Observatory Houses – Young Architects Competitions
Observatory Houses – Young Architects Competitions now is over!
The YAC – Young Architects Competitions in cooperation with the Italian Government launches architecture competition Observatory Houses, a competition of ideas to design a housing complex looking at the stars in the medieval fortress of Roccascalegna.
About Competition
The Observatory Houses is the architecture competition of ideas launched by YAC – Young Architects Competitions in cooperation with the Italian Government that seek to design a housing complex looking at the stars in the medieval fortress of Roccascalegna.
There are still places that are far from lights and cities where the beauty of the infinite appears in its entire splendor. Surrounded by forests and crags, Roccascalegna is one of the places where this magic continues to occur and where the sky keeps on telling its eternal and beautiful story. It is a unique and far place that is both incredibly beautiful and clearly fragile. In fact, the fortress deeply depends on the constant care of the human being to preserve its characteristics and remarkable appearance.
Organisers aiming to find a new use for Roccascalegna taking advantage of the potential of an oneiric setting with remarkable skies. The project aims at creating the first and most suggestive observatory houses in Italy. They will be a sustainable and exclusive house model aimed to ensure the protection and improvement of such inestimable heritage.
How to build a complex of modern observatory houses in a picturesque medieval fortress? How to create the most refined national reference for the astronomical observation tourism through architecture?
On the bases of these issues, designers will have to create a story composed by stars, silences and landscapes. This story will have to include architectural elements designed to create a place beyond compare. It will not be a place of mere observation or accommodation; it will be a place of spirituality and meditation. Observatory Houses wishes to promote an architectural intervention that aims at becoming a symbol destination for those who wish to move away from their everyday routine and live an archaic, almost mystic experience thanks to the most ancient and beautiful sight.
An international jury panel gathering, among others, Enrique Sobejano, Rodrigo Duque Motta, Simon Frommenwiler, Pippo Ciorra will assess the submissions.
Registration fees for this competition are:
• Early bird registration fee: 50 Euro – until 23 May 2017
• Standard registration fee: 75 Euro – from 24 May to 20 June, 2017
• Late registration fee: 100 Euro – from 21 June to 19 July, 2017