Ghost Town Challenge

Ghost Town Challenge, Homemade Dessert competitions + Liepaja City Council from HD Competitions on Vimeo.

Homemade Dessert is excited to invite you to participate in our latest architecture vision competition „Ghost Town Challenge” on Karosta, a former soviet military town about 10 km North from Liepaja city centre, Latvia.

Karosta translates as War Port (or Navy Harbour). It is used to be a closed secret military town for the Russian Empire, and later for the Soviet military. As Latvia regained its independence in 1990, the Soviet military had to leave Karosta. As a result the population dropped dramatically from 25 000 to 6 000, leaving many abandoned buildings behind which have fallen into a state of partial or complete disrepair.

Homemade Dessert in collaboration with Liepaja City Council and a number of local artists has created a design brief on Karosta´s revitalization. Before exploring the brief in depth we would suggest you to familiarize yourself with this unique urban context. There are number of impressive historic monuments as St. Nicholas Ortodox Marine Cathedral in the central part of Karosta, the  Horse Arena or Manege  and Karosta Prison. Specific and unique poetic value can also be found in brutalist architecture „soviet style” apartment buildings.

The Brief will more closely examine development of Karosta´s urban core by planting a building complex that will be the main attraction of the town and would help to bring back the life to this part of Liepaja city. You are asked to present your architectural vision for a multi-purpose cultural centre that would include museum, library, and conference centre with possible entertainment as retail zones and a restaurant.

This competition is the first competition in the competition series on Liepaja city. This international architecture vision competition is open to everyone. Teams must have no more than 4 people, no professional qualification is required.

More information in informative material package.
Video introduction - https://vimeo.com/67714411

Jury

INDULIS KALNS - Liepaja city head architect
JURIS GRESTE - Urban designer, recipient of the of the Built Environment exemplar award in Australia
Rest of the jury to be confirmed.

Prizes

1st prize - US$ 6000
2nd prize - US$ 3000
3rd prize - US$ 1000

+ 6 honourable mentions will receive complimentary cash prize which will equal to the double registration fee.
The winners and honourable mentions will get international art and design media coverage and on the Homemade Dessert website.

Schedule

Early entry registration:  JUNE 5 - JULY 10 , 2013
Regular entry registration:  JULY 11 - SEP 24, 2013
Late entry registration:  SEP 25 - NOV 10, 2013
Closing date for registration:  NOV 17, 2013 11.59pm GMT (UPDATED!)
Closing date for submission:  DEC 7, 2013 11.59pm GMT (UPDATED!)
Evaluation: DEC 1 - DEC 15, 2013
Announcement of the winners:  DEC 24, 2013

Fees

Early entry registration fee:  US$ 60
Regular entry registration fee:  US$ 90
Late entry registration fee:  US$ 120

More information on:
homemadedessert.org

-

UPDATE: Closing dates for registration and submission have been extended.