2013

1ST PLACEAmy Danning Sun, Wen SunUniversity of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada Citizenship: Canadian (RE)DEFINE THE SEAM

(Re)define the Seam activates the laneway by introducing a flexible space that can bridge the social barriers of the local community. This flex-space is achieved by extending an existing underutilized social space in Sunset Tower into the public laneway. By redefining the re-appropriated space we can stimulate an intergenerational dynamic in the community and provide a new social space for the densely populated neighborhood. Site: 1655 Barclay Vancouver, BC, Canada V6G 2Y1

The urban condition of Vancouver's West End poses a unique opportunity for the re-appropriation of public space. The original subdivision of the neighborhood, the layout of which predates the city itself, allows for 30' laneways – a great contrast to the typical 20' condition. Presently, the laneways are utilized as surface parking to compliment the vast array of underground parkades. As public transportation gains momentum in the downtown area, and as the typical parkade in the West End remains between 30 to 50% vacant, the question must be asked: can the laneways be utilized in a more meaningful way?

The block that hosts Sunset Tower holds a diverse mix of demographics: children occupy the school and community center, young couples and students rent in the surrounding apartments, and seniors populate the residential tower. While the range of demographics should produce a lively community and promote intergenerational living, the opposite is the case. The laneway presents an opportunity, as part of the community's continued incremental evolution, to form a celebrated and meaningful space for interaction between the many groups that call the West End home.

ConceptThe majority of Sunset Tower is occupied by seniors. An uninviting and infrequently used bridge connecting the two wings of the building acts as the lone social space for the residents. Most seniors can be observed alone on their narrow balcony, which, at only 0.6m wide, barely fits a stool. Can we facilitate a social community among the residents within the tower while also offering a social forum for the greater West End?The proposed project extends the existing social space from Sunset Tower by penetrating into the 3rd floor and into the laneway. This intervention creates a platform for interaction and leisurely activities among the residents of the tower and the diverse surrounding community.Four cube typologies have been created to support a variety of community activities: solid, intermediate, void, and combined cubes are designed and furnished to be flexible and adaptable for a variety of programs. These cubes seem to expand and contract to respond to the programmatic needs at any given time and are strategically organized based on the existing desire paths of the area. Multiple routes arise from this configuration allowing a different experience each time.

(Re)defining the Seam provides the West End community with new opportunities for social interaction and bridges existing social barriers through shared space. The design facilitates a self organizing, adaptable, and flexible space that will lead to discovery and improvisation.

2ND PLACEMagorzata Daugiewicz, Patrycja Michera, Bartosz AdamiczkaWrocław University of Technology, Wrocław, PolandCitizenship: Polish WROCLAW-NADODRZE COMMUNITY CENTER

In 2009 the city of Wrocław (Poland) decided to start a revitalization process of adapting German bunkers for public function. All of them were built during The Second World War and left empty since then. Today two of five are in use: The City Archives and Wrocław Contemporary Museum. The project's idea is to continue the plan and create a network that will generate an improvement in the city. It will include three more buildings with new functions: Student Center, Underground Theater and Comunity Center. The last one was chosen as a subject of the competition.

Wrocław-Nadodrze Community Center is located in Nadodrze district, which is very close to the city center. With lots of cfrats and local art galleries, it could come into view as an interesting part of the city. Unfortunately it is still seen as a dangerous and neglected. Mostly because it struggles with many issues like lack of safety, drunkenness and drug addiction, limited social activities and unemployment.

The aim of this project is not only to design a sustainable building that will increase attractivness of the neighbourhood but also to influence and integrate the local community. Therefore, the program offeres space for different social and economic activities that target people of all ages. The strategy is based on the principle of public participation. It means that art and craft workshops, as well as launguage center or sport facilities, could be managed by people who want to share their skills and knowladge with others. At the same time, creating space for offices (start-up type), conference rooms, gastronomy and other commercial facilities will increase chances for employment and give small local businesses an opportunity to enter the market.

In order to achieve this, the claustrophobic interiors of the bunker had to be opened. Unnecessary partion walls were pulled down. Some of them were replaced with moving walls to make the space easy to change for different purpose. But the biggest interference in the structure was a creation of „green core” that extens from the top to the bottom of the building. Beside the greenery, which humanizes the interior, there is a system of mirrors that provides the bunker in as much day light as possible. Another big part of the project was filling the building with sustainable solutions that form one integrated network. It includes efficient water, energy and light system. It's important to mention that building produces enough extra energy to support the neighbourhood and a local hospital.

