by professional Jury and residents in the neighbourhood and will be made available as reference of the revitalization development in Baitasi neighbourhood, in a broader old-town area of Beijing and even in old towns throughout China.
Title
Call for Entries: BAITASI 2017 International Design CompetitionType
Competition Announcement (Ideas)Organizers
Registration Deadline
August 01, 2017 12:00 AMSubmission Deadline
August 18, 2017 10:00 AMVenue
Beijing, China
1. Design Competition
As a part of BAITASI Remade Project, following the Baitasi Courtyard Renewal International Design Competition in 2016, Baitasi Remade Project and Xinjiekou Sub-district Administrative Office unite again to launch a design competition in 2017.
The characteristics of Courtyard Renewal International Design Competition will remain for this design competition in 2017.
“Specific Locations” + “Specific Issues” + “Field Application”
The design task focuses on the public space of Baitasi neighbourhood and hutongs, aims at solving problems existing in old towns through design proposals, improving living environment for residents and the neighbourhood, further making the landscape of hutongs in Baitasi neighbourhood better, optimizing the residence and living state of old towns and refreshing neighbourhood of oldtowns.
This open international competition aims to collect design works of public space for hutongs in Baitasi neighbourhood. Shortlisted works will be implemented in a simulated way during Beijing Design Week, and the winning designs will be selected by professional Jury and residents in the neighbourhood and will be made available as reference of the revitalization development in Baitasi neighbourhood, in a broader old-town area of Beijing and even in old towns throughout China.
2. Organization
Sponsor
Xinjiekou Sub-district Administrative Office, Xicheng District
Beijing Huarong Jinying Investment & Development Co. Ltd.
Undertaker
World Architecture Magazine
3. Competition Subject
Design Fair
White Pagoda (Baita) of Miaoying Temple (Miaoying Si) was once the icon of the Yuan Dynasty’s capital, Dadu, and now is an architectural landmark within the Second Ring Road of modern Beijing. The Baitasi neighbourhood surrounding the MiaoyingTemple, whose history can be traced to Yuan Dynasty, is one of the important historic blocks in the central urban area of Beijing. Baitasi neighbourhood, with a history of nearly 800 years, keeps the texture, appearance and pattern of hutongs as ever. Baitasi neighbourhood, with historical profundity and cultural connotation, has become a most characteristic block in Beijing and has been listed among 33 historical and cultural protection areas of the old town of Beijing.
At the same time, there are many dangerous old single-story houses in Baitasi neighbourhood. Moreover, the Baitasi neighbourhood is featured with high population density, lack of public facilities, increasingly worsened regional appearance. Therefore, the appearance and environment of hutongs need to be renovated urgently. BAITASI Remade Program was formally put forward in 2015 and aimed to establish a long-term mode for improving quality of life in the neighbourhood and reviving regional culture through updating old towns by the means of design
“Three-Year Special Action Plan of Renovating Alleyway Environment in Xicheng District” of 2017 specifies that all-around renovation and improvement for alleys in Xicheng District should be implemented to create a “beautiful, civilized and orderly” alley environment. Meanwhile, the plan also specifies the “ten things to do and ten things not to do” standard related to environment renovation and improvement.
In the above context, to further improve the appearance, environment and landscape for hutongs in Baitasi neighbourhood, livelihood for people and overall quality for construction and administration, to take advantage of work carried out by BAITASI ReMade Program and to extend working path for “on-the-spot improvement”, the “Design Fair” project attempts to solve the “on-the-spot improvement” problems so as to have a practical pilot effect, to face challenges with creative ideas and design, and to involve local residents in the regional communal construction.
Design Fair aims to deal with practical demands related to residents’ life, natural and cultural environment, shaping and improvement of public space, focuses on fixtures and structures, public facilities and urban furniture, environment nodes and landscape elements, meets the specific requirements put forward by the sub-district administration office and residents, establishes a platform for livelihood, solves practical problems related to landscape and residential environment in hutongs through design competition, design and reconstruction, improves the environment and appearance of hutongs, creates neighbourhood suitable for living, and at the same time explores the ways of improving update and protection of hutongs and alleys in old towns.
This activity aims to collect design schemes for public space of hutongs. Feasible shortlisted projects s which meet practical requirements will be entrusted to a third party for field implementation, and will be made available as reference of the revitalization development in the Baitasi neighbourhood, the broader old-town area of Beijing and even in old towns throughout China.
Design Requirements
Understand the background, infrastructures and practical living requirements of Baitasi neighbourhood, choose one hutong from the eight hutongs, and carry out design for the chosen hutong according to its specific requirements and status.
