New Architecture Competition Looks at Demolishing Buildings for the Production of Voids
These days, the architecture conversation in NYC is all about the tallest, slenderest, and priciest towers. But while everyone has their eye on what’s going up, no one seems to be talking about what’s coming down to make it happen. That’s why this new design competition from the Storefront for Art and Architecture is so intriguing. “Taking Buildings Down” wants to expand the context of new development to include the entire life cycle of our built environment, and proposals are being accepted for “production of voids; the demolition of buildings, structures, and infrastructures; or the subtraction of objects and/or matter as a creative act.”
The competition presents the following introduction:
What does it mean to build? Traditionally, building has been defined as the assembly of parts or materials toward the creation of a whole. While to build is often perceived as an Apollonian pursuit, to destroy appears to be its Dionysian counterpart. Understanding that our built environment is the product of many forces, it can dialectically be reduced to the tensions between creation and destruction, addition and subtraction, and erection and demolition.
Participants must focus on contemporary contexts and include three items: a pre-existing current condition; a process of removal; and a resultant condition of removal.
The jury is comprised of: Jeff Byles, a writer, urban thinker, and author of “Rubble: Unearthing the History of Demolition;” Kelly Easterling, an architect, writer, professor at Yale University; Pedro Gadanho, the Artistic Director of the forthcoming Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology (MAAT) in Lisbon, Portugal; Jorge Otero-Pailos, an artist, architect, and preservationist; Christiane Paul, an Associate Professor and Associate Dean at The New School’s School of Media Studies and Adjunct Curator of New Media Arts at the Whitney Museum of American Art; starchitect Annabelle Selldorf, principal of Selldorf Architects; and David Bench (INCA) of Selldorf Architects.
The deadline for digital submissions is January 20th, and the winners will be announced in February. Get the full details on the design competition HERE >>
RELATED:
