Results of 3rd Advanced Architecture Contest “The Self-Sufficient City”

Barcelona-based Institute of Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IAAC) just announced the winning entries of the 3rd Advanced Architecture Contest “THE SELF-SUFFICIENT CITY: Envisioning the habitat of the future”. The international competition, organized by the IAAC in collaboration with HP, invited architects to submit ideas which transform cities into more stimulating environments for the human life. The contest was open to architects, planners, designers and artists who aim to contribute to progress in making the world more habitable by developing a proposal capable of responding to emerging challenges in areas such as ecology, information technology, socialization and globalization, with a view to enhancing the connected self-sufficiency of our cities.

The jury presented a joint first prize to contestants “HURBS” designed by Sergio Castillo Tello and María Hernández Enríquez from Spain and “WATER FUEL” designed by Rychiee Espinosa and Seth Mcdowell from the United States.

Here are the two winning entries in detail:

Finalist “HURBS” Hybrid Human Urban Re-adaptive Bidirectionally-Relational System which proposed the creation of a participatory experiment in order to develop an urban informational system in which the citizens and experts work together to develop cities through solutions that optimize urban resources. The jury acknowledges this vision of a city as a structure which is re-informed through digital management systems.

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1st Prize: “HURBS” Hybrid Human Urban Re-adaptive Bidirectionally-Relational System by Sergio Castillo Tello and María Hernández Enríquez, Spain

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1st Prize: “HURBS” Hybrid Human Urban Re-adaptive Bidirectionally-Relational System by Sergio Castillo Tello and María Hernández Enríquez, Spain

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1st Prize: “HURBS - Hybrid Human Urban Re-adaptive Bidirectionally-Relational System” by Sergio Castillo Tello and María Hernández Enríquez, Spain

Finalist “WATER FUEL” which proposed the development of technologies that transforms salt water into energy, generating hydrogen in urban environments, to be utilized for transportation systems and urban consumption. The jury acknowledges this as the integration of energy production systems into an urban context and it’s ability to transform civic environments and foment the generation of energy by means of self sufficiency. These structures have been well designed and are capable of urban landscape integration.

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1st Prize: “WATER FUEL” by Rychiee Espinosa and Seth Mcdowell, USA

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1st Prize: “WATER FUEL” by Rychiee Espinosa and Seth Mcdowell, USA

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1st Prize: “WATER FUEL” by Rychiee Espinosa and Seth Mcdowell, USA

The jury also gave honorable mentions to the following four projects:

“Massive Urban Recycling-Plastered Stadium”, designed by Adrian Garcia from Mexico which proposed to recycle urban obsolete structures, incorporating new functions such as domestic functions, without destroying prominent urban buildings, when they’ve lost their function.

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Honorable Mention: “Massive Urban Recycling-Plastered Stadium” by Adrian Garcia, Mexico

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Honorable Mention: “Massive Urban Recycling-Plastered Stadium” by Adrian Garcia, Mexico

“SKY CITY” designed by Victor Kirillow from Russia which proposed the construction of urban mega structures, in which the city is stacked vertically to protect it’s green spaces, giving access to each level through future transportation systems.

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Honorable Mention: “SKY CITY” by Victor Kirillow, Russia

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Honorable Mention: “SKY CITY” by Victor Kirillow, Russia

“RECIPROCITY” designed by Jason Butz from the United States which proposed the creation of recycling structures which recycle urban waste and capable of creating materials of high architectural design for urban reuse.

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Honorable Mention: “RECIPROCITY” by Jason Butz, USA

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Honorable Mention: “RECIPROCITY” by Jason Butz, USA

“MOBILIZING VILLAGES” designed by Do Trung Kien from Vietnam, which proposed a floating city off the coast of Vietnam, with forms that abstract the surrounding landscapes, approaching the question ¨Is it possible to rise above sea level?¨, and its effect on coastal cities.

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Honorable Mention: “MOBILIZING VILLAGES” by Do Trung Kien, Vietnam

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Honorable Mention: “MOBILIZING VILLAGES” by Do Trung Kien, Vietnam

