As noted on their website, Van Alen Institute: Projects in Public Architecture announces Life at the Speed of Rail, an open call for design ideas that envision the cultural, environmental, and economic impact of a new rail network in the United States.

This multimedia competition seeks the visions of the architectural design community, planners, graphic designers, artists—anyone who wants to contribute to the discussion surrounding high-speed rail. In this Call for Design Ideas, entrants are asked to produce projects and narratives picturing the wide-ranging impacts that a new transportation network will have on the nation’s communities, whether urban or rural, rail-riding or car-centric, heartland or borderland. By collecting these ideas and images of a transformed America—be they specific, pragmatic, or speculative—we’ll better understand the hopes and fears of our current moment and be better equipped to decide whether and how we build this new infrastructure.

With the Obama administration’s recent pledge of $53 billion for the construction of a high-speed rail network, and its goal of connecting 80 percent of Americans to the service by 2050, the topic of transportation couldn’t be timelier. By helping to develop our visual narrative of technology and infrastructure, Life at the Speed of Rail will add complexity and depth to a discussion that has thus far excluded the design community and been driven largely by politics.

Ten winning submissions will be awarded $1,000 each. A selection of additional submissions will receive honorable mentions and inclusion in an online exhibition. Van Alen Institute and VAI’s 2011 High-Speed Rail Fellows Diana Lind and Andrew Colopy will select the winning entries. During the summer, a curated selection of submissions will be discussed with winning entrants in a series of public forums hosted at partner organizations located in contested high-speed rail megaregions around the United States.

To ensure broad participation and to guide these regional conversations, Van Alen Institute has appointed a multidisciplinary advisory committee including:

Carol Coletta (President and CEO, CEOs for Cities)
Keller Easterling (Associate Professor, Yale University)
Christopher Hawthorne (Architecture Critic, Los Angeles Times)
Gary Hustwit (Director, Helvetica)
Michael Lejeune (Creative Director, L.A. Metro)
Thom Mayne (Founder and Design Director, Morphosis)
Petra Todorovich (Director, America 2050)
Sarah Whiting (Dean, Rice School of Architecture)

Entries are due by May 21, 2011. Please visit www.vanalen.org/lifeatthespeedofrail for full competition details and submission guidelines and be sure to follow @thespeedofrail on Twitter for more info!

Submission deadline is January 31, 2011:
Sponsored by the AIGA, Wish You Were Here is an image campaign in which Michigan residents can contribute pictures of their favorite place in the state. Whether it’s a Saturday morning at Eastern Market, a romantic get-away to Mackinac Island, or a big weekend at the Ann Arbor Summer Festival— anything that can be done or any place that can be visited in Michigan goes.  The winning entries will be printed and mailed as postcards to AIGA chapters across the country to help spread the word that there are still countless postcard-worthy activities and places to enjoy here in Michigan. 

Goals of Wish You Were Here:
Spread positive images of Michigan to people living outside of the state.
Provide a platform for Michigan residents to share their favorite places to visit with one another.

Ways Michigan residents can participate:
Submit a photo/design of their favorite place to visit in Michigan.
Submit Michigan photos to the Wish You Were Here Michigan Flickr group.
Tweet about your favorite Michigan activities as you experience them using the hashtag #wishyouwereheremi

Judging Process and Criteria:
Postcard entries will be narrowed down by representatives of the AIGA Detroit board. Online voting will be open to the public and will begin after the AIGA Detroit representatives have screened all entries. All those who have submitted will be notified via email when this process begins. The top 25 designs selected from online voting will be printed. Notification of top 25 will be posted on this website.

AIGIA:
AIGA’s mission is to advance design as a professional craft, strategic tool, and vital cultural force. AIGA Detroit has been a chapter of the national AIGA organization since 1986. The Detroit chapter has over 500 members with a network reaching out to the entire Michigan creative community including: designers, educators, art directors, web developers, printers, illustrators, photographers, artists, and students. Through events, programs, and initiatives, AIGA Detroit is demonstrating the value of design to businesses and the power of design in our culture. The Detroit Chapter is committed to the continued growth of an already vibrant, creative community, and a rich design history here in Michigan.

In July, HAA submitted a design proposal for the DesCours design competition.  The Dich (2) otomy design proposal was recently selected for installation in December.

DesCours is a week-long, contemporary architecture and art event that looks towards the future in showcasing experimental, cutting-edge new media and interactive installations while embracing New Orleans rich cultural heritage.  During DesCours, internationally recognized architects, designers and artists transform unique, hidden spaces within the French Quarter and Central Business District into destination places for visitors and locals alike.

Following an international design competition, a total of 11 artists and architects (individuals and teams) have been selected through an invitation and proposal process to participate by creating installations for French Quarter courtyards, downtown building lobbies, rooftops, walkways and other ‘hidden’ New Orleans spaces.   Overall, the AIA New Orleans was seeking installations that react and respond both to the historic nature of the sites, and to the public audience that views them.

Congratulations to the design team: Melissa Dittmer, Carl Bolofer, Jamie Witherspoon, and to all of those who helped influence the design submission.  Over the next two months, rogueHAA will update the website with design developments, construction images, and final photos of the event.  For further explanation of the design proposal, refer to previous post by clicking here.

HAA has received a Michigan ASLA Honor Award for the Lu’an City Pi River Waterfront Urban Design Plan.  Congratulations and thank you for the hard work: Christina Hansen, Shannon Mohr, Angela Hicks, Yukun Xu, Brandon List, Brett Davis, Burke Jenkins, Kent Anderson, Dan Kinkead, Jeff Mason, John Savitski, Lori Singleton, Sam Lovall, Yang Yi, Thang Tao, Nick Salowich, Carl Bolofer, and Russell Baltimore. This project demonstrated the unique collaboration between the Site and Architecture studios at HAA.

For more information on the project, please click into previous blog post here.

DesCours is a week-long, contemporary architecture and art event that looks towards the future in showcasing experimental, cutting-edge new media and interactive installations while embracing New Orleans rich cultural heritage.  During DesCours, internationally recognized architects, designers and artists transform unique, hidden spaces within the French Quarter and Central Business District into destination places for visitors and locals alike.

Following an international design competition, a total of 11 artists and architects (individuals and teams) will be selected through invitation and proposal process to participate by creating installations for French Quarter courtyards, downtown building lobbies, rooftops, walkways and other ‘hidden’ New Orleans spaces.   Overall, the AIA New Orleans is seeking installations that react and respond both to the historic nature of the sites, and to the public audience that views them.

In July, HAA submitted a design proposal for the DesCours design competition.
Our submission can be viewed in the above graphics and in the following text:

“Waters,” religious historian Mircea Eliade explained in the 1950s, are “spring and origin, the reservoir of all the possibilities of existence; they precede every form and support every creation.”  The waters of New Orleans permeate all aspects of life.  Literally, culturally, and economically, the city is defined by the waters that surround it.   Historically, the waters have permanently marked the city, bringing great destruction, followed by great renaissance.  In whatever form or context, waters invariably retain their greatest natural function; they disintegrate, abolish forms; they are at once purifying and regenerating.

Along with great natural power comes great human responsibility.  It is these dualities of power/responsibility and human/nature that we will choose to celebrate through our proposed DESCOURS installation.

“I must live near a lake,” wrote Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung, who waded into the depths of the psyche and equated water with the unconscious.  “Without water, I thought, nobody could live at all.”

The body thirsts.  So does the spirit of New Orleans.  Located in a back alley, three long horizontal planes will imbibe the waters of this great city.  Each specific to scale (Bayou, Mississippi, and the Gulf of Mexico), the three planes playfully overlap, transforming the night time hours of this urban space into an interactive gallery, a dynamic and newly occupiable space.

“It is through water that the world becomes transparent, is able to show the transcendent.” – Mircea Eliade

The waters of New Orleans contain memories.  Exposing these memories, the alternating literal and phenomenal transparencies, celebrate the tenuous relationship between Human and Nature.  The long and narrow alleyway provides an ideal backdrop for this duality.  As participants move through the urban threshold, they are both reflected and exposed to the urban environment.  Is it the city that controls the water or does the water control the city?  More importantly, what is the power of the individual within this already established tension?

“Contact with water always brings a regeneration.” – Mircea Eliade

The lighting level fluctuates; human movement through the space strategically turns on specific water pumps.  Participants playfully rearrange the magnets, altering the submerged LED’s.  As the LED’s move, the changing water patterns stir the previously unnoticed sediments.  Each user unwittingly alters the display, illustrating the power of one individual within a previously serene canvas.

As multiple users engage the alleyway, participant reflections are first merged with the water’s refracted historic context, and then merged into one.  All become submerged in the water’s disturbances.  Does a person distort the water?  Or does the water distort the person?  These planes represent the city’s regeneration.

Along with great natural power comes great human responsibility.  It is these dualities of power/responsibility and human/nature that we will choose to celebrate through our proposed DESCOURS installation.

The United States Green Building Council 2010 Natural Talent Design Competition challenged young designers to envision a LEED platinum home in the Broadmoor neighborhood of New Orleans.  Due to recent stipulations which require new homes to be raised above flood levels, the brief asked that entries find creative ways of addressing this prerequisite, while also maintaining strong ties to the neighborhood context, and designing under a $100,000 construction budget.

HAA’s design approach focused on the stoop as a critical physical and social space. By emphasizing this literal and conceptual middle ground between the public street and private home, the design attempted to mitigate contextual issues brought on by lifting homes above Hurricane Katrina’s floodwaters.  The resulting design directly opens traditionally public functions to the front of the home and the stoop, reinforcing the connection of the home to the community.

The design team also sought to mine and reinterpret the rich architectural history of New Orleans.  Drawing from influences of traditional shotgun and side gallery shotgun homes, we developed an architecture informed by cultural and historical traditions, which capitalized on the embedded logics and efficiencies of these traditional forms in new and unique ways.  The result is an elongated, 850 square foot, two-bedroom home that will fit in nearly any urban lot.  The design is strikingly contemporary in materiality and detail, but contextually referential in form and scale.

Environmental sustainability was also a key component in the development of the project. The home achieves a LEED Platinum rating through an integrated strategy of site and building components.  Major site features include minimized and pervious paving surfaces, native plantings, runoff/ rainwater collection and storage, family vegetable gardens, and strategic tree planting for shade.  The design was also required to provide one on-site parking space, which became seamlessly integrated into the overall site strategy.  Architecturally, the home’s reduced square footage minimizes the ecological footprint.  Solar shading and efficient mechanical and electrical systems reduce energy consumption.  Used for wall construction, the Structurally Insulated Panels provide efficient thermal and air barriers, reduce waste, and reduce material consumption.  The design also features low-flow plumbing fixtures, including toilet flushing from rainwater, increased building insulation, a healthy and safe interior air environment, and a graphic manual for the education of the homeowners.  This will assist the homeowner with the maintenance and efficient operations of the home.

Recognizing an aging American population, the competition further challenged designers to provide barrier free elements in the home. Thus, the spatial flexibility to accommodate physical disabilities was integrated early into our design process.  The home’s elevated floor level is made accessible by a stair with a landing midway and lower risers with longer tread depths to ease the burden of the steps.  Internally, the master bathroom and kitchen are to be ADA ‘Type B’ compliant and accommodate generous clearances in corridors, rooms, and door access areas.

Entries have been submitted and winners at the regional level will be announced July 15.  Following the regional evaluation, another round of judging will occur at the national level.  Afterward, the Salvation Army will then fund the construction of four ‘semi-finalist’ homes.  These newly constructed homes will then be evaluated on their occupancy performance.  Two teams will go on to receive finalist awards following the evaluation period.

In many ways, this competition challenged young designers from across the country to consider the collective issues that will determine the design and construction of American homes in the coming years.  Accessibility for the aged and disabled, ecological sustainability, environmental stewardship, energy efficiency, housing affordability, and design sensitivity are all paramount challenges that will require innovative and sensitive design solutions.

Located approximately eight hours west of Shanghai, the city of Lu’an is relatively small by Chinese standards.  With roughly 400,000 residents, it sits along the banks of the Pi River in the Anhui Province.   Recently, the Pi River waterfront was the focal point for an extensive redevelopment effort outlined by the City’s 2030 Masterplan.  This masterplan anticipates exponential growth, transforming Lu’an from a city of 400,000 residents to one with over 4 million people.  The 2030 Masterplan goal is to create an attractive urban waterfront that accommodates this growth model, addresses environmental challenges, and protects the rich cultural heritage of existing neighborhoods and sites.

Following the City’s release of the 2030 Masterplan, the City organized the Lu’an City Pi River Urban Design Plan as an international design competition.  Shortlisted as one of four competitors, HAA crafted an overall masterplan for all future development within the city of Lu’an.  Integral to the overall design partii, the river becomes the city’s spirit.  Humans and the environment engage the river’s edge, drawing strength from its history.  This same strength is pulled outwards along projected greenways and a network of highly functional landscape systems.  These greenway connections become the most important city infrastructure, stitching together all future developments along a varied, multi-functional recreational system.

In total, the complex master plan for a 12.3 square mile area (32 square kilometers) can be distilled into 4 major parts.

1. West Pi District: Organized along a “center green”, this district is the new cultural center, offering a vivid, lively, and modern urban experience.  The land uses are highly active – a dynamic mix of cultural attractions, department stores, shops, offices, hotels, restaurants, and residences.
2. Moon Island: Moon Island is the green heart of the city, where the primary planning initiatives – economic development, cultural heritage, environmental stewardship and recreation – join together to create a place in balance.  The island becomes a living laboratory, telling the river’s story and the rich natural resource history of the region.
3. Gao City: Gao City’s rich history is celebrated by protecting and restoring the central and oldest part of the district.  Preserving the district for future generations provides Lu’an City with an attractive, alternate lifestyle, reminiscent of Lu’an’s past.
4. Northern neighborhoods: The initial master planning effort did little to ‘create place’ beyond the main city center.  The Northern Neighborhoods are now a collection of smaller scaled neighborhoods, each with its own distinct character.  From small canal villages to transit oriented developments, these neighborhoods compliment the structure of the city’s heart to the south.

While HAA did not win this competition, several additional Chinese projects have resulted from this initial endeavor.  In future posts, HAA will expand upon these multi-cultural design efforts.

New Orleans Stoop House

The United States Green Building Council has initiated a nationwide design competition for a LEED platinum, single family home for the Broadmoor district of New Orleans, LA.  This competition, entitled USGBC’s 2010 Natural Talent Design Competition, targets innovative design solutions from students and emerging professionals, while challenging designers to create an inexpensive (under $100K construction budget) contextually sensitive home.

A small group of HAA designers have challenged themselves to create the new archetypal home in New Orleans – a home that engages the existing neighborhood and city infrastructure from the elevated platform of post-Katrina housing.  Four winning designs will be constructed by the Salvation Army, measured and verified during a designated sustainable testing phase, and then only afterwards will a final winner be selected.

‘Stoop as the social middle ground’

The porch is a critical space for residents of New Orleans.  Analogous to the traditional public forum,  but built to a more intimate scale, the New Orleans ‘stoop’ functions on multiple scales.  Prior to Katrina, residents used their stoop to obtain relief from the oppressive summer heat, socialize with neighbors and friends, and maintain security in the neighborhood.  Post Katrina, the New Orleans stoop became an unofficial town hall, community center, and religious facility.

As a symbol of public discourse, however, the stoop is becoming an endangered space.  Newly constructed homes are being designed and constructed to a towering 7’ above existing street elevation.  Similarly, designated existing homes are being lifted to the new flood plain datum.  While these elevational shifts attempt to resolve future flood issues, the simple change in stoop height produces severe physical and social disconnections within the communities.  By disrupting the existing neighborhood fabric, we could be eliminating the very sense of community that defines each area.

Our design concepts begin to address these issues by conceptually breaking down the front portion of the home into a series of cascading public spaces, each with varying elevations above the existing street infrastructure.  We propose to occupy the interstitial space (the stoop) between the sidewalk and the elevated porch, thereby creating the necessary physical space for community interaction.  All designs strive to solve ‘elevated living’, once again opening up dialogue between community members, regardless of their height above sea level.

Work in progress

All project submissions are due May 31^st. As we further develop our competition proposal, we will post additional design concepts, sketches, and relevant topics.  Upon completion of the project, we will post our final work, and look with great interest towards the pool of submissions being offered from around the country.

During the summer of 2009, rouse[D] hosted a design competition that challenged its participants to “come up with designs that will rouse the city of Detroit and encourage an evolution of our understanding of its unique urban environment.”   This international, open ideas competition further required design solutions to be “specific to the one-of-a kind condition Detroit presents.”  While the proposed design interventions were allowed to creatively fluctuate, all solutions had to be grounded in a site specific to Detroit.

Working independently from HAA, my competition submission focused on the recent closings of Detroit Public Schools throughout the city. During Detroit’s more populated past, many of the city’s neighborhoods had elementary schools as their community anchor.  Following the city’s population decline of the past five decades, these same neighborhoods have struggled to populate the very schools that once provided community stability.  Most recently, the Detroit Public Schools announced closure of 23 schools as the city grapples with mounting budget problems.  (For a more detailed of Detroit’s current depopulation conditions, refer to previous post titled HAA RESEARCH : Consolidating Detroit). My submission sought to address the reuse of one of these vacant elementary schools.

To ground the design submission, I selected Atkinson Elementary School located on Detroit’s East side. The design solution proposes to convert the school into a public garden. This concept provides many community benefits:

•Reduces the ecological footprint of the surrounding neighborhoods

•Generates a new “urban gardening” curriculum for Detroit Public Schools. Students and faculty can utilize the facilities for both core and extracurricular classes. The extracurricular classes will promote sustainable communities and social entrepreneurship among its students.

•Unites remaining neighborhood residents with proposed community garden facility.

•Generates possible revenue for community members.

•Educates all participants in year round gardening techniques, such as hydroponics.

This proposal offers innovative design and programmatic solutions to Detroit specific conditions.  More importantly, while the design is site specific to Atkinson, the overall concept is flexible and can be replicated at any vacant school.

[D]escription:

rouse[D] is a two part competition and exhibition.  rouse[D] will focus on re-inventing the city of Detroit through the use of digital computation methodologies!

rouse[D]