WPA 2.0: Working Public Architecture, the design competition organized by UCLA’s cityLAB, culminated with the announcement of “Carbon T.A.P.// Tunnel Algae Park” as the winning proposal of the professional competition and “R_Ignite” and “Aquaculture Canal_New Orleans” as the winning proposals of the student competition – WPA 2.0 (SE).

UCLA Architecture and Urban Design Chair Hitoshi Abe, Dana Cuff, cityLAB director, and Roger Sherman, cityLAB codirector congratulated the winners at the conclusion of a day-long symposium in Washington, DC on November 16. Housing and Urban Development’s Ron Sims and Adolfo Carrion of the White House Office of Urban Affairs urged those gathered at the symposium at the National Building Museum to think outside the box, and to “boldly lead us to places we have never gone before.” The federal administration is primed for innovative thinking about urban issues, creating a perfect storm for designers to lead the way. The WPA 2.0 winners do just that.

“Carbon T.A.P.// Tunnel Algae Park” is the brainchild of PORT architects Andrew Moddrell and Christopher Marcinkoski of Chicago and New York. The proposal uses algae pontoons to capture mobile-source carbon-dioxide emissions along New York City’s transportation arteries and employ them in bio-fuel production, creating an urban park with structured wetlands, aquatic and avian habitat, recreation amenities, as well as high speed bike lanes and public promenades. The jury of Elizabeth Diller, Cecil Balmond, Marilyn Taylor, Walter Hood, Stan Allen, and Thom Mayne was unanimous in its decision, citing two primary qualities: The floating, carbon-capturing bridge between Brooklyn and Manhattan would be a visible marker for the tunnel hidden below, and the periodic rotation of the parkway across the river had the power to reshape the image of the city.

Winning Projects of the WPA 2.0 Student Competition:

“R_Ignite” was designed by four graduate students of the Manchester School of Architecture – Peter Millar, Jamie Potter, Andy Wilde and Stuart Wheeler. This proposal revitalizes port cities and greens the shipwrecking industry through the addition of recycling and social activities.

“Aquaculture Canal_New Orleans,” by Fadi Masoud, a Landscape Architecture student at the University of Toronto, envisions the New Orleans’ Industrial Canal as productive infrastructure for flood control and aquaculture. The jury noted that the winning submissions were ideal as a pair, representing the range of innovative ideas relevant to WPA 2.0.

For the WPA 2.0 competition, more than 300 proposals – half from professional teams, half from student teams – , envisioned a new legacy of publicly-supported infrastructure hybrids. The projects explore the value of infrastructure not only as an engineering endeavor, but as a robust design opportunity to revitalize communities. Students from China to the United Kingdom submitted proposals to WPA 2.0 (SE) tackling the problems of America’s next generation of public works. Seven student finalists’ proposals were exhibited at the National Building Museum: Re-Ignite, Aquaculture Canal_New Orleans, Polytechnic HighSchool and Transportation Center by Douglas Segulja, Fluctuating Freeway Ecologies by The Crop, urban ConAgraculture by Dale Luebbert, Cash for Clunkers = Bike Sharing for Chicago by Matt Moore, and Topographic Infrastructure: Hollywood Freeway Central Park by Meng Yang.

The six finalists from the professional competition (previously on Bustler) presented their work at the symposium, and exhibited creative videos that animated their projects, bringing them to life. They are: PORT (Chicago/New York), Lateral Office / Infranet Lab (Toronto), Rael San Fratello Architects (Oakland), UrbanLab (Chicago), aershop (Los Angeles), and Nicholas de Monchaux & Collaborators (Berkeley).

The symposium, held in the impressive Great Hall of the National Building Museum, allowed experts to examine infrastructure from a range of unique yet critically integrated perspectives. In his keynote address, White House Director of Urban Affairs, Adolfo Carrion, praised all the finalists for imaginatively engaging the future of American cities. His words were echoed by HUD Deputy Secretary Ron Sims who called on designers to reimagine public works in terms of sustainability, community, and jobs. Director of cityLAB and UCLA Professor Dana Cuff, said the cityLAB team followed his advice. “The cityLAB team spent the entire day after the symposium taking the message to agency heads and legislators on Capitol Hill. We showed them that designers have the vision to bring innovative policies to reality. Our timing couldn’t have been better.”

