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Competition „Simple Systems – Complex Capacities“ decided. On February 17th, 2009 the „Simple Systems – Complex Capacities“ competition was decided. Five prizes of 2,000 € each were awarded. The prize winners are: BREATHING SKIN: Rüdiger Karzel, Saskia Mayer, Frauke Hausi, Tobias Keller, Alexander Hohme, Christoph Geyer und Matthias Schulitz FLAT2FORM: Matthias Rippmann TETRATRAGWERK: Philipp Dittus THE THERMOMETRIC FACADE: Georg Rafailidis, Stephanie Davidson, Ilknur Dumlu, Aysel Yayli LEHM – BAUSTOFF DER VERGANGENHEIT UND DER ZUKUNFT: Sunanta Srisook The jury decided unanimously that a further development of the schemes should be promoted. For this purpose the total prize money of 20,000 € was divided into two equal parts, half of which to be paid as awards to the authors now and the second half to be used for the further development of the proposals. The five awardees are given the opportunity to develop their proposals with the help of experts. Moreover, ARCH+ will approach suitable companies to work together with the prize winners. Seele and Xella have already agreed to collaborate. Hardly any entry managed to address all criteria stated in the brief. Given the experimental character of the brief this was anyway not to be expected, especially since an alternative approach to the currently prevailing primacy of form is not readily at hand. For this reason the main criterion assessed by the competition jury was the potential for development of the submitted works. Submissions that did not go beyond the initial idea were therefore eliminated, as were entries based on already completed objects and buildings. There are a great number of awards for completed works that it could not be the objective of ARCH+ to add another such award. Regarding the criteria for assessment of the competition entries and the appraisal of the winning entries please see the jury minutes. (PDF as download) 115 entries were submitted, of which there were 86 entries from single authors and 29 team works. When conting all team members a total of 182 people particpated in the competition. Of the 182 people 41% are female and 59% are male. The data regarding the age of the participants is incomplete, but the majority is between 25 and 30 years old. 57% have not yet completed their studies and 33% of particpants with diploma have completed their studies in recent years. The latter are mainly working in offices or universities. Given the level of difficulty of the competition participation was unexpectedly high, as was the geographic spread. Entries were submitted from 13 countries, while the nationality of the participants did not necessarily coincide with the country were the entries were produced. 60% of the entires were from Germany, 11% from Austria and 9% from England. The remaining 20% included the US, Israel, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, and The Netherlands, as well as Greece, Hungary, Georgia and Iran. About the current status: all 5 prize winners will continue to develop their proposals in a second stage of the competition. Competition Brief In addition to volume 188 ARCH+ launches the competition “Simple Systems – Complex Capacities” with a total prize money of 20.000 Euro. The aim of the competition is to foster a broader discussion of the introduced concepts, and, moreover, the editors and authors hope for an experimental development of the concepts. Participation Open and unlimited Competition The task The design of a material system that is in exchange with is context-specific environment and that, in doing so, can fulfil functional and performative requirements. Description Materials can display varied characteristics without change to their chemical makeup. The difference then emanates from its structure. Nature demonstrates masterfully how one and the same material can be structured differently due to changing conditions and requirements. The performance of natural systems is based on such structural differentiation. The key question of the competition is therefore how the immense potential of material structural differentiation can be instrumentalised for architecture and the built environment. A first premise lies in the question of the right scale that enables accomplishing spatial organisation, material self-organisation, as well as load-bearing and microclimatic modulation capacities to be developed from structural differentiation. When considering the scalar spectrum, ranging from the macro-scale of a building to the micro-scale of the molecular composure of a material, it becomes clear that material systems constitute an intermediary or meso-scale. A second premise lays in the development of a systematic approach. What is at stake here are not only materials per se, but rather the material and the constructive, as well as material and structural characteristics that arise from an exchange with a specific environment. A third premise lays in the choice of tools, which allow for the differentiation of structures in the design process and also deliver a link to manufacturing, is crucial. The task is to rethink architecture as a systemic exchange and feedback between form, material, structure, its production (fabrication and assembly) and its effects (performance). Submission Deadline 31. January 2009, Postmarked Prices 20.000 € The jury will decide on the distribution of the prices. In addition it is intended to cooperate with material-specific companies in the realisation of 1/1 scale prototypes. Publication and Exhibition It is planned to publish the best entries in Arch+ and to organise a travelling exhibition showings the best projects including models and prototypes. |
