http://www.archsociety.com/ArchSociety : news2024-03-19T02:19:19+00:00e107http://e107.org/e107e107http://www.archsociety.com/logo.pngArchSociety - mail@nospam.comArchSociety.com is a global online community of architects, architecture and students forum developed at the UAP, School of Architecture (Dhaka, Bangladesh) by a global organization named the AarchSociety.
AarchSociety is a global community of scholars, students, and professionals concerned with architecture, planning, and landscape design. ArchSociety provides these individuals with:
-Comprehensive architectural resources
-Community and discussion feedback
-Information support to the designers of the developing nations
ArchSociety seeks to enable participants to learn how to enhance the quality of the built environment in their communities; to compensate for a lack of resources at their academic institutions and to celebrate the humanistic traditions of regional cultures, and often with a special focus on Indian Subcontinental and Bangladeshi contemporary architecture and architects.http://www.archsociety.com/news.php?extend.183A House for Pink Floyd : An Open Design Competition2013-06-16T16:35:06+00:00T Z Htzh@nospam.comThere are walls all around us… and the thickest and the tallest are those within. What wall(s) did Roger Waters and Pink Floyd want to break in their immensely successful album The Wall…? Mainly that wall that creates that almost mythical box modern architects especially are notorious for trying to break. The function of art, almost by definition, is TO BREAK WALLS. Thus, an art that does not “break walls,” that is, an art that does not bring anything new by adding to what we call “tradition” what we call “invention”, fails to do its job. We ask you to explore the generic theme of “breaking the wall” in as many ways as possible and as freely as possible. Create architecture as intense and inspiring as this celebrated album of Pink Floyd. Listen to the music again, watch the film, and then feel, think, draw and model. BUILD. BUILD A BROKEN WALL. BUILD A WALL THAT UNITES, NOT ONE THAT SEPARATES. BUILD A BEAUTIFUL WALL. Scream; scream as loudly as possible against all the prisons of this world. Against all those artificially built walls that trap all of us in the name of FEAR. TEAR THEM DOWN, dear architect! Eligibility Participants are to be 18 years old, by the time the competition closes, that is on the 10th of August 2013. They are required to be graduates or students of architecture faculties, including all other related domain training (interior architecture, product design, urban planning, etc.). Participants are able to enter the contest, no matter their nationality or country of residence. Registration In order to enter the contest, you are to fill in the whole Registration Form (available at www.adep.ro/contest) Entering the contest is free of charge. Schedule Registration: until the 10th of August 2013 Submitting the projects: until the 10th of August 2013 Results: 20th August 2013 Submission All projects are to be submitted by email to both works @ icarch.us and pink.floyd @ adep.ro. (remove the space before and after @).Prize/Awards The prizes and awards are to be announced by the 1st of August 2013. Visit the Competition site to know more. 2013-06-16T16:35:06+00:00http://www.archsociety.com/news.php?extend.182HYP Cup 2013 International Student Competition in Architecture2013-06-10T20:52:23+00:00T Z Htzh@nospam.comBrief The second HYP Cup 2013 International Student Competition in Architectural Design is hosted by The School of Architecture of Tianjin University and the Chinese press group, Urban Environment Design (UED); the competition is open to students of architecture worldwide. The International Union of Architects supports this initiative. With the theme ‘Architecture must disappear’ the competition expects something radical for the future. The official brief states “Architecture as a discipline should no longer think in terms of objects. Walls, facades, structures, are only modalities of architecture, but never its finality. Design comes after situations. Architects deal with situations.”Eligibility Open competition for architecture students around the globe Schedule Deadline for Registration: June 30, 2013 Answers to inquiries: June 30, 2013 - July 15, 2013 Deadline for entry submission: August 15, 2013Date for Jury meetings: September, 2013Announcement of winners: September 2013Exhibition and award ceremony: December 2013Prize/Awards 1st Prize (1 team): Certificate and 50,000 RMB (around 8,000 USD)2nd Prize (3 teams): Certificate and 20,000 RMB (around 3,200 USD) 3rd Prize (8 teams): Certificate and 5,000 RMB (around 800 USD) Honorable Mentions (20 teams): Certificate and 6-month free subscription of UED magazines Advisors of prize-winning projects will also be awarded with certificates. All prize winners will have an opportunity to intern at well-known architectural firms. Visit the Competition site to know more. 2013-06-10T20:52:23+00:00http://www.archsociety.com/news.php?extend.181ARCASIA Students' Architectural Design Competition 20132013-06-07T17:45:30+00:00T Z Htzh@nospam.comBrief The Architects’ Regional Council Asia (ARCASIA) is a Council of the presidents of the National Institutes of Architects of eighteen Asian countries that are members of ARCASIA. Every alternate year, an ARCASIA FORUM is hosted by one of the member countries of ARCASIA. Society of Nepalese Architects (SONA) will host ARCASIA FORUM -17 in 2013 in Kathmandu, Nepal with the theme of “Spirituality