Competition Culture in Europe 2017-2020

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Well, it was worth the wait and the effort! Competition Culture in Europe 2017-2020 is now openly available! Big thanks to Architectuur Lokaal and Indira van Klooster for making it happen and a big thanks to Katerina Moustaka and Stelina Portesi the two students of NTUA who worked so hard for the research!

Abstract: Research, activities & educational outputs from the 2017 International Competition Culture in Europe (CCIE) conference, & the wider CCIE programme, are assembled here to provide invaluable resources, knowledge, & guidance. 25 European countries were involved in the programme & in 6 research programmes were set up. The 1st part provides an overview of CCIE international convocations & their outputs. The 2nd part reports on University master students research from Tirana (Albania), Sarajevo (Bosnia & Herzegovina), Sofia (Bulgaria), Athens (Greece), Dublin (Ireland) & Portsmouth (United Kingdom). These country’s outputs cover the history, development, application, & opportunities of competitions in an international context. This publication is an Architectuur Lokaal project realised with Project Compass CIC & A10 New European architecture Cooperative.

competition_culture_in_europe_2017_2020Download

Competition Culture Europe/ Greece

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Very happy to share the news with you! Last fall, we started out a research program in collaboration with A10 New European Architecture Magazine and Architectuur Lokaal at academic scale with the aim to investigate architectural competitions in seven European countries. This year round there was an equal number of academic institutions each working on a separate module. We were supposed to meet in June in Vienna, but the pandemic cost us that trip and the opportunity to share our research findings amongst us. This is why we set up a BLOG that currently accommodates the key points of our research, two very recent case studies, numerous interviews of the people involved and a commentary on Greek competition culture.

I would like to sincerely thank all the interviewees for their valuable contributions, Tzina Sotiropoulou and Antigoni Katsakou for participating in our last live session and Prelab for accommodating all of our live sessions. Most of all, I would like to thank the two students who took up this endeavor, Katerina P. Moustaka and Stelina Portesi. I am obliged to them for their hard work despite the challenging times.

Greek competition culture is still developing. Our research is only just a small fraction of a wider discourse that is unassailably connected to the future of the profession as well. Therefore, we are open to your comments and your feedback.

Future Cities

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Which are the Future Cities of the world?

This is a five-part web documentary by Yvonne Brandwijk (photographer) and Stephanie Bakker (journalist)  that tries to answer which cities are looking to outstrip the current megacities in terms of growth, innovation and creativity.

The two creators examine 5 cities; Kinshasa, Lima, Yangon, Medellin and Addis Ababa. They look at the world behind the demographics and search what energy drives them change and innovation. All videos are incredibly interesting and refreshing to see. Check them out!

 

Image available here

Amsterdam edible roofs.

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One of the best bike rides ever!IMG_1357

We started at the Circl, with a delicious brunch. Then we visited Hopp, Zoku and Restaurant Vermeer.

The edible roofs initiative is managed by Hrbs and is a project in progress. Thanks to a innovative system of cultivation and watering, hotels and restaurants can grow their own herbs and maintain their own flower gardens to attract bees and butterflies on their rooftops. Our guide Kelai Diebel was amazing.

Best surprise of the day: the six course meal offered to us by chef  Christopher Naylor. It was exquisite! Thank you guys!

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Emoves Festival in Eindhoven will host AUJIK & STRP AR art installation

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AUJIK

AUJIK is a group of artists who work with AI and AR to produce artefacts “that are a crossbreed of organic and synthetic entity.”

AUJIK was invited by STRP (ne of Europe’s largest indoor festivals in the field of technology and art) to work on an AR project for the EMOVES graffiti festival in Eindhoven. From 30/06/18 to 01/10/18 visitors at Strijp-S will have an immersive experience as a spectacular virtual layer will be displayed on top of the physical environment through smartphones.

For those of you who don’t already know, Strijp-S is the former Philips Factory in Eindhoven, NL. According to its official site:

Philips sold Strijp-S to Park Strijp Beheer in 2004. The buildings that were still in use by Philips were hired back. Since 2006, the redevelopment of Strijp-S became a very serious plan. The first buildings had been demolished and new activities came to the area, particularly the creative industries and the annual Dutch Design Week.

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For those of you who are planning a trip in NL, don’t forget to visit!

 

Cover image from “Spatial Bodies” exhibition in Osaka is available here, Stijp-S image available here

A10 cooperative’s meeting in Amsterdam

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Last week many of the A10 new European architecture correspondents met in Amsterdam. It was our first meeting since the cooperative’s official establishment and naturally there was a lot to talk about. Interestingly enough, despite our diverse backgrounds we’ve discovered that we have a lot in common and that we share a common perspective on where we want to go with this publication in the near future. It was a real pleasure for me to be part of this process and I look forward to materializing our intentions.

In the meantime, we’ve already completed the first phase of the EU Survey on the culture of architectural competitions in collaboration with Architectuur Lokaal and a first volume of the work in progress is now available. The conference held on the 28th and the 29th of September for the EU Survey was a great opportunity for us to discuss our findings and elaborate on many concepts related to the architectural competitions’ tradition and practices. Many thanks to Walter Menteth and Cillie Jansen for showing us fulkrum.eu. Special mention to Antigone Katsakou and her book entitled ‘The Competition Grid: Experimenting With and Within Architecture Competitions,’ (soon to be published by RIBA) as well as to Jonas Andersson and Magnus Ronn for their book ‘Architectural Competitions-Histories and Practice,’ available here. Special mention also goes to Angel Borrego Cubero and his film “The Competition” which was screened during day II.

Other new undertakings will soon be announced as well. I’ll keep you posted.

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Second Image belongs to Tarja Nurmi