Mies Memorial Library Forums Bauhaus Campus 2021 – Work in progress Questions Beginner’s Question for an Ideas Competition

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    • #6005
      Furkan Berke
      Participant

      Hello there,
      Sorry for this long and basic question. As I have said before, this is my first competition ^^
      As I was reading your answers in the forum, regarding how in some areas we should just be creative and ignore regulations, I got really curious about the general concept of an ideas competition. Normally, the way I was taught to do architecture is to make a comprehensive site analysis and design accordingly. This is also a huge part of my design process. Now, the question is, in an ideas competition like this one, would it be OK to design like this? Is it essential to make this design sustainable or accessible? Does jury favor designs which uses natural lighting and ventilation? I am aware that the concept and spatial organization is the focus of this competition. Nevertheless I would really like to know how important the other aspects of our designs are for the jury? Are these other aspects evaluated and considered? Is it worth working on them?

      Cheers
      F. Berke

    • #6021
      arkitekturo
      Keymaster

      Hi Furkan,

      Thank you for your question. We do find that a lot of participants struggle with the same things you so clearly touched on here. It’s great that guys ask these questions and get to learn about the differences between designing for a real project vs. an ideas competition at this stage. Like we always say, we want arkitekturo’s competitions to be a learning experience!

      So moving on to your question. There is nothing wrong with your design process. A good site analysis is always a good place to start any project, and the rest of your process is also valid. Regardless of what your specific design process is, every project usually starts from the bigger ideas/decisions and slowly moves on to the more specific. For example, this could be the workflow of a regular (completely made up) project:

      1. You do your site analysis and other previous research.
      2. You start sketching and envision a single-story building with a huge retractable roof that will open up at specific times of the day/year turning the inside of your building into an outdoors space.
      3. You also decide that your one-story high façade will be cover with a local stone that’s the same overall color as the landscape there, so you picture your building fully merging with the landscape.
      4. Then you start laying out the interior spaces and realize its probably best to always keep the roof on top of the offices and bathrooms, so you make your retractable roof smaller.
      5. You also realize when the roof is down you need some windows to let the light in, so you bring in some glass to your previously all-stone façade.
      6. You then start applying all the local safety regulations, fire escapes, etc. and you realize you need to have an emergency exit every 20 meters, so you add some extra doors to your façade.
      7. You then learn that the biggest retractable roof that can be built is half of what you had envision, so you adapt your design accordingly.
      8. You then start doing some budget calculations and realize you are way over budget, so you make your retractable roof even smaller and replace your fancy stone-façade for ceramic pieces that kind of resemble the color you envisioned earlier.
      9. By then you realize you probably need to compromise on a lot o other things in order for your project to be buildable, within budget and following all urbanistic, construction, safety and sustainability regulations.
      10. You are finally done, you have been able to check all the boxes required by the brief, satisfy all regulations and stay within budget. At this point your project probably only slightly resembles your sketches and initial vision.

      When designing for an ideas competition you can follow that same process, but you can stop on step 5, when your idea is still “pure” and the only changes you’ve made to your initial concept have been in order to improve your building from an architectural perspective, to make it more usable and comfortable for the people who will be using it, and not to satisfy some overly-generic regulation or to maximize the developer’s profits.

      In other words, here is a list of things that make designing for a real project vs. an ideas competition different.

      • In an ideas project there is not construction budget limit, unless otherwise specified in the brief. In this case there is no limit.
      • In an ideas competition you don’t need to follow city planning rules and regulations.
      • In an ideas competition you don’t need to follow local construction regulations.
      • In an ideas competition you don’t need to figure out every single detail of the project. Such details belong to a more advanced stage of the project.

      Hope this gives you a better idea of what’s expected within the context of an ideas competition 🙂

    • #6027
      Magali Rocco
      Participant

      I understand @Furkan Berke, and i am a little conserned about the arkitekture answer.
      Until know i was thinking about real and possibles things to a Baushaus 2021 and mabe i will have to change to a Bauhaus”3021″.
      Thank you to the explanation. I will rethink my project and stay in the competition.

      • #6038
        arkitekturo
        Keymaster

        Hi Magali! Tell us about your concerns, and we’ll try our best to guide you and provide feedback.

        Why 3021? We didn’t imply the project needs to be futuristic, just that you don’t need to deal with the bureaucracy of urban and construction regulations.

        Also remember you have very limited space to present your project, so you should focus on trying to communicate your main ideas for the project.

    • #6158
      Magali Rocco
      Participant

      Hello! After wathing the upstairs video last saturday, i could better understand. Thank you very much for all explanation.

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