Images: WPA 2.0

The design for Papendorp Business Park in Utrecht, The Netherlands, West 8 designed together with Wissing Stedebouw en Ruimtelijke Vormgeving, has won the Rietveld Award 2009. For the first time, a landscape and urban design project has won the award instead of a building.

The awards ceremony took place earlier this week in Utrecht. The Rietveld Award is a bi-annual award and aims to stimulate the quality of the built environment of the city of Utrecht.

The jury commented: “The value of this plan for Utrecht is that it sends out a signal to the city, as well as to the Netherlands. This plan is the legitimate winner of the Rietveld Prize 2009.”

A public choice award was also given to Eindhoven-based DHV Architects for their Simed Health Care Group project in Utrecht.

Images: West 8

Sheffield Hallam University has announced plans to develop a new £25m building that will become a city center landmark thanks to its innovative design.

The new 9,500 sqm building on Charles Street in Sheffield, England will enable the University’s Faculty of Development and Society - currently split between the City and Collegiate campuses - to move to one campus.

Sheffield architects Bond Bryan have been appointed by the University to design the building, which will sit within the city’s Cultural Industries Quarter (CIQ).

The building’s semi-transparent walls and glass front will allow light to pass through and at night it will shine across the city’s skyline.

The iconic design fits in with Sheffield’s current campaign Re:Defining the City, which is seeing the city reinvent itself for success in the 21st Century.

Professor Sylvia Johnson, Pro Vice-Chancellor for the Faculty of Development and Society, said: “The Charles Street development is very exciting for the whole University, but especially for the Faculty as many of our students and staff will be based in the new building. We’re delighted to be working with the architects on this landmark building, which will offer our students and staff a world-class learning, teaching and working environment.”

Alex Pettifer, Director of Estates at Sheffield Hallam, said: “This new building is part of the University’s plan to retain and develop state-of-the-art facilities for our staff and students. The building will allow us to house the Faculty of Development and Society entirely on the City Campus for the first time.

“Sheffield Hallam is known for developing iconic and innovative buildings and we were keen to ensure that the new building maintained these high architectural standards.”

Matt Hutton, an associate at Bond Bryan, said: “The need for the building to become a landmark within the city led us to developing a vibrant design concept that will radiate across the cityscape. The building will feature a top floor multi-use roof space incorporating the jagged saw tooth look of former factory roofs, to reflect the historical significance of the site.”

A community organization founded by young people in Nairobi’s slums has won the ONE Africa Award, an annual prize given by the global anti-poverty group to honor ground-breaking work by African non-governmental organizations.

SIDAREC (the Slums Information Development and Resources Centres) have been awarded the prize of $100,000 for their work engaging and empowering disadvantaged youth in the urban slums of Kenya’s capital and actively preventing violence.

The group’s initiatives include the “Slums News” newspaper, the “Ghetto FM” community radio station and a community training center. Their members also use the arts - drama, puppetry, poetry and dance - to provoke discussion of contentious issues, particularly among members of different ethnic communities. The slums where SIDAREC’s work began were not affected by the violence that rocked much of the country after the 2007 elections.

“SIDAREC were selected for this award because they have pioneered innovative ways of engaging disaffected youth in urban slums, giving them the tools to be part of the solution to the poverty and deprivation they face,” said ONE’s Africa Outreach Manager Edith Jibunoh.

“The group’s founders realize that Africa’s greatest resource is its youth, so they are tapping into the enormous potential that exists among Kenya’s young people to shape the next generation of home grown community leaders and activists holding their own leaders to account.” 

SIDAREC started life as a youth group in 1996. The group’s work in the Nairobi slum areas of Pumwani and Mukuru Kwa Njenga has now been extended to Kibera, the vast slum that is home to more than a million people and bore much of the brunt of the post-election chaos. Citizens of these deprived areas have been provided with much needed community health services, community libraries and internet connections as well as media and arts projects. 

Through a SIDAREC entrepreneurship program many people in the slums, especially youth and women, have benefited from support to launch businesses - including a former criminal group that decided to ‘go straight’ and build a housing project and community toilet with SIDAREC training and startup funding.

The award was announced at the Mo Ibrahim Foundation Forum in Dar es Salaam Nov. 15, where over 1,000 attendees discussed issues key to Africa’s future progress.

