Arch'it - bandi di concorso

ETH Zurich - ETH World
ETH Zurich announces a conceptual competition for a virtual campus Defining a structure for the future university in the upcoming age of information: this is the goal of the ETH World project. The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH Zurich) is planning a very special virtual campus that will improve co-operation within the ETH and bring together teachers, researchers, students and other interested parties from the four points of the compass. In the framework of an international competition, creative teams are being called upon to develop ideas and concepts for the structure and design of this virtual "ETH World" which is to be integrated into the real ETH to form a functional whole. The Internet has triggered changes in university education. Virtual universities are being set up which will replace or complement classical academic teaching methods. Against this background, traditional universities must think about an adequate planning of their future. Once again, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH) proves to be at the vanguard of progress. In its search for an appropriate infrastructure for the future ETH, the venerable academic institution has decided to avail itself of the unconventional instrument of an international conceptual competition. The Competition The ETH World project is about much more than the mere Internet presentation of a renowned university. ETH World aims at providing the most sophisticated infrastructure for remote learning, teaching and research with the aid of the computer (key words: distance learning, distance teaching and distance research). At the same time, the virtual ETH is to be networked in a multiplicity of ways with the real ETH. Thus, ETH World might even constitute the framework of a new academic culture. In order to develop the project on an sound basis, ETH Zurich is organizing an international conceptual competition. As the project is about more than the usual ideas for a virtual campus, the invitation to participate is extended not only to web designers. What is rather being looked for explicitly are multidisciplinary international teams of experts from the most diverse fields. To facilitate the formation of such teams, the ETH will provide an Internet meeting point for would-be participants under http://www.ethworld.ch The competition will be opened on April 28, 2000. The invitation to participate is extended to interdisciplinary teams from all countries. Submission of projects is required by June 23, 2000. In a second phase of the competition, a minimum of seven teams will be given the opportunity to elaborate on their proposals. The decision will be arrived at in November 2000, when an international jury comprising, among others, Nobel laureate Professor Dr. Richard Ernst and Christoph Vitali, the director of Munich's Haus der Kunst, will select the winning entries. Objective and definition of the task The task being set by the competition is an ambitious one. What is being asked for is the creation of a multidimensional virtual space - a platform for the accommodation, without limitations in space and time, of research institutions, educational offers and service providers. At the same time, the existing physical structures are to be integrated and enhanced. Today, the almost 150-year-old former Polytechnic occupies more than one hundred sites that are scattered all over Zurich: an architectural network closely knit into the fabric of the city. Its Main Building, designed by Semper and situated at the heart of Zurich's university quarter, is not only Switzerland's oldest example of architectural historicism, but a building of national importance. On the Hönggerberg, located at the north-east from the centre, the second major ETH site has been developed since the 1960s and is still being extended. ETH World, as a new virtual campus, is meant to grow together with these real-space sites to form a new up-to-date university. ETH Zurich: tradition and innovation The only tradition that the university is not willing to have questioned is that of its top quality. Founded in 1855 as a polytechnic, the ETH Zurich has developed into a focus of the Swiss educational landscape (the engineering sciences can be studied only here or in Lausanne, certain disciplines being represented only in Zurich). With its scientists of worldwide renown, highly motivated students and peak performances in research and education, the ETH Zurich occupies an outstanding position, also at the international level. With justified pride, reference is made to twenty Nobel laureates whose lives are intertwined with the fate of the ETH - among them Wilhelm Konrad Roentgen, Albert Einstein, Otto Stern and, most lately (1991), the chemist Richard Ernst, who, as a member of the jury composed of top-class experts, will partake in deciding on the ETH's future. ETH World is a step into this future. The winning concept from the ETH World competition is to be implemented and put into service by the year 2005, when the ETH Zurich will celebrate their 150th anniversary-hopefully in the form of a renewed, dynamic and flexible university which will be up to the challenges the outlines of which are barely visible from today's perspective. Objectives and prospects Thus, what is being expected from this reorganization is more than the mere creation of an additional flood of information. The new structure should optimize communication, create synergies, harmonize existing and new infrastructures and improve their utilization. This will lead not only to the enhancement of interdisciplinary communication, but also to a strengthening of the ETH's different departments. Apart from these great prospects, the ETH World concept implies also definite risks. Thus, virtuality always means a certain loss of identity. This is why the ETH Zurich has explicitly formulated the requirement that ETH World should develop substantially more integrative power than similar (web) projects of other universities. This implies also the necessity to provide, despite the system's virtual character, offers for direct human encounter. For an academic institution that neglects the social factor and face-to-face human dialogue runs the risk to loose one of its major assets. And precisely this asset is to be conserved and cultivated at the ETH Zurich. Contacts and information Specifications for the ETH World conceptual competition and application forms are available under www.ethworld.ch or www.phase1.de. Questions concerning the organization of the competition will be answered by the co-ordinating office, P, Berlin (Germany). Please contact Benjamin Hossbach (phone +49-30-31 59 31-0). General information on the project as a whole may be obtained from Dr. C. Hanser of ETH Zurich (phone +41-1-632 66 73). Sponsor ETH - Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich Co-ordination PBerlin Type of Competition The competition is international and consists of an open two-stage concept competition. Egilibility interdisciplinary work groups of architects, communication scientists and specialists in new media, artists, computer scientists, designers, educationalists, film producers, IT specialists, marketing experts, online designers, product designers, scientists, sociologists, teachers, etc. should be envisaged (Individuals or legal entities) Partner Team Pool http://www.ethworld.ch Language English Events and Dates First Phase: Distribution April 28, 2000 Application deadline May, 8 2000 Virtual Colloquium May, 12 2000 Submission June, 23 2000 Jury Meeting July, 18 2000 Second Phase: Distribution August, 3 2000 Inquiry Colloquium August, 22 2000 Submission October, 2 2000 Jury Meeting November, 8 2000 Prices, Purchases and Compensations 1. Price CHF 30.000 2. Price CHF 20.000 3. Price CHF 14.000 4. Price CHF 9.000 Purchases CHF 17.000 fixed compensation for every competitor in the second phase CHF 20.000 Total CHF 230.000 Jurors - Prof. Dr. Richard Ernst Chemist, Nobel Prize Winner, Zurich - Dr. Josef Estermann, Lord Mayor Zurich, Zurich - Prof. Dr. Kurt W. Forster, Architecture historian, Director Canadian Architecture Center Montreal - Lic. iur. Brigitta M. Gadient Member of Parliament, Chur - May Liem Multimedia Content Manager Amsterdam - Ulrich Pistor Member of the board, Schindler Management AG Ebikon/ Luzern - Prof. Dr. Dr. Andreas Reuter Director European Multimedia Laboratory GmbH, Heidelberg - Prof. Dr. Gerhard Schmitt, Vice President ETH Zurich, Zurich - Gerfried Stocker, Multimedia Artist, Director, Ars Electronica Ctr., Linz - Christoph Vitali, Director Haus der Kunst, Munich