Exhibition of RIBA Competition Projects

Venue: CUBE Gallery, 113 - 115 Portland Street, Manchester
Dates: until 17th May 2008

A new spring exhibition organised by the RIBA Competitions Office opens in May showing a selection of recent competition results and a built project, all of which originated through RIBA competition.

This exciting and varied selection of projects has been chosen to show the range of solutions generated through architectural competitions and will include:

• Egremont Castle Performance Structure, Cumbria
The winning design by Decosterd-Cotting Architects with Guscetti-Tournier Engineers from Geneva, Swizterland and the shortlisted schemes.

• Brockholes Wetland and Woodland Nature Reserve, Preston
The winning design by Adam Khan Architects and the shortlisted schemes for the competition to design a new visitor facility for Brockholes.

• Sheffield Parkway Footbridge
The winning design by Tim Norlund, a 23 year old architect from Denmark who had beaten over 100 entries to gain first prize in this competition. Plus the shortlisted entries.

• Avenham Park Pavillion, Preston
This project was won through an invited design competition in February 2005 by Ian McChesney Architects. A series of boards will show the development of the design from the original competition entry through to completion.

The exhibition celebrates some of the most successful projects so far in 2008 and demonstrates how the competitions process can laud emerging practices as well as established ones.

2008 Steedman Fellowship: winner

New York architect Nikole Renee Bouchard has won Washington University's 2008 Steedman Fellowship in Architecture International Design Competition.

The biennial competition — sponsored by the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts' College of Architecture and Graduate School of Architecture & Urban Design — is open to young architects from around the world and carries a $30,000 first place award to support study and research abroad — the largest such award in the United States.
"In-Situ Sensibility." Site plan for an urban agricultural development just north of downtown St. Louis. Image courtesy of Nikole Renee Bouchard.
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Bouchard, who received a Bachelor of Architecture degree from Cornell University in 2006, was chosen from a field of 197 registrants and 49 submissions representing Australia, Britain, Canada, China, Germany, India, Singapore and the United States. She currently works for Steven Holl Architects in New York.

"The Steedman is one of the oldest and most widely known competitions for young architects in the United States," says Bruce Lindsey, the E. Desmond Lee Professor for Community Collaboration and dean of Architecture. "This year's site was an historic St. Louis district that has come under increasing pressure for redevelopment. The results show a wide range of possibilities for bringing new life to older buildings."

The competition centered on the former St. Louis Cold Storage Company, an abandoned 100,000-square-foot industrial building located along the Mississippi riverfront, just north of downtown and Eero Saarinen's Gateway Arch. Architects were charged with creating environmentally sensitive adaptive reuse strategies for the structure, which was built in 1901. Most buildings in the area reflect St. Louis' industrial past, specifically power generation and cold storage for the river and railroad commerce of the early 20th century.

"There is a need for a program that activates the landscape and engages the public — people of all ages, social statuses and interests," notes Bouchard of her winning proposal, titled "In Situ Sensibility: Seeding the Future Growth of St. Louis." She points out that the area "is one of very few in the city which does not currently have a public greenspace."
Approach from train shed. The northern facade of the former St. Louis Cold Storage Company would remain untouched, aside from the re-opening of existing apertures. Image courtesy of Nikole Renee Bouchard.
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Bouchard's design would reinvent the site as a center for urban agriculture. A network of hills, valleys, fields and tributaries would transform the grounds surrounding the Cold Storage Company. The building itself would take cues from the natural topography to "create spaces that are both dark and intimate (like the surrounding landscape's submerged caves) as well as expansive and open (like the region's rolling prairie)."

Historic northern, eastern and western facades would remain untouched, aside from reopening a series of existing apertures, which are currently boarded-up. A large open space flowing from the southern façade would serve as an indoor/outdoor market as well as a venue for summer film screenings and other public functions. Additional components include classrooms and offices; an area for composting; and a green roofscape that would house gardens, collect rainwater and provide spectacular views of St. Louis and the Mississippi River. A nearby abandoned train depot would become a parking facility.

In addition to Bouchard, three entrants received honorable mentions:

Maria Eva Contesti, Seattle. Constesti, a native of Argentina, earned a Professional Degree in architecture from the Universidad Nacional de Rosario in 2003 and a Master of Environmental Planning degree from the Universidad de Buenos Aires in 2004. In 2007 she received a Master of Architecture degree from Washington University and also won the Best Degree Project Prize for the class of 2007. She is currently a staff architect with ZGF Architects in Seattle.
Architecture as instrument for enlightenment. A large multifunction hall on the building's southern side could accommodate markets, lectures, exhibitions and film screenings. Image courtesy of Nikole Renee Bouchard.
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John Bruenning, St. Louis. Bruenning earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Architecture from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale B.S in 2001, and a Master of Architecture from Washington University in 2004. He currently works at AAIC, a St. Louis architecture firm.

