challenged and topically presented by wonderland
Exhibition: 18 June - 20 July 2009
Location: Architekturzentrum Wien (Alte Halle), Vienna, Austria
Vernissage: 17 June 2009, 7 p.m.
Symposium: 18 June 2009, 11:30 a.m. - 6 p.m.
Model of Danish Pavillion for EXPO Shanghai 2010, by BIG - Bjarke Ingels Group (DK)
Photo: wonderland
On the role of competitions in architecture, the European architectural
platform wonderland presents the results of an Europe-wide call for models from
June 18 to July 20 at the Architekturzentrum Vienna (Az W), entitled "Deadline
Today! 99 stories on making architectural competitions". The platform is based
in Vienna, but positions itself as clearly European. Wonderland's exhibition
concept rests upon a study of competitions' influence on current architectural
practice. Models and individual stories of architect’s offices from all over
Europe are displayed, as is their experimental and innovative handling of
comepetition calls.
Silvia Forlati of SHARE architects and chairwoman of wonderland emphasises
the potential of competitions: "A win can turn an architect's office into a
success story overnight. Winning a competition does not only mean new
assignments in the end. It is also a chance to snowball within a day, to become
part of a completely different national context, or to evolve into a specialist."
A good example are Irish architects Róisín Heneghan and Shih-Fu Peng, who
successfully concluded the competition for the Grand Egyptian Museum Kairo as one
out of over 1.500 submissions in 2003. With an introductory lecture,
heneghan.peng.architects will open the exhibition at Az W on June 17 at 7 p.m.
Grand Egyptian Museum Kairo by heneghan.peng.architects (IE)
Photo: wonderland
The effort put in the competitive practice by architect’s offices is
generally very high. Therefore it is necessary to reflect on the realities of
the system. That is what wonderland is trying to do with "Deadline Today! 99
stories on making architectural competitions". The exhibition offers a snap-shot
of the role and purpose of competitions within the current European
architectural practice.
Georg Pendl, President of the Federal Chamber of Architects and Engineers and
chairman of the work group competitions at ACE (Architects' Council of Europe),
expressly underlines the international aspect: "This project is unique because
of its first-time thematic European-wide collection of examples and experiences
in the area of architectural competitions. It is excellent to have received
submissions from almost every country. This project achieved something that we,
as trade association on a European level, have not yet accomplished. A
scientific treatment ought to follow as a next step, but these interesting
highlights are already a basic contribution to the future of competition systems."
Roland Gruber from the office nonconform architektur vor ort and wonderland
board member describes the individual experiences in European competition
practice, and thus the background of the exhibition: "For many young offices
competitions are the only way to receive bigger assignments. Many stories of
'Deadline Today!' show that a won competition is reason enough to launch an
office of one’s own. But that is not the bottom line. The way to the realisation
is a long and hard one, again and again, if finally reached at all. It is yet
another, completely different thing to have won a competition in another country."
At the English-speaking symposium "Making Competitions: Within the limits /
Beyond the limits" on June 18, likewise at Az W, international competition
participants, jurors, organisations issuing the invitation to bid, and
wonderland team members report and discuss to what extent competitions can
secure assignments, which competition should be favoured, and what framework is
provided for architects in a Europe-wide comparison. Anne Isopp, architecture
journalist, points out the topicality of the symposium: "The spectrum of
competition types in Europe is wide: it reaches from open to closed, from
single-level to multi-level, and requires various qualifications of the
participants. Cross-border projects can additionally open up potential markets
and help architect’s offices to reach a new dimension and publicity. These
aspects will be discussed at the symposium, as well as the questions: How open
are those systems anyway? When, or in which competitions should small start-up
offices participate?"
wonderland especially examines the strategic decisions undertaken in practice:
Have the competition rules been respected, or is it ultimately more promising to
disobey the barriers and guidelines a little.
wonderland Symposium
"Making competitions: Within the limits / Beyond the limits"
Date: Thursday, 18 June 2009, 11:30 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Location: Architekturzentrum Wien
Course of Events:
11:30 a.m. – 1 p.m.: Competition systems: Searching for the right one…
2:30 – 4 p.m.: European visions - Is the European system a chance for new-comers?
4:30 – 6 p.m.: Winning strategies: What is needed to make a winner?
Participants:
- Thomas Maibaum (DE), lawyer and legal adviser for Federal Chamber of German Architects.
- Georg Pendl (AT), Chairman of the work group competitions at ACE (Architects' Council of Europe).
- Carlos Arroyo Zapatero (ES), architect and member of Europan - Europe Scientific Committee.
- Walter Chramosta (AT), architecture critic and consultant for competition
matters.
- Rob Docter (NL), President of the European Forum for Architectural Policies.
- Sándor Finta (HU), architect and member of the Hungarian Contemporary Architecture Centre.
- Wolfdieter Dreibholz (AT), architect, CEO Coop Himmelb(l)au.
- Hans Ibelings (NL), author and publisher of A10 magazine.
- as well as numerous ambassadors of European wonderland teams
Further Information:
Wonderland – Platform for architecture
Laudongasse 18/17 • A-1080 Wien
Austria
Tel.: +43/1 - 9 29 40 58
Fax: +43/1 - 9 29 40 59
eMail: office@wonderland.cx
web: www.wonderland.cx
german version