Call for Papers: Terrain Vague: The Interstitial as Site, Concept, Intervention

This collection of essays will focus on terrain vague—marginal, semi-abandoned space in or along the edge of the city—as abstract concept, specific locale, and subject of literary, architectural, or otherwise artistic intervention.

Ignasi de Solà-Morales defines terrain vague as land in a “potentially exploitable state but already possessing some definition to which we are external,” or “strange places” that “exist outside the city’s effective circuits and productive structures” (119, 120). Gil Doron similarly defines “landscapes of transgression” as derelict sites where “nature has started to reconstruct the built or (now) ‘ruined’ environment. . . . space[s] that opened in the dichotomy of what we perceive as city and nature” (255).

We are particularly interested in responses to the idea, as expressed by Luc Lévesque, that “‘terrain vague’ offers a counterpoint to the way order and consumption hold sway over the city. Offering room for spontaneous, creative appropriation and informal uses that would otherwise have trouble finding a place in public spaces subjected increasingly to the demands of commerce, the ‘terrain vague’ is the ideal place for a certain resistance to emerge, a place potentially open to alternative ways of experiencing the city.”

We invite submissions from a range of fields, in particular literature, architecture, ecocriticism, urban studies, cultural geography, the visual arts, and film studies. Suggested topics may include:

Site and situation
Forms of documentation
Contextual definitions/theorizations
Urban wilds
Transgression and recreation
Urban natural history
Environmental justice
Interventions

Please send abstracts of 300 to 500 words, accompanied by a brief bio, to (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). Inquiries are welcome.

The deadline for abstracts is 1 June 2010.
Completed essays will be due on 1 February 2011.

Manuela Mariani, The Boston Architectural College
Patrick Barron, University of Massachusetts, Boston
“That zero panorama seemed to contain ruins in reverse, that is—all the new construction that would be built. This is the opposite of the “unromantic ruin” because buildings don’t fall into ruin after they are built but rather rise into ruin before they are built.” Robert Smithson, “A Tour of the Monuments of Passaic, New Jersey”

References
Doron, Gil. “The Dead Zone and the Architecture of Transgression.” City: Analysis of Urban Trends, Culture, Theory, Policy, Action 4.2 (2000): 247-63.
Lévesque, Luc. “The ‘Terrain Vague’ as Material—Some Observations.” http://www.amarrages.com/textes_terrain.html
Solà-Morales, Ignasi. “Terrain Vague.” Anyplace. Ed. Cynthia Davidson. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1995. 118-23.
Smithson, Robert. “A Tour of the Monuments of Passaic, New Jersey.” Robert Smithson: The Collected Writings. Berkeley: U of California P, 1996.

In any medium, create a spatial response to the competition title. Can you distill your ideas to a single vignette?

http://www.sociodesignfoundation.org

Craft and clearly communicate your idea for a design school that fosters a socially-aware education for its students.

How can a school inspire socially-aware design?

http://www.sociodesignfoundation.org

In any medium, create a spatial response to the competition title. Can you distill your ideas to a single vignette?

http://www.sociodesignfoundation.org

In any medium, create a spatial response to the competition title. Can you distill your ideas to a single vignette?

http://www.sociodesignfoundation.org

In any medium, create a spatial response to the competition title. Can you distill your ideas to a single vignette?

http://www.sociodesignfoundation.org

The Western Red Cedar Lumber Association (WRCLA) is calling for entries in the 2010 Western Red Cedar Architectural Design Awards program. The awards recognize innovative design using one of the world’s most unique building materials, Western Red Cedar.  All entries must be submitted by July 30, 2010. Submissions must be made online at http://www.construction.com/community/WRCLA.  Winners will be chosen by a panel of notable architects, and the results announced at the Greenbuild Expo in Chicago, November 16 – 10, 2010. 

How to enter: 
•  All entries must be submitted online.
•  Minimum of 5 high resolution photos of the project, including one front elevation, detail and interior photo.
•  Submissions must also include site layout and floor plans.
•  If entry is a remodel or renovation project, entrant must provide at least 2 additional “before” images.
•  Entrant must provide a 250 word project description with particular comments on why Western Red Cedar was selected.
•  A CD of the high-res images of the submitted entries is to be provided to the WRCLA upon request (WRCLA receives unlimited usage rights, but not ownership, of the high-res images).
•  The WRCLA and their members receive the right to profile the submitted projects in marketing campaigns including online, print, displays, etc. promoting Western Red Cedar.
•  WRCLA respect the privacy of property owners. Property owner name(s), contact information and property addresses are not to be included in award entries unless such information is also that of the architect, builder or photographer to be credited for the job. 

Winners from last year’s award included the Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center by Grimshaw Architects and the Queens Botanical Garden by BKSK Architects LLP. For a complete list of 2009 winners, visit http://www.construction.com/cedarawards.