The 2009 ONE Africa Award is the second annual award since the initiative was launched last year. It aims to recognize outstanding contributions by Africans to help advance one or more of the Millennium Development Goals. These goals address several critical issues to development, such as halving extreme poverty, halting the spread of HIV/AIDS and malaria and providing universal primary education.

From a writer’s residence powered only by sun and water to the massive new Regional Hospital project, excellence in design was celebrated in the 2009 Wellington Architecture Awards.

The landmark BNZ Harbour Quays Building, Moore Wilson Fresh and Chews Lane Precinct are also among winners in the Wellington awards program, organized and run by the New Zealand Institute of Architects and supported by Resene.

Jury convenor, architect Angela Foster, said the standard of entries had been very high and it was encouraging to see that sustainable principles were now integrated into the design process and evident across both commercial and residential projects.

“It is now something that is integral to projects rather than just added on and it is clear that it is something clients are asking for,” she said.

The BNZ Harbour Quays building, by Jasmax Limited, took triple honors with awards in the commercial, sustainable and interior architecture categories.

The Five Green Star rated building was praised by jurors for its strong sculptural element, ecological and social considerations and as an invigorating environment.

Ms Foster said: “This is a totally different way of looking at an office building, the epitome of open plan and rather like a mini city.”

Wellington Regional Hospital by CCM Architects in association with Rice Daubney (early stages only) was among winners in public architecture hailed by Ms Foster as an innovative hospital design.

Jurors also said the project, based on the ‘model of care’ concept had worked extremely well making the building accessible despite its massive scale.

Chews Lane Precinct and the Moore Wilson Fresh building, both by Athfield Architects, were also honored.

Chews Lane, a winner in urban design, was praised as having revitalized the site, achieving intimacy and diversity at pedestrian level, again despite being a project on a huge scale.

Moore Wilson Fresh was described as a “subtly detailed urban market” with jurors noting that the client/architect association of 40 years’ standing had resulted in a “dynamic relationship between shopper, product and space”.

The new Te Puni Village - Victoria University of Wellington student residences, by Architectus, was seen as a “celebration of light and color within the urban landscape”.

Ms Foster said: “This could simply have been any multi-story building but instead is a refined gesture to the city. At night it is a sparkling lantern on the city ridgeline.”

The Herd Street Development in Wellington, by Archaus Architects Limited and Warren + Mahoney Architects in Association, was the sole winner in residential architecture - multiple housing. Jurors were captivated by the boathouse, described as “jewel of the harbor”.

Not all winners were buildings. The Wellington Waterfront Framework by WCC Architects, which guides the future development of Wellington’s central waterfront area, was a winner in urban design winning acclaim as “an example of “where urban design is about process rather than product”.

The Villa Melina Boutique Homestay in Seatoun, by Novak + Middleton Architects, a winner in commercial architecture, “exuded comfort” while incorporating cutting edge sustainable approaches and many European ideas and products suggested by the Swiss clients.

The Central Forklifts Building at Avalon, by Designgroup Stapleton Elliott, also a winner in the category, won accolades as an elegant response to an industrial subject.

Heritage Awards

Heritage awards went to the Railway Social Hall behind Wellington Railway Station, by CCM Architects, and to Days Bay Changing Rooms by John Mills Architects.

The social hall won accolade for an elegant refurbishment which is contemporary yet sympathetic to the structure, allowing the hall to “regain its grandeur”.

The changing rooms have also been revitalized with a contemporary sculptural interior moving the focus towards the public beach while respecting the shell of the original building.

The Victoria University Coastal Ecology Laboratory by Pynenburg & Collins Architects, was a winner in public architecture with jurors remarking on the well resolved laboratory spaces feeding off a central core.

The “unashamedly lavish” Osteria Del Toro Restaurant, by Designgroup Stapleton Elliott, took honors in interior design, with the décor summed up as creating “a rich and unique dining experience”.

Residential Architecture

Praised as an “elegant bunker,” the Harding house, an Athfield Architects designed hilltop home in Melrose, provides shelter from the Wellington winds while encasing a warm and tranquil interior.

Jurors hailed the property as simple, refined and “an outstanding example of site responsive architecture”.

Other Wellington winners included the Collins Wiles House at Ngaio, by Erin Collins, described by Ms Foster “as a little gem on the side of a hill”.

The transformation of Two Karori properties, both by Herriot + Melhuish Architecture, were among winners.

Karori House 1: Stewart Dickens House is now “consumed by sun and views”.