The German bunker is a war memorial as well as a landmark. Its revitalization should set a fresh image to the whole district. That is why the building was treated out of ordinary way. The elevation of the Wrocław-Nadodrze Community Center became a combination of greenery, solar panels and a modern painting, which is visible only in winter. The floor around the building includes a pattern that shows the way to important places in the neighbourhood. A variety of activities and wide day schedule can help increase safety around the area and improve its reputation. The building has chance to become a lively meeting place and a new social center of Nadodrze district.

3RD PLACE Shea Mcgibbon, Sandra Mcgrath, Tom CosgroveQueens University Belfast, Belfast, Northern IrelandCitizenship: British CULT I VATING CALLAO

A strtegy for the upcycling of a former market building in Callao, Peru.

Consumed by Lima in recent decades, Callao is being pawned to foreign investors, attracted to the gentrification of the coastline and hopes of global trading through port expansion. Locals are stigmatised and marginalised, sidelined and ignored in the process of percolating wealth. If Callao hopes to endure it must embrace its available resourcesand population to re-imagine and remain. Overpopulation and poor infrastructure has led to overcrowding, degraded urban structure and crime. The fundamental aim was to create a more liveable urban fabric by producing prefabricated, incremental modules to offer vertical expansion of housing. Originally constructed in 1922, The Mercado Del Callao becomes the fundamental connection between strategy and realisation – a place of making, reborn from the remains of the town.

The bottom-up strategy relies on community engagement. By counteracting the gentrifying redevelopment of the coastline, the aim is to empower the local population, giving them the skills to utilise what is available to improve their quality of life. The reuse of the abandoned market helps to retain the origins of the town's character and minimises displacement and associated social agitation. This had to be executed in a strategic, bottom-up approach, intervening only where it would have greatest effect and using only the resources available in the area. Over 75% of the existing massing is retained and a first floor is added, bringing the market back to its former glory. Moreover, waste from illegal dumping on the coast forms the remainder of the materials used. Waste such as HDPE (High Density PolyEthylene) found in plastic grocery bags which is notoriously difficult to recycle is imagined as an ideal roofing material. In the Mercado, plastic has been woven to form large lightweight canopies which hang above the workshops and assembly area which gives the structure seismic resistance. An urban farm within the building supplies vegetation as well as cooling the surrounding area. Plastic is woven to form a roof and façade that condenses the humid Peruvian air into potable water; for their domestic or agricultural use.

The existing massing is retained for mostly commercial use, with the central courtyard reconfigured to fabricate housing modules. Existing corner access is retained for the public, with a new axial access added for loading and unloading to the workshop areas. The market is reprogrammed to surrounding streets, recently pedestrianised by the local municipality - bringing activity and dynamism to the surrounding area. The new programs are placed at first floor level and are accessed from a communal deck. Spaces consist of a mixture of housing typologies and activity and social exchange in the area. A mixture of live/work typologies alongside conventional housing strengthens the link between ground and first floor, as does the flexible perimeter space around the workshop at ground floor. This system of up-cycling, social action and rejuvenation within Callao turns negatives into positives. The rebirth of the Mercado Central is a beacon of the proposed rejuvenation; not only the building stock, but the community itself. Encouraging the notion of self-improvement and eventually moving away from a society ruled by drugs and crime. The Mercado - used illegally despite its closure and condemnation was already a site charged with the energy and ethos we hoped to embody in our proposal. Aiming to structurally consolidate and repair what can be saved of the building, it is hoped that the Mercado becomes the integral component in a social and sustainable renewal, breathing new life into Callao.

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The entries were evaluated on five criteria—creative approach and presentation; response to site; sustainability and resiliency; functionality; and innovation and technology—by a a jury of renowned professionals in the field of aviation, which included:

Edward Mazria – Architecture 2030

Ken Yeang – Ken Yeang Architecture 

Lynn Scarlett – The Nature Conservancy

Alisdair McGregor -  Arup

Curt Fentress – Fentress Architects