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| INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND ARCHITECTURE open international ideas competition |
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| INVITATION The Federation of Danish Architects (DAL) hereby invites architects, designers etc. from all over the world to participate in a competition on architecture and design in the information technology society of the future. The competition has been organised with the financial backing of the Margot and Thorvald Dreyer's Foundation. With the aim of advancing the debate on developments in society, the foundation has financed two international ideas competitions which are launched simultaneously by The Federation of Danish Architects and The Danish Bar and Law Society. In the same way as Western European society underwent radical change during the 18th and 19th centuries in the wake of the industrial revolution, today's global society is in the throes of rapid transformation as a result of the growth in information technology. The background, scope and acceleration of this growth are something of which we are all aware to a greater or lesser extent. There is little architects can do to influence the accelerating pace of growth within information technology itself: this is in the hands of other disciplines, albeit that it is an explosive, self-generating phenomenon not susceptible to any co-ordinated overarching control. The four articles which are appendices to the competition brief, set out a comprehensive exposé of the way in which, spearheaded by this growth, technological, biological sociological and social changes are sweeping through global society. In the same way, information technology is effecting a change in our perception of space and time. The frequency and influence of these changes are accelerating and intense. Paul Virilio has it that space is being superseded by time as the most significant parameter in architecture: time in the sense of the immediate, the now, in a future in which the distance between now and soon is rapidly increasing. Given that the perception of space itself is being re-evaluated, it is inevitable that this process will lead to changes within the perception of architecture in terms of function, effectiveness, scale and aesthetics. Some will perceive this growth as a crisis for architecture, others will barely perceive it and others again will see it as the breaching of spatial barriers onto a wealth of new possibilities. It is the latter viewpoint, the architectural possibilities offered by information technology, which this competition is designed to highlight. If architects cannot influence developments within information technology, they can certainly observe them, attempt to anticipate them and fulfil their traditional role of designing the framework for human life. DAL's intention with this competition is to inspire architects to join in a debate on the physical shaping of our surroundings in the information technology society in the interests of encouraging ever higher architectural standards. In order to provide a common frame of reference for the competitors, DAL has had four articles written by way of appendix to the competition brief. Following the conclusion of the competition, DAL will collate elements of the background material and results of the competition to provide the basis of an exhibition and a book, both of which will serve as a springboard for the continued debate and for taking the results of the competition further. DAL will then go on to launch design contests on selected sub-elements within the main theme and to endeavour to have the results implemented. ASSIGNMENT The specific aim of the competition is to generate visualisations of concepts of the architectural consequences of the information technology society within the next 10-20 years Architectural consequences must be interpreted in the broadest terms and can cover the whole range which traditionally forms the stamping ground of the architect, from design through layout and construction to town planning and landscaping. A general question which covers the whole spectrum is how the concept of architecture is affected by information technology. This question can be broken down into several subsidiary questions, some of which are asked here; the answers, both at the general and at the subsidiary level, furnish a natural background for the assignment solutions. Set out below are a number of examples covering the whole range of the architect's domain - design, construction and planning - and which the competition organiser judges aptly exemplify architecture in the information technology society. These examples, which are grouped in ascending order are not definitive: competitors are invited to use them individually or as a cohesive whole and are also invited to define and elaborate other topics within the overall themes of the competition. With the advent of information technology, significant areas of work have been liberated from the traditional stationary workplace. Today, given a computer and a modem, many people can do their work anywhere in the world. The computer can be used in combination with other technical aids such as a camera, scanner, printer etc., or in a more minimal vein as a