in Architecture” with a sub-theme of “Image of the City”. ARCASIA Board has decided to organize a design competition among the individual students of ARCASIA member countries in this FORUM.The design competition along the Asian spirit will try to create a space in their specific countries where youths of ARCASIA can gather, exchange views, share ideas on varieties of subjects. Architecture students will design an ‘Asian Youth Center’ to cater this need of the Asian youths. This may be the contribution of the Asian Architecture students to support the Asian spirit manifested in its economical, cultural and scientific achievements.EligibilityThe competition is open to 3rd and 4th year individual students of all the architecture colleges that are accredited and/or recognized by the respective Institutes of Architects in the ARCASIA countries. Two best entries from each country as selected by the respective Institutes of Architects shall be exhibited at the FORUM in Kathmandu and the first, second and third prize winners shall be decided by an international jury.Schedule and Submission ProcedureMay 15, 2013– First electronic Announcement to all ARCASIA Member Institutes, Chairperson ARCASIA, and Convener ACAE. August 20, 2013 – Formation of Jury by NIA to select two designs (Country Entries) among the, to be submitted designs. The name of the Jury members shall be confidential till September 1, 2013. August 20, 2013 – Selection of two best designs internally in each college. August 30, 2013 – Submission of the selected two designs both electronic and hard copies from each colleges to the respective NIA. September 6, 2103 – Final selection of two best designs as ‘Countries Entries’ by the Jury formed on August 20, 2013 by respective NIA. September 9, 2013 – NIAs inform of the selected two designs and the name of the two winner students, Convener ARCASIA Students Design competition, Chair ACAE, and Chairperson ARCASIA. Respective NIAs will send the electronic copies of the ‘Countries Entries’ to the Jury members on September 9, 2013.September 15, 2013 – Dispatch the hard copies of the Country Entries designs to the Convener ARCASIA Students Design Competition at the following address. Respective NIAs shall ensure the compliance of all the requirements before the ‘Countries Entries’ are dispatched for final submission. This dispatch date is an arbitrary date. Respective NIAs shall make sure, that hard copies will reach the following address not later than September 30, 2013. The procedure to be adopted for selection of designs within the colleges and by the National Institute is entirely at the discretion of the colleges and the Institute. September 20, 2013 – Selection of the final best three designs by the Jury, and ACAE invites the winners students to the FORUM-17.October 6, 2013 – Exhibition of the Country Entries during the ARCASIA FORUM – 17 and Final Jury deliberation, announcement of the prize winners. Prize Three students, winners of the competition shall be the official delegates to the ARCASIA FORUM - 17. They will be the honored guests of the Society of Nepalese Architects (SONA) and will be offered complementary registration in the FORUM-17. First Prize : ARCASIA Student Prize, a gold medal paid for by ARCASIA and citation Second Prize : US $ 500.00 in cash from SONA and citation Third Prize : US $ 300.00 in cash from SONA and citation All the final entries will be given citation. Visit the Competition site to know more. 2013-06-07T17:45:30+00:00http://www.archsociety.com/news.php?extend.180Why and how incidents like the Rana Plaza building collapse in Savar happen in Bangladesh2013-05-01T14:37:49+00:00adminmail@nospam.com[Photo: Abir Abdullah] April 24th 2013, morning, the nine storied Rana Plaza in Savar near Bangladeshi capital Dhaka collapsed, it took at least 400 lives, around 2500 survivors were rescued alive and around a thousand more are missing. If we look into the facts that are related to building construction in Bangladesh and this incident we will have to connect a few dots here. To make a building in Dhaka area (the boundary covers nearby suburbs and towns beyond Dhaka metropolitan, thus it covers the incident area Savar) the owner needs to take permission from 13 different organizations (along with the main authority RajUK) to get the permit of construction and approval of architectural design (and in case of large projects, structural and other designs), it includes municipality, environment department, fire service, electricity and gas distribution authorities etc. Apparently RajUK coordinates this whole approval process with all the organizations. During the construction, the overall responsibility of checking if the construction is done according to approved design is also the duty of RajUK and all other related organizations. In case of building a factory you need to take a few additional approvals from factory building related authority and if it is a garments factory then you also need license and approval of the non-government organization BGMEA an association of garments owners that regulates the garments business in Bangladesh. If corruption plays any role at any point in this process, incidents like the collapse of Rana Plaza and fire at Tazreen Garments may happen any time. And many of these organizations are infamous for institutionalizing corruption. Allegedly often these paper works are done or overlooked by political influences and bribe.Particularly in case of Rana Plaza the problem might have happened in many different layers. Allegedly