Sponsor: Architects in Mission (AIM)/Zeybekoglu Nayman Associates

 

Type: Open, international, ideas

 

Location: Beijing

 

Language: English, Chinese

 

Fee: None

 

Eligibility: Open to all professionals and students

 

Timetable:

18 June 2010 – announcement of Q&A results

26 July 2010 – Registration deadline

2 August 2010 – Submission deadline

1-13 August 2010 – Jury deliberation

27 August 2010 – Award ceremony

 

Awards:

First Place (one person) - $5000 + visit to ZNA Boston Office

Second Place (two people) - $2000 + Visit to ZNA Beijing Office

Honorable Mentions (three people) - $1000

 

Jury:

Zhang Baoquan, Director of Today’s Museum and President of Antaeus Group

Ilhan Zeybekoglu, President of Zeybekoglu Nayman Associates,Inc

Zhuang Weimin, Dean of Architectural Design and Research Institute of Tsinghua University

Lu Feng,Deputy Dean of Faculty of Aritecture and Urban Planning

Ding Wowo,Dean of Nanjing University School of Architecture and Urban Planning

Marcus Wilkins, Divisional Director Aedas Architects Ltd

Thomas Schroepfer, Professor Harvard Graduate School of Design

 

Design Challenge:

Among the glittering towers that rise to the sky in the Guo-Mao District, Cable 8 – a smaller scaled group of low rises – is an antithesis to the Guo-Mao paradigm. Originally built during the industrialization era of the People's Republic, Cable 8 was a factory complex producing electrical cables, and has recently evolved into a re-vitalized incubator for art and design. Eight of its existing buildings have been converted from manufacturing floors to loft space, hosting designers and artists of various disciplines. The low-rise Cable 8 buildings, with their ivy-covered brick walls, form a sharp contrast to the high rise structures that have sprung up around it. The visitors to Cable 8 can enjoy a visit to a photography exhibition, the opening of a new studio, or a discussion session on contemporary art at one of the galleries. Cable 8 not only supplies a contrasting architecture to the CBD area, but also ushers in a cultural impetus to the otherwise homogeneous socio-cultural scene of Guo-Mao. The district has become fragmented from the holistic planning that has standardized the majority of the CBD, but the fragmentation shows a beauty in itself; Cable 8 has become a cultural carrier that has its roots in the historic past, but has regained its value with an investment in the future. Cable 8 has brought cultural infusion to Guo-Mao.

Participants are asked to come up with strategies and mechanisms that will improve Cable 8, making it more susceptible to the rapidly changing urban landscape, and perform better as a cultural carrier that helps to diversify the otherwise homogeneous nature of the CBD area. Participants can either improve the existing buildings in Cable 8 or introduce new architecture. We also highly encourage the design to go beyond the confinement of the existing site into the urban scale of the CBD area, and try to form a new relationship between site, program, form and technology. We hope to see interesting and thoughtful ideas that will perform urban cultural infusion in Beijing’s CBD, allowing it to achieve the status as a rich and dynamic urban center.

 

Submission Requirements:

This is a digital competition and hard copy proposals will not be accepted. All entries are to be submitted via e-mail on and before the 2nd Aug, 2010 (hours 22:00 beijing Time) to the following email address: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

The attachment should include at least 2 boards in A1 format (300dpi) and a technical/written report in A4 format. Another A4 sheet should include the contestant’s information, including name, contact, and affiliation. The total submission should not exceed 10MB.

 

For more information, go to: http://www.aim-competition.com/

 

Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it