About Western Red Cedar Lumber Association:
Western Red Cedar Lumber Association (WRCLA) is a Vancouver, B.C. based non-profit association known as “the voice of the cedar industry.”  Founded in 1954, the association operates architect advisory and technical service programs throughout the U.S. and Canada.  It seeks to inspire, inform and instruct architects and consumers about Western Red Cedar, its uses and benefits. 

Western Red Cedar is one of nature’s truly remarkable building materials.  Not only does it have distinctive beauty, natural durability and centuries of proven performance, Western Red Cedar is the ultimate green product. It produces fewer greenhouse gases, generates less water and air pollution, requires less energy to produce than alternatives and comes from a renewable and sustainable resource. Equally important, Western Red Cedar is carbon neutral. For more information please visit, http://www.wrcla.org.

In any medium, create a spatial response to the competition title. Can you distill your ideas to a single vignette?

http://www.sociodesignfoundation.org

This design awards program recognizes and honors excellence in architectural design by all New England architects and by architects throughout the world who wish to submit projects in New England.

Entry deadline July 27

Visit www.architects.org/awards for more information.

A HOUSE FOR ANTON CHEKHOV

We could call this house The House of Subtext. Strangely, this is supposed to be a house for a man whose pseudonym at one time, in translation, meant: Man without a Spleen.

But was he really a “man without a spleen…?”

What is a “subtext.?” As Stanislavski wrote “Chekhov often expressed his thought not in speeches, but in pauses or between the lines or in replies consisting of a single word… the characters often feel and think things not expressed in the lines they speak.”

Could such a statement inspire us in architecture…? How would a house that “expresses” itself not through what is obvious, but through what is “underneath,” hidden, “untold” look like…? How would a house whose message is “in between the lines” look like…? Would it be a house whose meaning is “blurred, interrupted, mauled and otherwise tampered with by life” as one critic described Chekhov’ work…?

Or, in a more restricted way, would it be a house that is half dedicated to medicine (and what it symbolizes) and half dedicated to literature (and its larger meanings), as the very life of this great writer was…?

Or would it be a house that asks questions (but does not give answers), as he thought the task of art in essence is…?

We ask you, then, to design a “house of mood, ” a house whose life is “submerged in the text,” as his own work is. A house that refuses the heroics, or, to be more exact, the explicit, self-advertising forms of heroism, since there is with certainty a form of heroism in a doctor, like Chekhov, who treated the poor without charging them and who built public buildings for them, with his own money… and who refused to complain, despite the fact that he was seriously ill, of an illness that actually shortened his life significantly.

Maybe this house will be “difficult,” since it will be an “inconclusive” house, as his work was (or appears to be), in Virginia Woolf’s thinking… But what might appear “inconclusive” is in no way “without something to say…” Far from it and perhaps quite the opposite.

The deadline of this competition is July 15th, 2010.

As always, we accept ANY work, ANY size and ANY format that responds to the theme. You can send your work to this e-mail address. Shortly after the deadline we will display all the works received on our website: http://www.icarch.net. We do not charge an entry fee, but we welcome donations, however small, that would help us maintain and develop our website and other activities that we have, or plan to have.  You can send your donations by PayPal to (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

This competition is an homage to Anton Chekhov, who was born 150 years ago, on January 29th, 1860.

Thank you,

ICARCH Gallery

Exploration of natural systems from the microscopic to the universal unearths vast design potential for overlaying cultural, ecological, and life cycle flows toward determining new architectonic strategies.

The d3 Natural Systems Competition for 2010 invites architects, designers, engineers, and students to collectively explore the potential of analyzing, documenting, and deploying nature-based influences in architecture, interiors, and designed objects.  The competition calls for innovative proposals that advance sustainable thought and performance through the study of intrinsic environmental geometries, behaviors, and flows.  By identifying, examining, and applying their structural order on form and function- -bottom-up, performance-based solutions for limitless building typologies, functional programs, and material conditions may be realized.

The d3 Natural Systems Competition allows designers freedom to approach their creative process in a scale-appropriate manner- -from large-scale master planning endeavors, to individual building concepts, to notions of interior detail.  Accordingly, there are no restrictions on site, scale, program, or building typology.

$1,750 in prizes will be awarded along with Special Mentions.

Top designs will be exhibited by d3 in New York and featured in traveling exhibitions worldwide.  Previous d3 competition winners and select projects have been exhibited in New York, Cleveland, Savannah, and Monterrey, Mexico.  Selected submissions will be featured on http://www.d3space.org and published in forthcoming d3 publications.  d3 competitions and top projects have been published in several worldwide media sources.