portable unit which the user can take anywhere. Most existing computers and associated technical aids have not had the benefit of the attentions of a qualified designer. This applies to appearance, cleaning and maintenance, internal networks and internet links and the ergonomic effects on the user's eyes, back, hands and fingers. Until today, information technology has not wrought any significant changes to the home. The television, video, computer, scanner, printer, fax etc., connected to each other and to the walls with tangles of wires and cables, do not move easily around in traditionally designed and traditionally laid out houses. But today's reality is tomorrow's opportunity. Soon each element of every house and building will be equipped with IT technology and be able to communicate with the user, with each other and with anyone who has access to the internet. Panasonic, Japan's largest producer of electrical appliances, has set itself the ultimate aim of mastering time and place. They have built the prototype house, 2003 HII (Home Information Infrastructures) in which every aspect of the state of the house and the user's life can be recorded and analysed. Intelligent or smart materials, interactive buildings and construction elements have long been mentioned in connection with buildings of the future. It will very soon be a standard requirement that buildings, construction elements and materials be created or chosen on the basis of an integrated ecological concept, espousing recycling and compatibility with nature's cycles. The construction process is subjected to fierce criticism: it is condemned as uncoordinated, uneconomical, rigid and devoid of vision. Questioning the role of technological progress in the pursuit of the common good is a thing of the past. In recent times, western urban culture reached a peak at the end of the 19th century; during that century ancient cities had been transformed and brought up to date with industrialisation. City centres became cultural magnets, so for the benefit and pleasure of commerce and citizens alike a variety of new types of buildings were erected using the industrialised materials of iron and glass (covered arcades, large department stores, market halls, railway stations etc.). Paris, the capital city of the 19th century became the paradigm of the new urban culture. In the 20th century the centre of urban culture moved to the American skyscraper cities and above all to New York. Later on in the century the city went into decline, losing its role as cultural centre as a result of modernist function zoning and a long series of technical inventions and developments: the car, refrigerator, freezer, telephone, television etc. Today we are seeing the re-emergence of interest in the city's role as cultural centre in tandem with the evolution of an urban aesthetic which promotes the abundant options, lifestyles and flexibility offered by dense urban developments. The German author Hans Magnus Enzensberger has written about urban life of the future which he believes will be characterised by tranquillity, beauty, quiet and time: values which will come to be prized above the more material values. The new city centres can become the futuristic version of Renaissance city states, centres for science, art and culture and powerhouses for the information technology society of the future. Others see the city centres of the future as a stimulating, hectic, interactive chaos. In March 2000 Lord Richard Rogers, an English architect with a passion for cities, wrote in The Observer about the cities of the future: "In the next twenty years in England alone five million dwellings have to be built, eighty per cent of them for singletons. Current urban development is leading to suburban developments where conditions are not conducive to a happy urban life with civic pride, a sense of security and social and economic integration. In addition, suburban sprawl swallows up to eight times more land and five times more energy than high-density urban development". Lord Rogers writes that in order to create better towns and cities while also conserving more of the countryside the density ratio must increase dramatically and that if town planning is to be sustainable it must be founded on a sound artistic, social and technical basis. In the electronic age, manifestos will become less dogmatic and increasingly metaphorical; this will be true of views on the landscape as much as on architecture and towns and cities. ASSIGNMENT SOLUTIONS Design proposals submitted shall serve as a springboard for debate and shall be suitable for publication without amendment both in exhibitions and in book form. Design proposals shall in metaphorical terms be perceived as windows onto self-selected and defined sectors of a future world, created using the information technology competencies at the architect's disposal. It is the aspiration of the competition organiser that, taken as a whole, these windows will provide a view of an inspirational and multi-faceted world which can provide a sound basis for a debate on architecture and design in the information technology society of the future. Architects wishing to enter the competition are encouraged to do so in inter- disciplinary partnerships with other professions such as