the building was designed to be 6 storied, the owner made additional 3 floors without permission. It was the duty of the local authorities to prevent the owner from doing that at the first place. There could be fault in the structural design. Then the usage of the building, it was architecturally and structurally designed as a commercial complex, for small shops and offices. The dead-load and live-load of garments factories are far more than commercial buildings, counting the number of people per sft and the weight of the heavy machinaries. So even if the initial structural design was ok as a commercial building, using it as garments factories might have made the structure fail. It is difficult to tell what exactly happened without extensive engineering investigation. It was also the responsibility of architects and engineers who worked for that project in whatever phases to check it's legal status.So clearly all the organizations that let the owner make this building without following the rules and let them use it for unapproved purpose are responsible. Of course along with the building owner, the owners of the garments factories for doing accepting all the corruptions related to building construction and it's usage. And particularly they are responsible for forcing the workers to go inside that building that day even after knowing the warning.The troublesome fact of all is the paradoxical existence of the two big authorities RajUK for building construction and BGMEA for regulating garments industry. RajUK has it's own real estate business, they sell land and apartments and they are also the authority of regulating building construction and real estates, that's contradictory. A single organization can't run a business and also be the regulatory body of it. Similarly BGMEA is a garments owners' association, it is easily imaginable what may happen when all the regulatory authority and duty of looking after the welfare of workers remain under the owners' control. So Bangladesh need separate independent commissions as the regulatory authorities of building construction and also the garments industry to reduce unethical practices and corruption. A few good things happened recently with building codes and laws. Bangladesh has a national building code BNBC, first drafted in 1993 and in 2006 it became mandatory by law to follow the code with a provision of 7 years imprisonment if violated. In 2006 a new construction law came out with a lot of good changes by the help of years of efforts of the architects and related professionals. These codes and laws are not entirely perfect, however they are under constant practice, observation and development. An updated version of the building construction act is under development with many necessery changes.We hope those efforts be successful and the laws be enforced properly to prevent tragedies like Rana Plaza and save human lives.2013-05-01T14:37:49+00:00http://www.archsociety.com/news.php?extend.179International Union of Architects - 5th Young Architects International Award2012-12-12T16:36:25+00:00T Z Htzh@nospam.comThe Chamber of Architects of Turkey, in collaboration with its regional Antalya Branch, and with the support of the International Union of Architects, has launched the fifth edition of the International Award for Young Architects. This year’s award particularly recognizes the winning projects in an international ideas competition focusing on temporary sheltering spaces. The need for temporary shelters for victims of natural and man-made disasters and those disadvantaged persons left on the edge of society is greater and greater. The role and the response of architects worldwide in this context with which they are not necessarily familiar is the aim of this competition that will be followed by an open debate to be held during the next Young Architects meeting in Antalya, on 25 May 2013. The main aim of the Event is to evaluate the architectural responses to the needs of temporary housing and open them to debate. Furthermore, the provision of temporary housing needs of disaster victims is expected to be considered as a spatial configuration and a stage for examining the current developments in material and structural systems. Therefore, the temporary housing settlements – which came forth as a result of disasters – are expected to produce the outcome of increase in the quality of architectural design. The participants of the competition are required to define a context of a disaster of their choice, to produce demountable design proposals for temporary housing units and settlements in an economic and practical way. Both visual and textual formats are going to be used for the presentation of the design proposals. Eligibility Participation in the competition is open to architects worldwide, born after 1974, registered to the organization of architects in their country.Registration Registration for the competition takes place at the same time as the submission of entries. Participation is free of charge. The working languages are Turkish and English. Schedule Announcement: November 05, 2012 Deadline for questions: December 17, 2012 Deadline for answers of the questions: December 28, 2012 Deadline submission of projects: March 15, 2013 Evaluation of the Jury: April 05, 2013 Announcement of the results: April 12, 2013 Exhibition of the projects: May 25 2013 Award ceremony: May 25, 2013 SubmissionEntries will be submitted anonymously. Submissions will include a sealed envelope containing the competitor’s personal information. The