For further information, please visit the competition website:
http://www.d3space.org/competitions

Architects for Health invite architectural students to submit projects to be considered for the third annual Student Healthcare Design Award 2010. As in previous years any* project relating to the design of a healthcare building can be submitted, however the 2010 competition introduces a greater emphasis on the sample brief - Designing for Death: Hell, Purgatory and Paradise and a specific prize will be awarded for the most successful response to the sample brief we have prepared. For more information please read the FAQ section of this website.

In 2009 eighty projects were submitted, eight were short-listed and three were eventually selected for prizes.

http://www.afhawards.org

The search for the most ingenious student inventions has begun with the launch of the 2010 James Dyson Award.  In previous years, the international student design competition has inspired problem-solving inventions including guide dogs GPS, flat-folding plugs, and a paper cast that can be used in disaster relief.
The award, run by the James Dyson Foundation, celebrates student designers and works to inspire the next generation of engineers.  The competition vets design students across the globe for a grand prize of over $15,000 with another $15,000 for the student’s university department.  Entries are accepted through July 1, 2010.
The award is James Dyson’s call to action to motivate and educate students about design engineering.  “Making things is not about grime and grease, but solving real life problems,” says Dyson.  “Now is the time to commit to design and engineering, and to the generations that will define our future.”
Out of more than 400 entries, last year’s winner was Automist, a kitchen sink attachment that detects and extinguishes fires with a fine water mist.  The project was developed by British students Yusuf Muhammad and Paul Thomas from the Royal College of Art in London.
“Winning the James Dyson Award has enabled us to transform our idea from a prototype into a viable product – which we’re now close to being able to sell,” says Muhammad.  “Without this kind of support, our ideas might be stuck on the drawing board and in the workshop.  James Dyson’s endorsement has really opened doors for us.”
A nominee from each participating country – decided in August – will be invited to Dyson laboratories to participate in a workshop run by Dyson engineers.  The esteemed panel of judges includes design journalist, Allison Arieff, and Professor of Innovation and Design at Parsons the New School for Design, Bruce Nussbaum.
James Dyson will announce the global winner on October 5, 2010.
About the James Dyson Award
The James Dyson Award is an international design award that celebrates, encourages and inspires the next generation of design engineers.  It’s run by the James Dyson Foundation, James Dyson’s charitable trust, as part of its mission to inspire young people about design engineering.
The James Dyson Award winner will receive:

  * A James Dyson Award trophy.
  * Over $15,000 for the student or the team.
  * Over $15,000 for the current or former student’s university department.
  * An opportunity to visit Dyson’s engineering facilities either in the UK or Malaysia.

The award is open to any student of design (or graduate within four years of graduation) who is studying or studied in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Holland, Italy, Ireland, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Russia, Singapore, Spain, Switzerland, UK and USA.
James Dyson Award entrants can submit footage, images and sketched of their ideas to the website, http://www.jamesdysonaward.org, along with stories detailing their design process and inspiration.
About The James Dyson Foundation
The James Dyson Foundation is a registered charity with the aim of supporting design, technology and engineering education, medical research charities and local community projects. The James Dyson Foundation works with schools and universities around the UK and internationally.

INTEGRATED HABITAT DESIGN COMPETITION (IHDC)

Integrated habitat design inspires development that maintains the health of the natural systems that we all depend on. The IHDC competition emphasises that working with nature, adapting to climate change and enhancing biodiversity is integral to the design of our urban, suburban and rural built developments. For example, a bee should never be further than 20 metres from a food source within the site and a hedgehog should be able to cross the scheme in safety.

This competition is open to individuals and teams. Submissions can be for any built environment design project (new build, retrofit) in an urban, suburban or rural location, of any size, anywhere in the UK, but must take into account each of the 6 Design Criteria - Ecosystem Services, Nature, Water, Energy & Low-carbon, Livability, Economics.
Winners will be selected by judges from the worlds of ecology, architecture, engineering, landscaping and climate change adaptation. The overall winner will be the design that best integrates nature and the built environment with innovation, imagination and practicality, and will be awarded £2,000. All finalists will receive free entry to CIRIA’s World Green Roof Congress in London in September, as well as having their work published and displayed at a 5-week exhibition at The Building Centre in London.

For more information on how to enter, please visit the IHDC website: http://www.ihdc.org.uk

This competition is run by the charity RESET in partnership with livingroofs.org
http://www.reset-development.org
http://www.livingroofs.org

Supported by:
CIRIA, CIEF, Institute of Civil Engineers, the Environment Agency, Natural England, Forum for the Future, AECB, the Bat Conservation Trust and is part of the International Year of Biodiversity.

In any medium, create a spatial response to the competition title. Can you distill your ideas to a single vignette?

http://www.sociodesignfoundation.org

The annual BSA honor awards program invites submissions of projects of any type anywhere in the world designed by Massachusetts architects and also invites architects throughout the world to submit projects built in Massachusetts.