engineers, sociologists and economists. Assignment solutions shall include a short written account of the theoretic basis of the assignment, a concise formulation of the brief for the assignment solution and a short description of the entry's principal ideas. Apart from this text, design proposals shall be presented as far as possible in a visual form. Titles, captions, key words etc. relating to drawings shall be favoured above long written explanations. Detailed projects shall not be required, but an uncomplicated presentation which aims at clarifying the entryÕs principal ideas. ASSESSMENT CRITERIA Entries shall be assessed with consideration given to well-argued ideas and imaginative solutions which will help to broaden our perceptions of the architectural possibilities in the information technology society of the future. An important prerequisite of the competition is to achieve an overall result which will by its character stimulate debate and demonstrate new ways of achieving higher architectural quality at all stages and levels in the future designs for our surroundings. TERMS AND CONDITIONS 5.1 Competition organiser and type The competition is organised by The Federation of Danish Architects (DAL/AA) as an open international ideas competition. Entries may be in Danish, Swedish, Norwegian or English. 5.2 Participation The competition is aimed primarily at architects, planners and designers, but the participation of other professions interested in the themes of the competition is also invited. Those excluded from participation in the competition are: Persons or businesses who have had any role in organising the competition or have made significant contributions to the formulation of the competition assignment. Employees of DAL Employees, partners or employers of any member of the jury or its advisors. Persons who are closely related to or have close relations with any member of the jury or its advisors. Businesses which are owned wholly or in part by persons who are closely related to or have close relations with any member of the jury or its advisors. In the event of doubt the matter shall be referred to DAL's competition committee. 5.3 Competition secretary Architect MAA Jesper Kock DAL Competition Secretariat Strandgade 27 A DK-1401 Copenhagen K Denmark Fax: +45 32 83 69 01 E-mail: konkurrencer@dal-aa.dk 5.4 Competition material Competition material consists of this brief, together with the following appendices as well as questions and answers cf. item 5.5 and any other information given to competitors. 1. Between the physical and the electronic Universe Peter Hesseldahl, journalist 2. Technology in the Home - or the Home in the info-society Kresten Storgaard, sociologist and senior researcher at the Danish Building Research Institute (SBI) 3. Broad Outlines in Time and Space Carsten Thau, dr. phil. and professor at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, School of Architecture 4. Shall we build a Digital Bauhaus? Pelle Ehn, professor, director of Research and Development, School of Art and Communication, Malmý University Appendices may be requested in writing from the DAL Competition Secretariat; Please indicate whether the material should be in Danish or in the English translation. Application for the appendices shall serve as registration in the competition. Names and address shall be written clearly to avoid any uncertainty as to where the appendices and subsequent competition material should be sent. The appendices cannot be requested over the telephone; please allow approximately one week for delivery. 5.5 Queries Any queries about the competition shall be sent in writing to the competition secretary no later than 5 December 2000. Anonymous copies of such queries shall be submitted to the competition organiser and if necessary to the jury. Approx. 2 weeks after this deadline for queries all questions and answers shall be sent to all registered competitors. 5.6 Composition of entries Entries shall comprise the following material: 1. Scheme The scheme shall create a graphic whole, 1200 mm (height) x 840 mm (width), and it is stressed that their function is to combine to showcase the main ideas of the entry as a window onto the future. Text shall be as limited as possible and form an integrated part of the presentation of the entry. The scheme could be divided in 2 pcs. in A1 format (600 x 840 mm). 2. Specification folders Only text and illustrations from the scheme may be included in the specification folders, which shall be submitted in 5 copies in A4 format and shall be of a sufficient graphic quality for photocopying. 3. Identification envelope An A4 sheet bearing the entrant's name, address and telephone number (work/home) is sealed in an opaqne envelope bearing the reference number. Where there are several contributors to the entry, it shall be clearly specified who has copyright to the entry and must list any persons who, without share in the copyright, may have contributed whether as employees, consultants or advisors. The text "Navneseddel" and the selected reference number allocated shall be marked on the envelope. It is stressed that any material not specified above shall not be accepted for assessment. Models shall not be accepted. 