identity code of the participants will be written on the outside the of envelope in which applicants’ name, surname, telephone number, e-mail address, communication address, photocopy of their identity card/passport and their registration number at their Chamber/Institute will be clearly written. In case of team participation, all team members’ information will be in this closed identity envelope. Project boards will be prepared according to the template. The template can be found on website. The Project boards (70cm x 100 cm) will be submitted DIGITALLY without printing, at least 150dpi resolution, CMYK format, TIFF/JPEG/EPS type document recorded in DVD/CD. Prize 1st prize 2.500 euros 2nd prize 1.500 euros 3rd prize 1.000 euros Visit the Competition site to know more. 2012-12-12T16:36:25+00:00http://www.archsociety.com/news.php?extend.178Next Generation Design Competition by Metropolis Magazine2012-10-09T19:03:50+00:00T Z Htzh@nospam.com Metropolis, the renowned magazine of Architecture & Design has announced its 9th annual design competition. This prestigious event trails back to 2003 with a view to promote environmental activism, social involvement, and entrepreneurship in young designers. This year they have challenged the designers to develop solutions that empower, advance, and include the groups that are often overlooked in the design process. For example take our rapidly increasing aging population and citizens with disabilities. The form is up to the applicants, considering how people are becoming attached to technologies and what devices, materials, and modes of transportation will stay relevant 20 years from now. Keep in mind what other groups will benefit from the design. It’s hard to think about 1.13 billion people’s unique problems and solutions, and to make it easy for the designers, you can consider your mom, your dad, your uncle or aunt, your friend, your kid brother or sister, your grandparents, any of your relations with special needs. The proposals should also respect the core values of good design—incorporating systems thinking, sustainability, accessibility, materials exploration, historic relevance, and technology—while forwarding our thinking on what designers can accomplish. Eligibility The competition is open to any Designer and Architect in practice for 10 years or less, as well as design students. Collaboration between inter disciplinary personals like architecture, urban planning, landscape design, interior design, product design, and graphic design are encouraged. The entry fee is $75 for each submission. Up to three submissions will be accepted from an individual or team of collaborators. A separate application and entry fee is required for each project submitted. Deadlines All entries must be submitted by February 18, 2013 at 11:59 p.m. EST. Awards The $10,000 prize is intended to support designers whose entries reflect considerations of inclusive design, systems thinking, sustainability, materials exploration, progressive technologies, function, and provocative form. For more information visit the Competition Site.2012-10-09T19:03:50+00:00http://www.archsociety.com/news.php?extend.177eVolo Skyscraper Competition 20132012-09-17T18:23:14+00:00T Z Htzh@nospam.comeVolo Magazine is pleased to invite architects, students, engineers, designers, and artists from around the globe to take part in the eVolo 2013 Skyscraper Competition. Established in 2006, the annual Skyscraper Competition is considerably one of the most prestigious awards for high-rise architecture. It recognizes outstanding ideas that redefine skyscraper design through the implementation of novel technologies, materials, programs, aesthetics, and spatial organizations along with studies on globalization, flexibility, adaptability, and the digital revolution. It is a forum that examines the relationship between the skyscraper and the natural world, the skyscraper and the community, and the skyscraper and the city.There are no restrictions in regards to site, program or size. The objective is to provide maximum freedom to the participants to engage the project without constraints in the most creative way. What is a skyscraper in the 21st century? What are the historical, contextual, social, urban, and environmental responsibilities of these mega-structures? RegistrationArchitects, students, engineers, and designers are invited to participate in the competition. We encourage you to have multidisciplinary teams.Participants must register by January 15, 2013.Early Registration: US $75 until November 13, 2012.Late Registration: US $95 from November 14, 2012 to January 15, 2013.One registration = One projectParticipants may submit various projects, but must register each entry.There is no limit as to the number of participants per team. Individual entries are accepted. After your registration has been approved, eVolo will send the registration number, which will be necessary for submission boards. ScheduleNovember 5, 2012 – Deadline for submitting questions.November 13, 2012 – Early registration deadlineDecember 3, 2012 – Answers to questions posted on websiteJanuary 15, 2013 – Late registration deadlineJanuary 22, 2013 – Project submission deadline (23:59 hours US Eastern Time)March 11, 2013 – Winners’ announcementAwards1st place – US $5000 | 2nd place – US $2000 | 3rd place – US $1000For more details visit eVolo Competition Site.Take a look at the winning projects from 2012Himalaya Water Tower: First prize winner 2012 by Zhi Zheng, Hongchuan Zhao, Dongbai Song, Read more..Mountain