708 proposals from 116 countries were evaluated through the internet from October to December by the jury comprising Jaime Lerner, Architect, former Mayor of Curitiba, former President of UIA; Mr. Mityrev, Representative for the Governor of Saint Petersburg; Brett Steele, Director of the Architectural Association, London; Stan T. Allen, Dean of Princeton University School of Architecture; Yung Ho Chang, Head of the MIT Department of Architecture; Aaron Betsky, Director of The Cincinnati Art Museum; Haakon Karlsen Jr, Director of MIT Fab Lab Norway; Pankaj Joshi, Director of Urbanism Design Research Institute. Mumbai, India; Benyam Ali, Head of the Addis Ababa University Department of Architecture; JM Lin, Architect , The Observer Design Group, Taiepi, Taiwan; Bostian Vuga, Sadar & Vuga architects, Lubjana , Slovenia; Michel Rojkin, Rojkin Arquitecto, México; Vicente Guallart, Director of IAAC, Barcelona; Willy Muller, Director of IAAC Development; Marta Male-Alemany, Co-director of IAAC Master in Advanced Architecture; Areti Markopoulou, Academic Coordinator of IAAC Master in Advanced Architecture; and Lucas Cappelli, Director of 3rd Advanced Architecture Contest.

Images: Institute of advanced architecture of Catalonia (IaaC)

Tree hotel / Tham & Videgård Hansson Arkitekter

An interesting concept for a camouflaged hotel on a tree by Swedish architects Tham & Videgård Hansson Arkitekter:

The concept is to create a shelter up in the trees, a lightweight aluminum structure hung around a tree trunk, boxes clad in mirrored glass, 4×4x4 meters. The exterior reflects the surroundings and the sky, creating a camouflaged refuge. The interior is all made of plywood and the windows give a 360 degree view.

The functions provides a living for two people, a double bed, a small kitchen and bathroom, a living room and roof terrace. The access to the cabin is by a rope ladder or a rope bridge.

To prevent birds fly into the windows, transparent stickers, visible for birds, will be added to the facades.

Suurupi House extension / Arhitektid Muru & Pere

Architects: Arhitektid Muru&Pere
Location: Suurupi village, Estonia
Project Team: Urmas Muru, Peeter Pere, Anna -Maria Erik
Interior Design: Kaido Kivi
Site Area: 1,264 sqm
Project Area: 320 sqm
Photographs: Tarvo Varres

Bit by bit have extra rooms been added to the one-storey private house, designed in 1998 and built in 1999. In the first phase the house was a simple wooden “matchbox” which had to satisfy the humble needs of a young family with children, one of which being a sustainable building.

Source:  Arhitektid Muru&Pere

The Function of Form / Farshid Moussavi

After “The Function of Ornament”, Farshid Moussavi comes again with another useful book published by ACTAR and Harvard GSD.
The book is the result of a series of seminars Moussavi taught over 2 years at the GSD, and in over 500 pages it describes the most common material systems and its sub-systems: Grids and Frames, Vaults, Domes, Folded Plates, Shells, Tensile Membranes and Pneumatic Membranes.

Source: Archdaily

Private House Riedikon

Design team:
Raffael Gaus (project manager), Anya Meyer, Cristian Veranasi, Manuel Bader, Damaris Baumann, Claudia Nasri, Silvan Oesterle, Peter Heckeroth, Gabriel Cuellar

This dwelling, which reinterprets the typology of the surrounding gable-roof houses, gains its marked design by adapting form to context parametrically. The stipulations of two geometric operations were used to determine the groundplan shape of the house. One condition was to keep the neighbouring house’s view of the lake free; the other was to permit access and parking behind the house.

Like a tent, an overhanging pitched roof covers the high rooms in the upper storey. The window strip, which runs along the edge of the roof, emphasises the horizontal structure. 315 vertical wooden slats, affixed to the surface of the wall, completely envelope the facades. By milling the edges, the cross sections of the slats were modulated in correspondence with the window strip so that requirements of sight and sun protection were fulfilled, and various, flowing levels of transparency could be set.

Source: Architonic

Yufutoku Restaurant in Tokyo by ISSHO Architects (JP)

This restaurant in the center of Tokyo was designed by the young and promising ISSHO Architects. The sculptural facade, made of wooden discs reflects the daylight in a constantly changing pattern.


Source: Architonic

‘11Boxes’ in Tokyo / Japan by Keiji Ashizawa Design

 The Japanese architect and designer realised this single family house in Tokyo / Japan which is based on a smart and simple construction method.

Here is what the architect explains:

“11 steel frame boxes are formed using steel angles and used as the main structure while external wall panels are attached on without the need of any additional structure. The size of the steel boxes needed to be considered carefully as it has to fit on a truck to be transported to site. These boxes are then joined together with high tension bolts on site. Though the central span holds the main structural strength of the building, the circulation stair is intentionally positioned there to operate as an earthquake-proof element as well as to rationalize the plan of the house. Span of the stair is 1.75m, wet area is 2.2m, bedrooms and living area are 2.55m and a varied unit is made fully utilize the limited depth available on site.”

Source: Dailytonic

to the Keiji Ashizawa website