comment"Building a Sustainable World" Winners Announced
The Royal Institute of British Architects USA (RIBA–USA) has announced the winners of its international design competition, “Building a Sustainable World: Life in the Balance.” The competition asked entrants to conceive self-sustaining communities that respond to the challenges of global climate change and possibly reverse some of its effects. More information on winning entries and finalists is available at www.riba-usa.org/competitions/.
Based on what you have seen and read about this project, how would you grade it? Use the stars below to indicate your assessment, five stars being the highest rating.
• First prize went to Vakabauta Village, an urban housing project in Suva, Fiji, designed to be self-sustaining by Toby Kyle, Chris Cole, and Kamineli Vuadreu. The project addresses the needs of low-income people currently living in temporary housing within the city, and includes a bamboo grove on the site, used to both create green space and generate revenue for residents. Traditional Fijian values of shared resources and workload contributed to many of the project’s strategies.
• Boonah Two Development, located about 60 miles inland from the east coast of Australia, won second prize. Developed by Gall and Medek Architects of South Brisbane, Australia, and Team DES of Crows Nest, Australia, the 50-year plan for the small city of Boonah incorporates agricultural production areas and renewable power generation. Although the plan was developed for one city, the methods—closed-loop systems for waste, local food production, and thinking about the city as part of the ecosystem—are meant to be applicable to other cities around the world.
• Third prize went to Wallace Roberts Todd, LLC, of Philadelphia, for Urban Kidney Project—Revitalizing Forgotten Bottom. The project addresses a post-industrial waterfront neighborhood (known as Forgotten Bottom) that is both polluted and economically depressed. The project team created a neighborhood redevelopment plan centered around a restored wetland located on a brownfield site.
• Two other prizes were also awarded: a bonus prize for the most innovative use of software from competition sponsor Autodesk went to Liu Di of China for his entry Seasonal Flood Threatened Community, which included net-zero-energy homes and temporary housing for a flood-prone town on the Changjiang River. Honorable mention was awarded to a team from the United Kingdom for its project Tankers Converted to Village. Phil Garlick, the Sustainable Construction Team with DGP International, and Scott Wilson proposed converting decommissioned oil tankers into communities that would dock and replace city blocks as they became submerged under rising seas.
This article was produced by BuildingGreen, Inc.- www.buildinggreen.com
|
|
Sign in to Comment
To write a comment about this story, please sign in. If this is your first time commenting on this site, you will be required to fill out a brief registration form. Your public username will be the beginning of the email address that you enter into the form (everything before the @ symbol). Other than that, none of the information that you enter will be publically displayed.