Band-Aid: Second Prize Winner, by Yiting Shen, Nanjue Wang, Ji Xia, Zihan Wang, Read more...Monument to Civilization: Vertical Landfill for Metropolises: Third Prize Winner, by Lin Yu-Ta, Anne Schmidt, Read More...2012-09-17T18:23:14+00:00http://www.archsociety.com/news.php?extend.1769th CAA International Student Competition: WISE2012-09-11T18:06:13+00:00T Z Htzh@nospam.comArchitecture students from around the world are invited to design forward thinking environments for our ageing population. You are asked to design a dwelling or precinct for yourself and/or others when aged and retired. Your proposition may be a house for an extended family; a multi-generational precinct; an agile planning strategy accommodating changing family structures from cradle to grave; housing for unusual demographic mixes or another well-considered option. The competition asks for designs that facilitate security, dignity, access and participation of aged people in communities. As part of the competition, entrants will propose a design scenario. The jury is interested in your strategies for connecting the elderly within the broader context of family and/or community considering relationships between different age groups rather than focusing on either gated retirement communities or nursing home facilities. The jury will be looking for proposals that respond to a deep understanding of the social and physical contexts within your selected site location. The size of the design proposition is not important in itself, but the design should be distinctive and compelling, with cultural value. Eligibility The competition is open to all architecture students, worldwide, who at the time of preparing their submission are registered at a Higher Education Institution. It is not limited to those studying in Commonwealth Countries. Individual and group entries are acceptable. Postgraduate research students and higher degree students are not eligible to take part but CAA welcomes undergraduate students and postgraduate coursework students working towards a professional architecture degree qualification. Entrants are encouraged to build a team with other students including students from other disciplines. Key datesRegistration Opens - June, 2012Question Close - November 9, 2012Final Answers - November 16, 2012Submissions Open - November 23, 2012Submissions Close - January 11, 2012PrizesFirst Prize: £2500 | Second Prize: £1000 | Third Prize: £600 The Competition Exhibition and Awards Ceremony will be a part of the CAA Conference which will be held in Dhaka, Bangladesh, in February 2013.Visit the Competition site to know more. 2012-09-11T18:06:13+00:00http://www.archsociety.com/news.php?extend.175UrbanSOS: An Open Ideas Student Competition2012-06-09T12:21:02+00:00T Z Htzh@nospam.comUrban SOS is AECOM’s annual student competition. It was created to engage students in urban planning and design, architecture, landscape architecture, environmental restoration, and engineering with the issues confronting modern cities and to allow them to propose solutions that, if worthy, will be seen by established professionals in their field.This year AECOM is seeking submissions for the 4th Annual Urban SOS competition. The theme of this year’s competition is Frontiers. Proposals should be on urban sites currently facing chronic livability challenges that are largely the result of a city’s location on a natural, political, cultural or economic border. Proposals should be implementable in the short term, as we will engage a local organization to help advance the proposed project.The competition is open to undergraduate and graduate students at all levels of higher education in all countries of the world. Entrants must be enrolled in a certified program during the 2012 fall term. Bachelors, Masters, Ph.D. students in the field of studies like Urban and Regional Planning, Urban Design, Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Environmental Planning, Natural Resource Sciences, Engineering, and related disciplines are eligible for the competition.Submissions may be from individuals or teams of up to four members. Teams will benefit from having members of multiple disciplines. This year, we are encouraging entries from students enrolling in departments such as anthropology, sociology, cultural studies, international development, sustainable economics and the broader social sciences. Deadlines: By August 31, 2012 - Pre-registration of interest deadline By August 31, 2012 - Final submission deadlineSeptember - Judging process October 1, 2012 - Announcement of semi-finalists Week of November 12, 2012 - Presentation and critique of semi-finalists’ submissions in Shanghai Prizes: Each of the three finalist teams will receive an honorarium to contribute to travel expenses related to visiting Shanghai to present the team’s submission. The finalist honoraria are to contribute to expenses related to attendance and presentation in Shanghai only and cannot be exchanged for other prizes. In addition, each team will receive US$500 to contribute to additional costs. No other costs or fees will be covered by AECOM or the sponsors. The winning team (or teams) will receive a cash prize. The total prize money is valued at US$15,000, which may be divided amongst one or more winning teams. A further US$25,000 in cash and in kind staff hours will be donated by AECOM to a charitable or humanitarian organization or related agency to help further develop the winning proposal. Visit the Competition Site for further details.2012-06-09T12:21:02+00:00