«Eco-Shore» Kazan 2018 – Open Architecture and Town-planning Competition

«Eco-Shore» Kazan 2018 – Open Architecture and Town-planning Competition now is over!

«Eco-Shore» Kazan 2018 - Open Architecture and Town-planning Competition has been recently announced and organised by Union of Moscow Architects and the Union of Architects of the Republic of Tatarstan, arranged to get a conceptual, structural and functional spatial organization of the territory in the water area of the Volga bend.

About Competition

The Union of Moscow Architects and the Union of Architects of the Republic of Tatarstan invites professionals to participate in «Eco-Shore» Kazan 2018 - The Open Architectural and Town-planning Competition “The Activation of the Kazan City Urban Functions in the Water Area of the Volga Bend”.

This architecture competition is held within the framework of the International Architecture Festival “Eco-Shore” that is a unique international annual project devoted to the innovative ideas of the urban, architecture and design development of coastal areas.

Kazan is a large city in the Volga region with a picturesque landscape and a rich variety of coastal zones. The embankment in a complex with a river facade forms the river gate to the city. However, inefficient use in combination with various unfavourable factors leads to the isolation of the coastal zones from the city itself and turns them – instead of being potential points of attraction – into desolate spaces with an unfavourable environment.

The Locomotive Peninsula was formed as a result of land flooding by the waters of the artificial Kuibyshev Reservoir in 1957. To protect the city, the dams were built. A pedestrian embankment was arranged together with the places for a mass recreation of the population.

Over the years, the territory has fallen into decay and lost its attractiveness because of the isolation produced by railways. Today its use is limited.

General Terms:

In modern conditions of the economic, urban and environmental challenges the aim of the competition is to develop innovative ideas for reorganization and reclamation of the urban riverside spaces including the solution of some particular tasks. Among them are the following objects:

• modern ecological, town-planning, architectural and designing development of the riverside territory in the water area of the Volga bend from the Kazan River Port to the Kirov Bridge;
• creation of the full-fledged public, cultural, sports and recreational environment;
• drawing attention of governmental, municipal and public institutions to the development prospects of the Volga embankment territory;
• comprehensive development of water tourism and creation of its infrastructure;
• promotion of the active life-style;
• promotion of innovative technologies in process of the riverside territories development;
• drawing attention of investors, planners, building companies and producers of materials, goods and technologies to the prospects and new ideas for the riverside spaces development.

In the light of these tasks, the problems of recreation and leisure in the immediate vicinity of the coastlines are the most acute and topical, since the coastal areas are the main and indispensable value of the city, its inhabitants, tourists and business.

The Competition is arranged in order to get a conceptual, structural and functional spatial organization of the territory in the water area of the Volga bend by using an equitable creative contest. The new spaces should include a developed recreational component and be rich of public, tourist and cultural-sports functions.

Tasks of the Competition Participants:

1. To rehabilitate the territory within the boundaries of the Project, forming a well-organized embankment with diversified approaches to water.
2. To ensure the functionality of the embankment by producing public spaces, taking into account their seasonal use.
3. To organize a communication between the coastal zone and city center, paying special attention to the intersection with the railway tracks.
4. To propose actions in order to preserve and renew historical, cultural and natural-recreational sites.
5. To provide for measures in order to improve the environmental situation and make the territory more healthy.

Submission requirements:

• The Project should fully disclose the author’s intention and make the main idea clear.

• The Competition designs should be fulfilled in computer-graphics (raster file JPG or PDF, 200 dpi, file size not more than 20 Mb) and delivered by e-mail fully configured and prepared for the printout on the panel with sizes: 140 cm (width) х 100 cm (height). All texts must be converted to curves. Number of panels for one application (design) is 2 pcs.

• For the purposes of anonymity the projects should be submitted under the mottos (six-figured code, height 10 mm) placed in the right upper corner of all materials presented to the Competition. The motto must be a combination of any six Arabic numerals from 0 to 9, chosen at the discretion of the Participants (the height of the digits is 1 cm).

• The Competition materials must be accompanied by a motto envelope containing information about the author or authors’ team (names of the authors, telephone numbers, addresses, passports data and the prize percentage distribution between the authors’ team members).

Technical requirements for the Catalog materials:

• 5-6 images in jpg format (resolution 300 dpi). It is mandatory to mark 2 main images for each page of the Catalog.
• Text file with information about the authors (project number, country, authors’ names and surnames, phone number and e-mail of the architectural bureau or of the authors for publication at the end of the Catalog).
• To publish the project on the site, the Competitors send a text file with an annotation to the project (the text size is not more than 1000 characters). For Russian participants - in Russian.
• The materials for the Catalog should be sent in a separate letter with a note "Materials for the Catalog + the motto number of the project" to the e-mail address: eko.bereg@bk.ru until September 20th.

The Jury evaluates the Competition Bids in accordance with the following criteria:

• disclosure of the advantages of the Project area location and its special features;
• compliance with the terms of Technical Requirements Specification;
• reasoning of planning solutions and functional connections, general balance and effectiveness of interaction between individual zones;
• comfort and quality of the urban environment, the interaction between people and development of horizontal links;
• originality of the traffic scheme in combination with its economic and project expediency;
• providing pedestrian, bicycle and visual connections;
• minimization of environmental impact, preservation and development of landscape special features;
• taking into account climatic parameters; disclosure of the public spaces potential in the cold season;
• reasoning of solutions on the prospective development of the competitive territory;
• compliance with the applicable Russian and Kazan regulations as well as the rules for design and construction;
• economic feasibility of the proposed concept.

The Competition Participants get the right to take part in all events being held in frames of the “Eco-Shore 2018” Festival. The awarded designs will be published in mass-media, which act as information partners of thi Festival.

The registration fee is 80 Euro for 1 project submission