Non Architecture Competition: COMMUNITY 2050

Non Architecture Competition: COMMUNITY 2050 now is over!

Non Architecture Competition: COMMUNITY 2050: Non Architecture (NonA) recently has announced its international architecture design competition titled “COMMUNITY 2050”, asking participants to imagine the future of Urban Communities, with aim to gather reflections and design inputs for a more sustainable and equitable progress of cities.

Short description

Co-organised by the Urban Planning & Design Institute of Shenzhen (UPDIS), the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IAAC), the international agency ARQ and curated by Non Architecture, this competition, titled “Community 2050”, aims to gather reflections and design inputs for a more sustainable and equitable progress of cities.

The competition theme proposes to look at communities through the lenses of technology and innovation.

According to United Nations, by 2050 two thirds of the world population (7 billion people) will live in cities. While already being the centre of cultural, economic and social life, urban areas are expected to accommodate new growth and generate further influence on major global trends.

This transition will call for a series of reflections on new models for cohabiting cities in a sustainable, equitable and flourishing way. What kind of urban form will be able to support such a growth? How should our cities change in the coming 30 years to become a platform for communities to thrive?

As the smallest governance unit in the city, the community is closely related to the good life of citizens. The community has become the focus of various urban challenges around the world. The world is facing challenges such as urban densification development due to population surges and climate change caused by environmental issues. Many countries have successively proposed the sustainable development of “carbon neutrality” goal. With the development of technology, e.g. 5G mobile network, 3D Printing and smart transportation, cities and communities around the world will change in unprecedented ways.

To start a dialogue and trigger a collective design effort for scenario building, Non Architecture and the organizers launched the competition Community 2050.
Open to all designers, this event will gather ideas to feed a dialogue on current and future practices in urban design, as part of a research started with the UPDIS Community 2050 symposium. Through this initiative UPDIS and all parties involve want to foster an international dialogue on what the future of our cities might be.

How to integrate innovative urban technology into the design field of cities and communities, and explore the sustainable development path of its circular development, resilience and safety, ecological health, urban regeneration, and heritage protection? How to create a future scenario of people-oriented community life, taking into account the needs of diverse groups of people such as the elderly, children, and low-income groups? The Community 2050 Competition will look forward to the future possibilities of community development that can be constructed by innovative urban technology. Five overall topics are considered central:

➜ Environmental Sustainability
➜ Safety and Resilience to Climate Change and Disasters
➜ Ecology and Health
➜ Urban Regeneration, Densification and Heritage Protection
➜ Social Inclusiveness and Community thriving

These five topics can be conjugated into the two competition sites. The sites present common features but also radical differences.

TWO SITES:

The two sites selected for this competition are located in Shenzhen High Tech Park (CN) and in Amsterdam Ijplein (NL), one of the first OMA’s projects.

The first is what they define “Innovation Ecosystem”, a complex urban form supporting a community of innovators and corporations in an interconnected system.

The second was framed as a “Socio-cultural Powerhouse”, for its diverse social composition, value in informality and cultural assets.

You can choose the site that better fits your interest and expertise and develop only one proposal. The winners for each site will be awarded separately.

Evaluation Criteria:

➜ Innovation - In terms of program management and originality of the formal solution proposed.
➜ Communication - Clarity, appeal and technique in the presentation of the proposal.
➜ Relevance - The degree to which the proposal is related or useful to the proposed theme.

The winners will be announced on 28 February 2022.

Who may enter?

Non Architecture Competitions are open to all human beings, from every age and cultural background, working in groups or individually.

Prize:

AWARDS FOR CATEGORY “PROFESSIONALS”:

FINALISTS: 20 SELECTED – All of them are going to be published on the Non Architecture website.

➜ Best Project – regardless of the site (1 prize) – 8.000 euros
➜ Best Amsterdam Site (1 prize) – 5.000 euros
➜ Best Shenzhen Site (1 prize) – 5.000 euros
➜ Honourable Mentions (3 selected) – no money prize

AWARDS FOR CATEGORY “OPEN”:

FINALISTS: 15 SELECTED – All of them are going to be published on the Non Architecture website.

➜ Best Project – regardless of the site (1 prize) – 3.000 euros
➜ Best Amsterdam Site (1 prize) – 1.500 euros
➜ Best Shenzhen Site (1 prize) – 1.500 euros
➜ Honourable Mentions (3 selected) – no money prize