5.7 Presentation of entries Entries shall be anonymous and no part of any competition entry shall have been previously published. All elements of the entry shall be clearly marked with a 5-digit, randomly selected reference number. Drawings shall be executed using a technique which facilitates both ready understanding of the entry and reproduction in black- and-white. The graphic presentation shall be made with due consideration to eventual inclusion in both an exhibition and a book. The scheme shall not be rolled up together for submission or mounted on a hard back, although stiff card or similar are acceptable. Competitors shall only submit a copy of the original entry as no compensation will be available for any damage to or loss of material received. 5.8 Submission Entries shall be presented at a post office or to a courier no later than 6 February 2001 and shall be addressed to: DAL Competition Secretariat Strandgade 27 A DK-1401 Copenhagen K Denmark The package shall be clearly marked: Information Technology and Architecture - Competition Entries may also be submitted directly at the above address no later than 15.00 on 6 February 2001. A receipt shall be provided in confirmation of the submission which shall be made anonymously. Irrespective of whether the entry is submitted in person, by the postal services or by courier, a copy of the delivery of receipt shall be sent to the competition secretary by registered post immediately after submission of the entry. The entrant should be identified on the receipt using the selected reference number and a telephone number through which the entrant may be contacted in the event, for example, of the omission of an identification envelope from the entry. The telephone number shall be chosen with a view to preserving anonymity. Entries sent in using the postal services or a courier no later than 6 February 2001, shall reach the above address no later than 13 February 2001 in order to be eligible for submission for assessment. It is the responsibility of competitors to ensure that both deadlines are met. 5.9 Jury etc. Entries shall be assessed by a jury, composed of: Gosta Knudsen, architect MAA (chairman of DAL) Dennis Lund, architect MAA (vice chairman of DAL) Hanne Kjaerholm, architect MAA (Margot and Thorvald Dreyer's Foundation) Mikkel Frost, architect MAA (appointed by DAL Competition Committee) Mikael Koch, architect MAA MDD (appointed by DAL Competition Committee) Finn Selmer, architect MAA (appointed by DAL Competition Committee) Advisors to the jury Bente Beedholm, architect MAA Pia Bech Mathiesen, architect MAA Mads Christoffersen, M.A. cultural anthropology Georg Rotne, architect MAA Secretary to the jury Architect MAA Jesper Kock, DAL Competition Secretariat. The jury shall be entitled to bring in other special advisors provided that the jury is unanimous on this point. No written assessment shall be made of all individual entries. 5.10 Awards A minimum fund of DKK 500,000 shall be distributed in terms of prizes and purchases. Over and above this sum, the jury shall have a further DKK 500,000 at its disposal which may be distributed in consideration of the number and quality of the entries. A first prize of at least DKK 200,000 shall be awarded. The remaining fund shall be distributed at the discretion of the jury with the proviso that no prize and/or honoraria shall be less than DKK 20,000 per entry. The jury reserves the right to award more than one 1st prize in view of the broad terms of the themes of the competition. 5.11 Publication of the results It is anticipated that assessment of the entries shall be completed at the beginning of April 2001, and the results of the competition shall be published via the Ritzaus Bureau and DAL's website (www.dal-aa.dk). Competitors who have been awarded prizes or purchases shall, however, be notified in person. All entries shall be included in an exhibition in Copenhagen. Competitors shall receive details in writing. 5.12 Rights Title to the prize-winning and commissioned entries is owned by the competition organiser. Copyright in the competition entry is however always retained by the entrant. In the interests of good order it shall be clearly indicated that competitors are responsible for establishing patents and protecting utility models and registered designs prior to submission and subsequent publication of the entries. Detailed information and advice is available on application to the Danish Patent Office at the Department of Trade and Industry (Erhvervsministeriets Patentdirektorat) phone + 45 43 50 80 00. DAL shall be entitled to publish the entries received. On publication of an entry the competitor's name shall be given. 5.13 Returning All non-successful entries shall be returned to the competitors together with the jury's report no later than 4 months after publication of the results of the competition. However, the return of the specification folders submitted cannot be guaranteed. 5.14 Insurance Entries shall not be insured as it is presumed that entrants will retain the originals of their entries. 5.15 Approval of the brief This competition brief has been approved by the members of the jury and the competition is being held in accordance with DAL's competition rules of 13 June 1998. web: http://www.dal-aa.dk/forside/english_frame.htm |
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