Competitions

In Borders: A Very Short Introduction, Hagan Diener writes, "…every border has a story. Every line on a map, every maker in the landscape, was derived from some complex negation of power and culture." It is this potency of meaning that makes the physical and conceptual border such a fascinating site. The 2013-2014 ACSA administered and AISC sponsored Steel Design Student Competition challenged students to design a border crossing station addressing the complex factors of cross-border relationships, using structural steel as the primary material. Learn more about the competition and the winning projects after the break.

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PWFERRETTO, a practice split between London and Seoul, have won second place in a competition to design the National Park and Memorial in the Republic of Korea's capital. In materialising the boundary of the site into an "active monument" that reconnects the forgotten history of the park into "a memorial for the Catholic martyrs who lost their life fighting for their beliefs," the design hinges around the site's constant struggle between belonging and being excluded from the city it is a part of. This paradoxical "inclusive / exclusive" premise is the starting point for the designers' conceptual approach.

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The Atelier of the Future competition asked entrants to design a "creative and artistic vision of an atelier." Having been organised by FAKRO, in conjunction with A10 New European Architecture magazine, the proposals also were required to feature at least three FAKRO products (roof lights and windows) as part of a space which is functional, technologically astute, and able to "create the appropriate mood to stimulate creative visions."

With sixty two entries in total, a third of which were from Poland and 90% of which were from within Europe, the jury deliberated entries that "stimulated [their] imaginations and provoked a set of reflections about the possible futures of architecture and its fields for action." Divided among themes which ranged from projects associated with Industry, to Nature, to Water, entrants proposed solutions for "underwater resorts, skylofts, subterranean spaces, derelict areas, wheels of fortune and metabolist towers."

See the winning entries after the break.

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Faith!, the latest ideas-based challenge organised by Combo Competitions, asked participants to design a place of worship in London. In spite of the beguiling simplicity of the title, coupled with a typically open brief, the placed winners and three honourable mentions exhibit a diverse, exciting collection of conceptual drawings and visuals. With an interesting balance of playful interpretations and more grounded proposals, all start to address relevant socio-political issues - such as the mutual acceptance and peaceful co-existence of different religions - in some way. The competition asked participants first and foremost to seek to merge two concepts: religion and knowledge.

The Gallipoli Peninsula, at the Western end of Turkey, holds a particular significance for the country as the site of a major World War One battle in which the declining Ottoman Empire repelled an attempted invasion by British forces. Today, it is seen as one of the defining moments that contributed to the formation of modern day Turkey, and the site of the battle is commemorated by a national park which includes a series of monuments and memorials at the southern tip of the peninsula.

Aiming to consolidate these sites in to a more coherent whole, the Çanakkale government launched a competition to redesign the area, which was won by Istanbul-based practice Sekiz Artı. Read on after the break for more on their design.

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The Gallipoli Peninsula, at the Western end of Turkey, holds a particular significance for the country as the site of a major World War One battle in which the declining Ottoman Empire repelled an attempted invasion by British forces. Today, it is seen as one of the defining moments that contributed to the formation of modern day Turkey, and the site of the battle is commemorated by a national park which includes a series of monuments and memorials at the southern tip of the peninsula.

Aiming to consolidate these sites in to a more coherent whole, the Çanakkale government launched a competition to redesign the area. Today we bring you the second place entry, by ONZ Architects + MDesign + Lola + 24H Architecture. Read on after the break for more on their design.

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C.F. Møller Architects have won in an invited competition to design a new building for the Herningsholm Vocational School in Herning, Denmark. The new building consists of three angular building volumes, brought together under a single sloping roof, which responds to its context among other buildings on the school's campus by going from three stories on the Southern end to two in the North.

The architects describe the building as being "designed inside-out... as well as outside-in", with a dual focus on providing optimal learning spaces inside but also on providing learning spaces in the three outside areas defined by the building's volume.

More on the design after the break

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The Gallipoli Peninsula, at the Western end of Turkey, holds a particular significance for the country as the site of a major World War One battle in which the declining Ottoman Empire repelled an attempted invasion by British forces. Today, it is seen as one of the defining moments that contributed to the formation of modern day Turkey, and the site of the battle is commemorated by a national park which includes a series of monuments and memorials at the southern tip of the peninsula.

Aiming to consolidate these sites in to a more coherent whole, the Çanakkale government launched a competition to redesign the area, in which the team led by Özer/Ürger Architects and ON Design came in third place. Read on after the break to find out about their design.

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Russian practice Meganom has won a competition to redesign the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow. Their winning entry seeks to transform the museum complex into a hive of cultural activity, preserving the institution's world-class art collection whilst "actively engaging with the surrounding territory as a potential space for exhibition, dialogue, and communication." The project focuses less on the provision of new areas but rather provides a single unified platform for a series of discordant parts, tying together all the elements of the environment into one cohesive design - "from buildings and monuments to benches and navigation."