General Requirements
1 Parking for motor vehicles
2 Parking for shared bikes
3 Hanging clothes to dry
4 Wall beautifications (it should be removable, and the protruding part should not exceed the wall cornice)
5 Beautification designs for attachments, boxes and pipelines on the wall
6 Design for fencing outside windows
7 Design for garbage classification & disposal stations
8 Design for green plantation
9 Design of gully grid
10 VI system design (signs for signage system, house number plates, restrooms and others, shall not occupy city planning space or affect use of roads)
For more Design Requirement and Details, please download the files via http://pan.baidu.com/s/1o8DMBHK
4. Submission of works
Language and measuring unit
The official languages for scheme submission are Chinese and English (the languages of the title and main design specification must include English). Participants from Mainland China can provide drawings both in Chinese and English, while those from Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan as well as the overseas participants can provide the drawings in English. Please submit the drawings and relevant documents in electronic form. The measuring unit is the metric system.
Requirements and specifications
(1) Specification: Please lay out horizontally in the drawing format of 420mm×297mm. Each work must be composed of 4 drawings. The result shall be submitted in a single PDF document (including 4 drawings), the total file size shall be less than 20Mb, and the file name shall be the registration number; please mark the “Registration No.-Hutong No. (A, B,C…)-Drawing No. (1,2,3…)”, e.g. (0451-G-1) with 15mm-high font at the top left corner of each drawing.
(2) Contents: The Chinese and English design specifications shall indicate the Hutong location of the design at obvious position, and shall list relevant economic indicators and the cost estimation; each drawing must include the plan, elevation, section, axonometric projection or perspective; for the public articles and urban furniture design of the hutongs, each drawing shall include the main views, three orthographic views, utilization diagram or scene graph, and can include the analysis chart, renderings, detailed drawing, physical model photo, etc.
Requirements on shortlisted works
(1) The shortlisted works, after being further designed, should be constructed in simulation with self-selected simple materials within limited budget before September 22.
(2) The exhibition construction will be dismantled on October 8.
5. Scheme submission procedure
(1) This is an open competition with open registration and open scheme collection. There are no qualification restrictions to the participants. You can apply personally or as a group. There is no restriction to the number of members in each group. Your names are subject to those on the design team information confirmation letter.
(2) Each team shall specify only one contact person.
(3) Download the registration form, design team information confirmation letter, originality declaration and letter of authorization, site materials and relevant drawings via Baidu Cloud (http://pan.baidu.com/s/1o8DMBHK).
(4) The deadline for the registration is August 1, 2017, and the registration fee is RMB 300/group. See the registration form the detailed remittance information. After the fee is paid, you will get the unique registration number. Once the fee is paid, it will not be returned.
(5) Please send the electronic editions of the registration form and the transaction invoice of the registration fee to the registration email address: baitasi2017@163.com,and check the registration number in the reply email sent to your email address within two weeks after the registration succeeds.
(6) The competitors must submit the following electronic files: drawings (PDF), scanned copy (PDF) of the design team information confirmation letter, scanned files(PDF) of the originality declaration and letter of authorization. Please write “2017BTS + Registration No.” in the title of the email sent to the email address: baitasi2017@163.com.The deadline for the submission is 10:00a.m., August 18, 2017 (Beijing Time). The Organization Committee will not accept works in paper edition.
(7) The Jury will score the works, and the shortlisted works will be chosen based on the result, and announced by September 1, 2017.
(8) The construction of the shortlisted works will be simulated on the site, and the winners will be announced at the Final Review Meeting during Beijing International Design Week.
(9) If you have any questions about the scheme submission, please inquire by sending email to baitasi2017@163.com, and the Organization Committee will reply as soon as possible.
6. Rules
- Individuals or groups registered for this competition will be considered as agreeing with and abiding by the contents and rules of the competition; the Organization Committee reserves the final right to the interpretation of these rules;
- The competitors must provide the final electronic edition of the drawings by the deadline for drawing submission. The electronic drawings must not include any text or patterns related to the designer’s name, institute or working unit; those which violate the rules will be disqualified;
- The works must not be submitted to another contest or public event at the same time; works which were used on other design competitions or creative ideas published on other public occasions must not be used for the submission for this competition;
- Drawings and images related to competition submissions cannot infringe on the copyrights of others; responsibility for any such resulting controversy shall be taken by the infringing competitor, who will be disqualified;
- Competitors retain the right of authorship of their competition works; however, competition organizers and sponsors have the right to exercise copyrights other than authorship rights over competition works;
- The Jury members must not register or be the tutors to students register in the competition, and the teams supervised by the Jury members will be disqualified.