Karori House 2: The Stonyer House has become an “entertainer’s dream” and effectively “a magnificent kitchen with four bedrooms attached”.

Other extensively remodeled properties included Winona in Khandallah, by Novak + Middleton Architects, described as “an elegant and sophisticated renovation”.

Another extensive makeover, a Maupuia House, by Tim Nees Architects, won acclaim for paying tribute to the 1970s structure while introducing innovative architecture.

A Writers Residence near Martinborough by Art +Architecture was a winner in the sustainable category, charming jurors with its simplicity, tranquility and harmony.

Ms Foster said the property, which is not connected to either telephone or power supplies, was “totally sustainable and like a Vitruvian Hut - so simple and making you truly feel detached from civilisation”.

Solar panels are used to heat water and, on dull days, a small turbine, powered by a nearby stream, takes over. Heating is provided by fireplaces with wetbacks.

An Aorangi House Building Upgrade by Studio Pacific Architecture, also won in the category, for “Intelligent sustainable interventions applied to an existing multi-story building.

The Pukaha Mount Bruce Wildlife Centre - Visitors Centre by Proarch Architects was a winner in small project architecture with the jurors noting how the original Lockwood structure had been “peeled back” to embrace the forest canopy beyond.

A Greytown Artist Studio by Accent Architects, which “leans up” towards a mature walnut tree, was described as “an extension of the garden canopy”.

Two new Eastbourne properties were among winners. A House for Gillian Watt, by WATT Architects, in Sorrento Bay, was described as a “celebration of light and space” and Bay House, by Novak + Middleton, as “simple yet complex” and “poised serenely in the hills of Days Bay”.

A “well detailed and seamless” Kapiti Coast House at Te Horo, by Bevin + Slessor Architects, was admired for the way it reaches out to the garden as an extension of the living environment”.

Enduring Architecture awards

Enduring architecture awards were made to two 1970s buildings, Wellington’s Westpac Bank Building which was formerly The Bank of New South Wales and designed by Stephenson & Turner NZ, and to the Ainsworth House at Korokoro, by Roger Walker Architects.

Jurors said the elegantly restrained facade and interior of the Westpac building had stood the test of time, transcending styles and fashions.

The Ainsworth House was a seen as “Very much a celebration of archetypal 1970’s Wellington architecture.

“It is what you think of when someone says ‘Roger Walker,’ “ said Ms Foster. “It’s like an adult’s playhouse, with lots of quirky spaces and little nooks and crannies”.

Jurors

Ms Foster was joined on the jury by Wellington architects Michael Melville and Morten Gjerde who lectures at the University of Victoria’s architecture department and is a consultant to the city council, and by visual artist Cathryn Monro who created the steel Per Capita sculpture on the corner of Cable Street and Tory Street.

As well as visiting all shortlisted properties, the judges met with the architects and clients. The buildings were judged against a series of key criteria including their contribution to the advancement of architecture as a discipline and enhancement of the human spirit.

 

The winners of Architect’s Eye, a competition which judges architects’ photography skills, were announced last Wednesday.

The winners were John Barr, an independent architect practicing in Glasgow, and Philippe Brysse, an Associate at Foster and Partners. Runners up were Paul Qi-En Lim, a Part 2 Architectural Assistant at Stride Treglown Limited in Bristol and Antonia Infanger of Antonia Infanger Architecture+ Interiors.

The competition, which attracted more than 200 entries, was open to all qualified architects practicing in the UK and is split into two distinct categories: Architecture and Place and Architecture and People.

John Barr won the Architecture and Place category with his image ‘Church of the Light’. The photograph featured a church in Ibaraki, which is one of Tadao Ando’s earlier works and will be known to many architects. The photograph depicts light flooding thorough a cruciform window in a manner which is immediately striking. George Kavanagh, professional photographer and judge said ” This photograph has is all - drama and narrative with its skillful composition, good use of light and technical competence .”

The winning photograph in the Architecture and People category, by Philippe Brysse was a contrast: an image was taken at a reservoir in North London, featuring a bride and groom on their wedding day. Margaret O’Regan, Art Consultant and judge, said of the piece: “I love the starkness of this photograph and the isolation of the building. The evidence that a wedding has taken place and the parked car outside add some humour and life to an otherwise nondescript piece of architecture. It illustrates the connection between the two. “

A brainchild of International Arts Consultants (IAC), the award is now in its second year. IAC developed the idea for the competition from observing architects’ enthusiasm for photographing buildings. Photography is an important part of all architects’ education and continuing professional development and is taught on most architecture courses in the UK.