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London based Heatherwick Studio have won a competition to design a Learning Hub at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. The construction of the Hub, part of a £360 million scheme, will be the first redevelopment of its campus in twenty years. Having already won the BCA Green Mark Platinum Award for Sustainability from the Singaporean Government, the design seeks to redefine the aspiration of a university building. Within this new context the purpose of the university is to "foster togetherness and sociability" so that students can meet and learn in a space that encourages collaboration.

Today the President of Estonia announced the Spanish firm Nieto Sobejano Arquitectos as the winner in an international competition to design a new Cultural Centre in Estonia. The Arvo Pärt Centre is dedicated to the Estonian composer and will house an archive of his work, making it available to researchers and enthusiasts at the new site in Laulasmaa.

Nieto Sobejano Arquitectos came first from a shortlist of 20 architects, including names such as Zaha Hadid Architects and COOP HIMMELB(L)AU. Second and third prize went to US practice Allied Works Architecture and Kavakava Architects of Estonia respectively. See images of the top three projects after the break.

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Building Pictures, a Portuguese website specialized in architecture videos, decided to celebrate the year of Portuguese architecture by creating a competition inviting architects, artists, designers, directors, and students to submit their favorite spaces. 31 videos answered the challenge and shared their experiences and inspiring places. The jury selected three winners, whose beautiful videos can be seen after the break.

SOM, working alongside Danish practice Entasis Arkitekter, has been selected to design a new residential building in Gothenburg that will be Sweden's tallest tower. Coming out on top against an international shortlist that included Zaha Hadid Architects, SOM's 230m tall proposal 'The Pole Star' features four connected prisms which twist 90 degrees near the top.

The competition, run by developers Serneke, called for proposals for a 32,000 square meter mixed-use masterplan, including a 200+ meter residential tower, in Gothenburg's Lindholmen area. A particular focus for the jury was for proposals to "demonstrate how the skyscraper can be integrated into the structure of the neighborhood," adding that "the building should be a part of the area’s social and architectural context, not stand as a solitary monolith."

Read more about the jury's decision after the break

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Amsterdam-based firm NL Architects have been selected to design Arnhem's new ArtA Center, a new public arts cluster that will house the Arnhem Museum and Focus Cinema. Coming out on top in a shortlist which included BIG, Kengo Kuma & Associates and SO-IL, NL Architects' terraced design features a rooftop urban park with views over the Rhine, subterranean movie halls and an adaptable, open plan stepped museum.

The jury's decision commends the design for the way it "radiates enthusiasm", and the "simple and clear" concept, as well as praising the "inventive and innovative" mentality of the architects. 

More on the design and the jury's selection after the break

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Prodigy Network have selected the winners of the crowdsourcing design competitions for their 17John 'Cotel' in New York, including winners for the design of the public interior spaces and the private rooms. The Cotel concept is intended to meet the changing needs of the modern business traveler; providing living spaces somewhere between a long-term apartment and a short term hotel, but also flexible spaces that can be used for work and meetings.

The crowdsourced competitions were run via Prodigy Network's Design Lab website, and judging was conducted with a mixture of public voting and jury selection. "The winners of the 17John competition were intuitive to the needs of travelers, creative in the interactive spaces and understood the function of extended stay residences," said Prodigy Network Founder Rodrigo Nino. Read on after the break to see the winning proposals.

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Swedish based Mandaworks + Hosper Sweden have recently won an international competition to find the "best comprehensive urbanistic proposals for connecting the city centre of Trenčín with both waterfronts of the River Váh." The winning scheme - Tracing Trenčín - "is not a proposal which is noticeably stunning" but is, according to Thomas Matta, deputy chair of the jury, "considerate to the existing structure of the historic core of the city."

The top prize in CANactions' 2014 Youth Competition has been awarded to Valentyn Sharovatov of Unika Architecture & Urbanism, for his "Extrasmall Shopping Mall", a design for a miniature shopping center on a tight site on Lviv. CANactions is Ukraine's largest architectural event, running since 2008.

The design by Sharovatov activates a neglected public square, using the draw of cafes and retail to regenerate this small corner of Lviv. More on the design after the break.

The shortlist for the 2014 Wolfson Economics Prize has been announced, rewarding five teams who rose to the challenge to design new garden cities which address the UK's growing housing shortage. The topic of garden cities is becoming a major focus for the UK's planners and architects, with proposals by the government for a new garden town of 15,000 homes at Ebbsfleet providing the starting point for debate.

However despite the debate within the built environment professions, with some arguing that garden cities are best left in the past, a survey commissioned by the Wolfson Economics Prize in conjunction with the award found that 72% of the British public believed there was a serious shortage of housing in the UK, and 70% believed that garden cities were a better way of delivering this housing compared to how - and where - housing is currently delivered. The five shortlisted teams will receive £10,000 to further develop their proposals and aim for the grand prize of £250,000.

Read on after the break for the list of proposals