Sabina Santovetti, Rome. Santovetti received a Master of Architecture degree from Washington University in 2005 and previously earned a Master's in industrial design from the Pratt Institute in New York; a Master's and Doctorate in art history and archeology from the Sorbonne University in Paris; and a degree in literature and philosophy from the University of Rome. She is currently a cofounder of the firm SANTOVETTI + NARDINI: Architecture & Design in Rome.

Winners were selected by blind jury. Lawrence Scarpa, visiting professor of architecture and principal of Pugh + Scarpa in Santa Monica, served as jury chair. Other jurors included Peter Davey, former editor of The Architectural Review in London; architect/urbanist Hashim Sarkis, who has offices in Beirut and Cambridge, Mass.; Nader Tehrani, a partner at Office dA in Boston; Ken Yeang, principal of Hamzah & Yeang Architects in Malaysia; and author/theorist Wilfried Wang, co-founder of Hoidn Wang Architects in Berlin.

Granted since 1925, The Steedman Fellowship is supported by an endowment — given to the Sam Fox School's College of Architecture and Graduate School of Architecture & Urban Design — in honor of James Harrison Steedman, who received a degree in mechanical engineering from Washington University in 1889. The memorial was established by Steedman's widow, Mrs. Alexander Weddel, and Steedman's brother, George.

For more information about the Steedman Fellowship, visit http://www.steedmancompetition.com.

Shrinkage Worldwide Awards

The Shahneshin Foundation (SF) is pleased to announce that the distinguished jury of the Shrinkage Worldwide Awards after careful review and considered assessment of entries chose the works by Elena Giacomolli (City Empire), David Holt (untitled), Christopher Patten (Picnic), Stephanie White (Vital Fluid), Giovanna Zanghellini (Time is running out), have been selected from a highly-regarded worldwide practices and institutions in the Shrinkage Worldwide Awards this year to design a multi-purpose poster capable of delivering the shrinkage nature. http://www.shahneshinfoundation.org/news/pressroom.html

The entries came from Australia, Austria, Canada, China, Croatia, England, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Japan, India, Indonesia, Iran, Israel, Italy, Lebanon, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, USA, and from an array of diverse fields -both academics and practitioners- in arts, architecture, graphic design, industrial design, landscape-architecture, planning, product-design, publicity, robotics, and so-forth.

The Shrinkage Worldwide Awards is jointly promoted by several international institutions including the Architectural Association (AA), American Institute of Architects (AIA NY), Dansk Design Centre (DDC), Design Austria (DA), Design Singapore Council (DSC), the Institute of Landscape Architects of South Africa (ILASA), International Council of Graphic Design Associations (Icograda), and many others Institutional friends.

St Leger Homes Bungalow Design Competition Result

The Crawford Partnership has won the RIBA competition for the design of a suitable and innovative solution for the extension and adaptation of a number of one bedroom bungalows scattered throughout the Doncaster area. 

The existing bungalows are managed by St Leger Homes which is the Arms Length Management Organisation (ALMO) that manages council housing for Doncaster Metropolitan Borough.  Currently these bungalows offer limited accommodation with the kitchens and bathrooms being particularly small and are increasingly failing to meet the aspirations of customers.  Consequently a competition was launched on behalf of St Leger Homes seeking innovative design proposals to alter and extend these bungalows.

Fourteen practices initially submitted expressions of interest to the competition and four were shortlisted and invited to present their initial design proposals to the jury panel.  The other shortlisted teams were: AIR Architects from London; Bauman Lyons from Leeds and Cottrell and Vermeulen from Hebden Bridge and London.

The Crawford Partnership was judged the winning entry because of the modest scale of the extension; alterations to both sides of the bungalow; a range of green features including the possibility of a sedum roof and an option for car parking if it was required.

Gill Robinson, RIBA Adviser commented: “This scheme provides a simple yet elegant solution to remodelling the one bedroom bungalow, which is flexible and economical to build. I particularly like the ingenious use of a small lightwell to link the extension to the bungalow. Overall a practical and imaginative design.”

Alan Crawford from The Crawford Partnership said: “We are looking forward to working with St Leger Homes.  The essence of our proposal centers on providing a simple, flexible and economic solution to extend each home and is based on a collective of cost effective, sustainable ideas that the practice is currently exploring and implementing on other projects.”