The competition was judged by Jack Pringle (Chairman of Pringle Brandon Architects), Keith Priest (Fletcher Priest Architects), Hugh Pearman (Editor of the RIBA Journal and architecture critic for the Sunday Times), leading architectural photographers Grant Smith and George Kavanagh, Nick Scott (Chair of Applied and Professional Panel, Royal Photographic Society), Charles Knevitt ( Director RIBA Trust) Jean-Francois Cardella of Construction Photography and Margaret O’Regan of International Art Consultants.

Commenting on the results of the competition, the Chairman of the Judges Jack Pringle said: “Once again architects have proved that they have an “eye” for a good photograph. This made judging a challenging, but enjoyable task. Despite that, we were in agreement that the two winning photographs were both technically and artistically excellent which, we believe, demonstrates the importance of photography in architecture.”

The competition is organized by International Art Consultants, sponsored by Construction Photography and specialist property marketing consultancy tta Group and supported by the Royal Photographic Society and RIBA Trust.

Given the continued success of the competition, International Art Consultants announced to make it a regular biannual event and will be planning accordingly for 2011. Bustler will keep you updated.

Yesterday, Bustler reported about the AIA Seattle 2009 Honor Awards that were presented to Washington State’s most outstanding architects and design teams earlier this week.

One of the award winners that received the Citation Award in the ‘Envisioned’ category was a team comprised of Seattle-based firms zero plus and STAVE for their proposal for a thematic pavilion for the Expo 2012 in Yeosu, Korea.

Here’s a project description from zero plus and STAVE:

The theme of the Expo 2012 Yeosu was selected to raise people’s awareness about the values and the critical environmental problems of oceans; and to suggest a new ocean vision for future generations.

BIO(da)TA is an emergent, immersive and environmentally-integrated Thematic Pavilion for Yeosu Expo 2012. Our proposal amplifies the experience of the Thematic Pavilion by creating an architectural system of dispersal which allows visitors and researchers direct interaction with the ocean and coastal environment.  This project is a living and adaptive building set into and on the water, adjusting daily with the tidal ebb and flow. 

Emergence: This proposal emerges from the conditions of the ocean, the tides, the geologic strata and the atmosphere. It is partially fixed in proximity to the breakwater, with arms that flow in and out with the tidal movement.

Immersion: Environmental immersion is vital for a visceral, sensory understanding of the oceans, as well as the collection of data and physical sampling, testing and evaluation for research.

Environmental Integration: BIO(da)TA takes a holistic and systematic approach, integrating direct experience, exhibits, research, bioremediation, economic development and adaptive reuse into a cohesive whole. As an example of living building technology and its expressive potential, this proposal uses the elements of sun, wind, rain, water collection and tidal movement in a fully integrated system of engineering. The building becomes organism, and the participants are a part of that life form.

“We see the world piece by piece, as the sun, the moon, the animal, the tree; but the whole, of which these are the shining parts, is the soul.” —Ralph Waldo Emerson

Credits:

Design Team:
Joshua Brevoort, 0-Plus
Ian Campbell, 0-Plus
Kai Chiu, Studio KC, Exhibits
Lisa Chun, 0-Plus
Cameron Hall, STAVE
Dan Lenander, Metastudio

Collaborators:
Peter Alspach, PE, Mechanical Engineer, Arup
Hans Erik Blomgren, PE, Structural Engineer, Arup
Cormac Deavy, PE, Arup Seattle (Engineering Team Leader)
Brian Glover, PE, Structural Engineer, Arup

Charles (“Si’) Simenstad, PhD, Research Professor
University of Washington School of Aquatic and Fisheries Sciences

Critics:
Wyn Bielaska, John Grade, Annie Han, Rob Hutchison, Daniel Mihalyo, Ana Pinto da Silva

Images: zero plus / STAVE

 

 

The National High School Coaches Association and Mayor Salvatore J. Panto, Jr. of Easton, PA announced the building of the first ever High School Sports Hall of Fame Museum this week at a press conference. The National High School Sports Hall of Fame Museum will be built in Easton, Pennsylvania and be the first of its kind.