Entry deadline June 24. Co-sponsored by the BSA, Poole Professional Ltd. and DPIC

Visit www.architects.org/awards for more information.

The goal of the Land Art Generator Initiative (LAGI) is to design and construct Land Art / Environmental Art installations that have the added benefit of large scale clean energy generation. Each sculpture will continuously distribute clean energy into the electrical grid with each land art sculpture having the potential to provide power to thousands of homes.

Land Art is an art movement in which landscape and the work of art are inextricably linked. Works of Land Art are sometimes created with only the natural materials of the surroundings. In this case, we are asking interdisciplinary artist teams to use technology as the medium for art in a way that is sympathetic to and inspired by the natural surroundings.

Art has the proven ability to create movements and stimulate creative dialogue. The artist community has long taken a critical approach to the problems of energy use and production, which has helped to open the public eye to the severity of the problems facing us. The time is now for artists to go further and take an active role in solving the problem through their own work: “solution-based art practice”.

As we move towards our renewable energy future we should recognize the inherent differences that exist between the old and the new means of energy production and the change to built manifestations that consequently follow from this shift. When power generation facilities were adapted for the urban environment in previous eras, they necessarily responded to the aesthetic considerations of the time required of them to integrate with the fabric of the community. As the days of the gas or coal fired power plant at the farthest outskirts of the city come to a close, we will find more and more integration of energy production within the fabric of our commercial and residential communities. The need for large scale exurban generation will always be there, but it will be augmented more and more by urban and rural micro-generation and mid-scale generation.

We live in a world that cross-culturally puts a high emphasis on design. As energy generation necessarily comes in closer proximity with the real estate that it powers, issues of aesthetics that drive acceptance are becoming more and more debated. A holistic approach to a renewable energy infrastructure has a place for both macro and micro-generation.

Macro installations in the landscape should also take care in their design to integrate with their surroundings both visually and environmentally. Micro installations should take care in their designs to integrate with the fabric of the urban community. Just as buildings and public art and land art exist as interventions in the fabric of the environment, so must power generation constructions from our green fields to our suburbs to our downtowns react responsibly to their role as permanent additions to our shared experience.

We have, on the one hand, an ever increasing drive toward buildings and cities that are being designed to run on 100% renewable energy. The design community and city planners are moving in this direction driven by the collective will of society. On the other hand, we have technologies proliferating that are still rather utilitarian in their form such as the standard horizontal axis, three blade wind turbine. And these utilitarian forms are seeing some pushback from individual communities, especially as they come closer and closer to the city. The first warning signs of this are seen in rural mountaintop residential communities and coastal communities but this debate will only get more and more heated as the devices integrate into more dense urban environments.

What is needed in order to bridge the gap (between the larger desire for a renewable future and the community level negative reactions to the application of the systems required for it) is an artistic movement that can set a course towards aesthetic considerations in sustainable infrastructure. Because, after all, sustainability in communities is not only about resources, but it is also about harmony.

The Land Art Generator Initiative will bring together the sciences and the arts in a commitment to the future by making aesthetic power plants that inspire the world through their conceptual beauty and their renewable nature.

The LAGI viewing platforms will be tourist destinations that will draw people from around the world to experience the beauty of the collaborative art creations. The LAGI sites will eventually return financially on the investment that is made in their production as they continue to produce clean energy that will be used by consumers both private and public for decades into the future.

The 2010 LAGI International design competition is now open and teams are registering. The deadline for submission is June 4, 2010.

Land Art Generator

Architects, architectural educators, and architecture students throughout the world are invited to submit real or theoretical projects.

Entry deadline June 3

Visit www.architects.org/awards for more information.

This is the first of several competitions run to identify a range of possible design solutions, against a broad conceptual brief, with no commitment to build. They will be for significant design sites around the world. The aim of the Tiananmen Square Landscape Compeition is to generate debate and ideas for re-designing part of the most important urban space in the history of Chinese Civilization. We hope this will also set a new course for Eastern Landscape Architecture, helping in the development of an ecologically and culturally distinctive design tradition. This is a Web 2.0 landscape design competition running from March 2009 to June 2010.

Competition Entries should be published to Flickr as soon as they are ready. It is an ideas competetion so if two people submit similar ideas, priority will be given to the design idea which was published and added to the Tiananman Square Landscape Flickr Group first.

http://www.gardenvisit.com/history_theory/chinese_landscape_architecture_competition

The Winterhouse Writing Awards seek to increase the understanding and appreciation of design, both within the profession and throughout American life. A program of AIGA, these annual awards were founded by Jessica Helfand and William Drenttel of the Winterhouse Institute to recognize excellence in writing about design, and to encourage the development of young voices in design writing, commentary and criticism. This program is part of a larger AIGA initiative to stimulate new levels of design awarenes