The design will be used in the future for a pilot project when funding becomes available for the work to take place.

New Practices New York 2008

New Practices New York 2008 is the second juried portfolio competition and exhibition in a new biennial tradition sponsored by the New Practices Committee of the AIA New York Chapter. It serves as a platform to recognize and promote new, innovative and emerging architecture firms within New York City that have undertaken unique and commendable strategies - both in the projects they undertake and the practices they have established.

Schedule
2 April -Information Session for Entrants, 6:00pm
8 April -New Practices in the Mix, hosted by Poliform, 6:30pm
16 May -Registrations Due
30 May -Submissions Due, 3:00 pm
4 June -Juror Symposium, 6:00pm
5 September -Exhibition Opening, 7:30pm
15 October -Winners’ Symposium, 6:00pm

Eligibility
The New Practices Showcase has the following eligibility requirements:
New practices are defined as licensed architectural firms that have been founded after January 1, 2002. (Please include a copy of “Certificate of Firm Incorporation” or a signed certification that practice was founded after January 1, 2002).
Selected firms must be located within New York City.
Registration and Submission
All Entrants $100
Late fee for registration $50
Entry fees are non-refundable.
To register, click HERE
When registration and payment are complete the entrant will receive a username, password and instructions.
The submission deadline of May 30, 2008 is for the receipt of the portfolio at the Center for Architecture, not the date of its postmark.
Competition, exhibition, and related programming are organized by the AIA New York Chapter’s New Practices Committee and the Center for Architecture Foundation.
Sponsored by:
Underwriter: Häfele
Lead Sponsors: MG & Company, Poliform, Thornton Tomasetti
Media Sponsor: The Architect’s Newspaper

For more information please contact Jesse Lazar, Program Committee Coordinator, at jlazar@aiany.org.

Prefab Futures: New Agendas for Mass Customization in Architecture

Pratt Institute School of Architecture
Spring 2008 Kullman Center Conference,
Date Thursday, April 3 2008

Location
Higgins Hall Auditorium
Pratt Institute School of Architecture
61 St James Place
Brooklyn, New York

Prefab Futures: New Agendas for Mass Customization in Architecture is the inaugural event for the Kullman Center, a research center residing within the School of Architecture with an emphasis on developing new and innovative approaches to modular construction and industrialized building techniques. The one-day conference will present research and scholarship related to the history of prefabrication, contemporary and emerging techniques and approaches to prefabrication, as well as the social and sustainable potential of prefab and prefab technologies. These three topics are key research areas for the Center, which will function both as an intellectual resource and ideas clearinghouse as well as an important laboratory for industrial construction.

Schedule

8:00 Morning Reception

9:00 Opening Remarks
Avi Telyas CEO Kullman Buildings Corp.

Morning Address
Kent Larson, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

9:45 Prefab Precedents
Moderator: Bill Menking
Colin Davies, London Metropolitan University
Andrew Blauvelt, Walker Art Center

11:15 Prefab Futures Session I
Moderator: Thomas Hanrahan
Wes Jones, Jones Partners
Charlie Lazor, Lazor Office
Rocio Romero, Rocio Romero
Michael Pitt, Design Buro

2:30 Prefab Futures Session II
Moderator: Evan Douglis
John Nastasi, Nastasi Architects / Stevens Institute of Technology
Marcelo Spina, PATTERNS / Sci-Arc
Ada Tolla, Giuseppe Lignano, LOT-ek

4:45 Prefab Futures Session III
Moderator: Philip Parker
Michael Meredith, MOS / Harvard University
Jeremy Edmiston, SYSTEMarchitects / City University of New York
Joseph Tanney, Resolution: 4 Architecture

7:00 Closing Remarks
Barry Bergdoll, The Museum of Modern Art

7:30 Conference Reception. Siegal Gallery

POST-IT City: Occasional Urbanities

Exhibition at the CCCB Barcelona

13 March – 25 May 2008

The Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona (CCCB) and the Centre d’Art Santa Mònica (CASM) present the exhibition POST-IT City. Occasional Urbanities. The exhibition forms part of the POST-IT project, directed by Martí Peran, which began in 2005 with a series of seminars and workshops at the Centre d’Art Santa Mònica in Barcelona.

The research project focuses on the temporary uses of public space for commercial, recreational and sexual activities in cities around the world.

More information:
CCCB Press Department
Mònica Muñoz / Irene Ruiz / Lucia Calvo
+ 34 93 306 41 23
premsa'at'cccb.org
www.cccb.org