Competition
The Brief
Every year a one square kilometre territory will be the subject of the competition. This area, to house 100,000 people living and working, sets the stage for tremendous research and investigation into urban density, verticality, domesticity, work, food, infrastructure, nature, ecology, structure, and program - their holistic integration and the quest for visionary paradigm will be the challenges of this urban and architectural invention.
This new environment will have a full slate of live-work-play provisions, with the residential component making up to 50% of the total floor space.
In the third of this series of competitions, the theme of "Everyone Harvests" will be explored.
By year 2050, food production is projected to increase by about 70 percent globally and nearly 100 percent in developing countries in order to meet the needs of the world's expected 9 billion-strong population (UN Food and Agriculture Organisation).
However this incremental demand for food worldwide is facing growing challenge with competition for land and water resources, with quarter of all land of the planet being highly degraded (United Nations).
With projections of nearly 80% of the world population to reside in urban centres by the year 2050, the brief is seeking for potential solutions for an entirely new approach to urban agriculture. The proposals should provide visions for a sustainable production of a safe and varied food supply that can first fulfil the basic needs of the daily food consumption of the city and if possible, produce surplus that can support the needs of other cities as well.
The understanding of "harvesting" will be extended to include energy and water resources. The solutions should seek to introduce innovative ways to effectively utilize resources, such as minimizing water, saving energy and their associated costs related to urban agriculture.
Participating teams are to select their site of one square kilometre within the larger territory marked out in the information sheet.
Site
The site is located about 17km to the west of the city centre of Hanoi, Vietnam. It is part of the Hoai Duc District.. It has the Thang Long Highway running from east to west. The highway from north to south has not been constructed. The context of the competition site and its larger region are provided in the attached site information folder. The autocad plan of the larger region is being prepared. It will be made available to participating teams soonest possible.
Site Visit & Briefing at Hanoi Architectural University (HAU)
We are most thankful to Hanoi Architectural University (HAU) for assisting us in organizing and translating the site information for the Vertical Cities Asia International Design Competition 2013. They will also be organizing a one-day site visit and Hanoi city planning overview briefing on two dates for the participating university teams who wish to visit the site. The details can be found in the attached site information folder.
Competition Objective
The objective of the competition is to seek a holistic solution or a new urban paradigm for a rapidly growing Asian city which also faces the issues of sustainability and quality of life that also addresses the notion of food production in Asian cities.
Design Considerations
The design is about a high intensity and density Asian city that addresses its growing aging population. The design should consider the following issues holistically and integratedly.
- Sustainability- The design should examine a closed loop paradigm, ecological and resilience attributes in their solution.
- Quality of Life- The consideration for inclusiveness and sense of community.
- Technical Innovation- The appropriate and innovative use of technology and technique.
- Relationship to Context- Sensitive consideration of the place, climate and cultural context.
- Feasibility- The rigour of the research and criticality of design in addressing the issues.
The Design Jury will judge the submissions along the abovementioned.
Team Participation
Two proposals from each university will be selected and the University team of 1 faculty member and 2 students will be sponsored to attend the jury session and the symposium.
Universities are to identify their teams as "Team A" & "Team B" in all their submissions and documents.
The jury members will be invited to deliver a paper at the symposium on the theme "Everyone Harvests" in the context of densely urbanized Asian cities. The 2 students will be required to present their respective team designs for the competition to the international jury panel.
The Organizer will sponsor the following to the accompanying 1 faculty member and 2 students from each university:
- Economy class air tickets in the most direct route to Singapore from their respective countries.
- Four to five nights of accommodation at the university hostel or apartments.
Each participating university will purchase air tickets for their team members. The university will sent a reimbursement request letter with the attached invoice of air tickets to the Organizer. Upon receiving the documentation, the Organizer will process the claims.
Details of accommodation and other hospitality matters will be announced later.
Prizes
The Design jury will select 3 winning schemes. The winners will be awarded monetary prizes.
15,000 SGD
10,000 SGD
5,000 SGD
Jury
All submitted proposals will be assessed by a Design Jury. The Jury session will be open and all faculty members and students are invited to attend the proceedings. The Jury consists of:
Kazuyo Sejima
Partner, SANAA
Peter Head
Director and Head, Global Planning of Arup
Allison William
Principal, AW Ink; FAIA
Jeffrey Ho
Managing Director, Surbana International Consultants
Submission Requirements
There will be 2 proposals from each university. Each proposal will consist of the following submissions:
Each proposal is required to submit 6 bound copies. Each report is of A-3 size (297 x 420mm or 11.7 x 16.5 inches) comprising 15 pages (double sided printing) outlining the vision and objectives of the proposal. The report must include the following:
1. Name of the proposal.
2. Name of team members, email and mobile contact.
3. About 300 words description of the proposal.
4. Technical Breakdown (total site area, population, Floor Area Ratio of the proposal).
5. Summary of analysis of site, programme and issues.
6. Site plan (indicate scale bar)
7. Overview of design strategies.
8. Feasibility (Financial/Technical).
9. Images & illustrations.
Each team will be provided with a mobile easel with a display area of 1800mm(70.5 inches) x width 1800mm(70.5 inches).