7. Timetable
June 30, 2017: Release of the BAITASI 2017 International Design Competition
August 1, 2017: Deadline of registration
August 18, 2017: Submission deadline of the entries August 25, 2017: Initial review finished, Jury members submit score sheets, and result calculated by the Committee
September 1, 2017: The list of the shortlisted works is announced
September 22, 2017: The construction of the shortlisted works is simulated on site
September 23, 2017-October 8, 2017: Exhibition during the Beijing Design Week
2018: Feasible schemes will be further entrusted to be implemented by the Sponsor
8. Jury
(In alphabetical order)
DING Yuan | Director and Professor of Landscape Design Department, Institute of Architecture, China Central Academy of Fine Arts
LIU Qian | Deputy Director and Office Director of Xinjiekou Street Party Working Committee, Xicheng District
MA Sai | Vice Dean and Professor of Academy of Arts & Design, Tsinghua University
SHI Weiliang | President of Beijing Municipal Institute of City Planning
WANG Yuxi | General Manager of Beijing Huarong Jinying Investment Development Co., Ltd.
ZHANG Li | Vice Dean and Professor of School of Architecture, Tsinghua University; Editor-in-Chief of World Architecture Magazine
ZHU Yufan | Vice Director and Professor of Department of Landscape, School of Architecture, Tsinghua University
9. Awards
Three winners will be selected. The winning teams will be awarded with RMB 20,000 and an Award Certificate; their works will be published in World Architecture Magazine.
The designers of all shortlisted works will receive RMB 4000 as the construction simulation fund and the Award Certificate; and their works will be published in World Architecture Magazine.
10. Implementation of works
The implementation of the shortlisted works will be simulated in Beijing Design Week. If they meet the needs of the streets, their implementation will be further entrusted.
11. Contact information
Address: 208, North Tower, Building of School of Architecture, Tsinghua University, Beijing, World Architecture Magazine.
Tel: (010) 62781318
Email Address for competition submission and enquires: baitasi2017@163.com
BAITASI Remade Project
As a part of BAITASI Remade, the organizers will hold an international design competition to improve the BAITASI neighbourhood.
About BAITASI
Baitasi (the White Pagoda Temple) is a historical and cultural preservation zone covering about 37 hm2 located just across Beijing’s Financial Street in Xicheng district. To its north is the Xizhimen business district and to its west is the Fuchengmen commercial area and the Sanlihe administrative district. The Xidan and Xisi shopping areas border the temple to its east. Baitasi remains a peaceful cultural oasis for the public in the heart of new Beijing.
The Baitasi Historical and Cultural Preservation Zone can be traced back to the Yuan Dynasty and is preserved to this day through the Ming and Qing dynasties. It is the western starting point on the route to Chaofu, across the capital, and has a profound historical heritage with rich cultural connotations. The area is home to Beijing’s most ancient attractions, including the MiaoyingTemple (the White Pagoda Temple) constructed during the Yuan dynasty; the Archive of Buddhist Texts; the Lu Xun Museum built around the former residence of the philosopher; and the flower, bird, fish, and insect market. In the area are also seen a few republican-era courtyards reflecting a mix of Chinese and Western architectural styles. While the Xicheng district reflects ancient and civic culture and the homes of China’s great thinkers, the Baitasi Historical and Cultural preservation zone carries with it substantial historical significance; yet, unfortunately, many of the area’s old low-rise homes are lacking in municipal infrastructure and faced with modern challenges.
About BAITASI Remade
Baitasi is located in an old low-rise residential district of Beijing, one of the last remaining traditional residential areas in the capital. Currently, options are being explored to provide an alternative path for urban renovation and community revival.
With societal advancements, people have realized that standard large-scale demolition and construction of Beijing’s urban core is no longer viable. In its stead, small-scale, organic renovation models are attracting greater attention and use. The main objective of the Beijing Huarong Jinying Investment & Development Company’s “Baitasi Remade” project is to establish a new model for local residents with the aid of public participation and model enterprises and government leadership. It hopes to establish a sustainable population, revitalize the physical spaces, upgrade to basic energy sources, and re-engineer the public environment, thus fostering a cultural revitalization of the region as a whole. While maintaining the unique character of Hutong neighbourhoods and the residential functions of traditional courtyards, “Baitasi ReMade” will inject new elements of design as well as cultural and creative models to create a new cultural district comprehensively integrating tradition, innovation, and style.