As such the drawing requirement is:
6 numbers of A-1 size (594 x 841 mm or 23.4 x 33.1 inches) drawings.
Or
Any paper format that fills up 1800mm x 1800mm (see image below)
There is no need for drawings to be mounted on stiff cardboard. Pins will be provided for mounting during jury and exhibition.
Digital data of works are to be compiled in thumb drive for submission. The digital data is to facilitate the publication of the competition entries. The specification of the digital data is provided below. The digital data should include the following organized into separate folders:
1. A-3 report.
2. Drawing panels.
3. Drawing information for model making.
4. 30 numbers of Digital photographs of team in design activities to facilitate publication & publicity.
5. Source images and fonts.
6. Key text.
Each of the respective folders should contain the following:
Report
1. A3 Report in PDF format along with source file (InDesign, MS Word, etc).
2. Images included in the report are to be included separately as well for ease of retrieval.
Drawing Panels
1. Drawings are to be in PDF format. Each panel should conform to ISO A1 Landscape or a format of 1800mm x1800mm, 300dpi and CMYK color mode.
2. The PDF copy should be accompanied by source files in minimum 300dpi and CMYK color mode.
3. Acceptable source files for panel production include Adobe Photoshop , Illustrator and/or InDesign.
4. Flattened and lossy formats such as JPEG and GIF will not be accepted.
5. Do not 'flatten', 'compress' or save the file in such a manner that the various illustrations cannot be separated from each other.
6. If time allows, practice good layer organisation by using the 'layers' feature to organise elements (e.g. text and illustration) in your panel.
Drawing Information for Model Making
Drawings are to be in DWG format to facilitate the model maker who will be appointed by the sponsor for the model productions as part of a travelling exhibition after the competition.
Digital Photographs
30 digital photographs( each of size 2MB) documenting the team in various activities during the design process. The submission format is JPEG.
Source Images and Fonts
1. Images which have been used in the panel layout need to submitted as well.
2. Images can be in a bitmap (raster) or vector format but must be in CMYK color mode.
3. Bitmap images should be at least 300dpi.
4. Vector images should preferably be in Adobe Illustrator, EPS, SVG file formats.
5. If fonts other than default PC/Mac fonts have been used, kindly attach them as well.
6. If CAD programs have been used to create the images, kindly attached the raster or vector output from the respective program as deemed fit.
Key Text
Provide a 1-page or 300 word summary of your proposal in MS Word or RTF format for ease of reproduction when needed. The document header should contain the university name and the full name of all team members along with their position/title where necessary. Note that the summary may be used in various media including (but not limited to) books, exhibition panels and website listings.
The submission of model is optional as not to impose the cost of production and courier to the various teams. If team wishes to complement their drawings with a model, they are free to do so, however the model should be the same design as shown in the drawing and not a variation of it. Jury will disregard the model if it is vastly different from the drawing presentation. The model must be submitted at a stipulated time indicated below.
The submission and the use of Powerpoint slides for presentation are optional. The content of slides should support the design shown in the drawings and not depicting another design variation. The Jury will disregard the slides if it is vastly different from the drawing presentation. The Powerpoint slides for the presentation must be submitted at a stipulated time indicated below.
Submission Deadlines
They are to be delivered by international courier service to:
Vertical Cities Asia Competition
c/o Department of Architecture
School of Design and Environment
National University of Singapore
4 Architecture Drive
Singapore 117566
Republic of Singapore
Proof of meeting the deadline will be the official date stamp of 1 Jul 2013 as the dispatch date indicated on the courier document or receipt.
The entries shall reach the organizer by 2pm, 8 Jul 2013, Monday(local time)
Alternatively, teams that wish to submit personally to the abovementioned address shall do so by 6pm on 1 Jul 2013.
This is for the purpose of facilitating the Jury members in understanding your scheme before the evaluation. The digital copy of the design report in PDF format should be emailed to sdehch@nus.edu.sg on 1 Jul 2013.
These should be submitted to the organizer by 2pm, 8 Jul 2013, Monday (local time).
Jury Session
- The jury proceeding will be an open session, allowing other students and academics to attend as audiences.
- The drawing of lots will be used to determine the sequence of presentation of each university.
- Slide projector, projection screen, computer and model stand will be provided to facilitate presentation.
- Each university with its 2 teams will be allocated 60 minutes for presentation and jury feedback. Each team will be given a maximum of 15 minutes presentation time with 15 minutes for jury comment. Strict time keeping will be enforced.
