FrÃ¥n: Magnus Rönn <magnus.ronn@arch.kth.se>Datum: ti 27 dec 2011 12.49.08 GMT+01:00Till: Naomi Stead <n.stead@uq.edu.au>Ämne: Early warning â€" Conference on architectural competitions 2012 in HelsinkiÄmne: Early warning â€" Conference on architectural competitions 2012 in HelsinkiEarly warning â€" Conference on architectural competitions
I am happy to inform you that there will be a conference on architectural competitions in Helsinki 2012, October 26-27. The conference is a joint venture between a annual symposium in Finland on architecture research and our research-network focusing on competitions. There will be call for paper in January with more detailed information about the conference. Start to prepare abstract and paper! We will have broad themes for research and paper presentations including different perspective on architectural competitions. Leif Östman and myself will manage this part of the conference. I hope to see you in Helsinki.
Magnus Rönn
(Please inform your colleagues interested in competitions)
FWD: CALL FOR ABSTRACTS:
Abstracts should be sent to leif.ostman@novia.fi by the 29th of February.
ARCHITECTURE AS HUMAN INTERFACE
The 4th Symposium of Architectural Research in Finland
The 4th International Conference on Architectural Competitions
26-27.10.2012
This scientific conference in Helsinki is a joint venture between researches in Finland and
Sweden. The conference themes is developed in cooperation between the 4th Architectural
Research Symposium in Finland and the 4th International conference on architectural
Competitions.
Venue: The Department of Architecture
Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture, Espoo, Finland
Organized by:
The Department of Architecture, Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture
The Department of Surveying and Planning, Aalto University School of Engineering
The Department of Architecture, Tampere University of Technology
The Department of Architecture, Oulu University Faculty of Technology
School of Architecture and the Built Environment, KTH Royal Institute of Technology
Environmental Engineering, Novia University of Applied Sciences
The Finnish Association of Architects SAFA
Interface is a word that is traditionally used in the context of information and communication
technology; it is the meeting point between the human being and the machine or
program, through which we will be able to operate the machine, and also receive the experience
it provides. As technology is about to take the next step and turn ubiquitous, the
problems and prospects of computer interfaces will become relevant to the whole built
environment. However, architecture has always had its human interface: building facades
have communicated their function, their social prestige, their history, and their aesthetics.
Doors and windows have been used much before Microsoft revolutionized personal
computer interfaces with its Mac-inspired Windows® user interface. But how much
do we actually know about the way that people use the built environment, how they interpret
the messages that architects send them, and how far their basic needs and feelings
are touched by this human interface? Architects have developed ways of ensuring architectural
and urban quality, such as architectural competitions, but should be now turn a
critical eye on these institutions and traditions? As the ethos of co-design, collaborative
planning, and user oriented living environment dominates our current discussion, what
kind of ideas of humanity and human agency are embedded in our thinking?
The organizers invite papers on all fields of architectural research. The symposium will
address, but not exclusively, the following themes:
Track 1: Competing in Architecture
This part of the conference covers the whole competition process; from prequalification
of architect firms (design teams), development of the competitions program, design solutions,
evaluation and ranking of the entries, to the appointment of the winner. The following
issues have been specified in themes for the paper presentations in workshop sessions:
• Prequalification in competitions: How does the organizers steer competitions
through demands in invitations and selection of candidates to competitions? Who
will be put on the short list? What kind of professional profiles are organizers
looking for?
• The competition program: What characterize is a good brief? In what way can the
program support creativity and innovative solution in competitions? How does the
competing architects use the brief in their architectural work with design proposals?
• Competing architects and design proposals: What makes competitions attractive
for architects? How is the design work organized at competing offices? How are
key ideas and promising design solutions identified and developed by design
teams?
• Jury work and quality assessment of design proposals: How do juries organize
their assessment of the entries in order to identify good practices, gaps or unclear
design solution? On what basis is the winner selected and how do juries legitimize
their decision?
• Competitions, profession and society-building: Is competition a good method for
promoting goof design, or is it production of myths and an unrealistic self-image
for architects? How are architects as a profession affected by competitions?
• Architectural competitions and politics: What is the relation between competitions
and political processes? Why are competitions highlighted in the architectural
policy documents?
Track 2: Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture
In 1966 Robert Venturi wrote his "gentle manifesto" against modernist rationalism and
simplicity. Since then, the word complexity has gained momentum in a very different
context: in our attempts to understand buildings and the city as complex adaptive systems.
The role of new scientific understanding of urban dynamics – in addition to offering
new tools for architects – challenges the way that we used to conceptualize the role of
design and planning in a time of continuous change.
Track 3: Research and Design – Bridging the Gap
Contemporary understanding of research is taking distance from a purely scientific and
academic understanding of research, allowing also other forms of constructing knowledge
through practice and design. Although discussed extensively by scholars during the
last decades, the concepts of practice-based research or research-by-design have remained
ill-defined, and researchers and designers still often remain in their respective silos,
developing and defending their artistic or academic cultures. How could universities and
practitioners bridge this gap, opening ways to new generations of knowledge and creativity.
Track 4: Human Oriented Living Environment
As buzzwords such as co-design, collaborative planning and user oriented architecture
raise the human being as the center of our interest, we need to readdress the humanenvironment
relationship. The track calls for research on novel ways to produce the built
environment and to provide services through rethinking what we call ´the quality of life´.
In what way can the quality of life be interpreted in the context of sustainable development?
What does human orientation mean in this interpretation? What is human oriented
architecture or human oriented urban environment? Does eco-efficiency yield a human
oriented approach?
Track 5: The Future of the Past
Interest in history is what distinguishes architecture from other technical fields such as
engineering. History is for architects not only 'nice to know'; it is considered essential
ingredient in the development of mature personalities able to contribute to contemporary
architecture. Although historicism itself is not a topical issue in contemporary design, the
problems of dealing with the historical built environment, as well as our underlying theories
of conservation, are as important as ever. The relationship between history and theory
of architecture also calls for further reflection.
Track 6: Sustainability and Creativity
During the last decades sustainability has become almost self-evident part of architectural
design and planning, implying challenges related to the use of materials, energy or ecoefficiency,
and supporting more sustainable life-styles. Its problematic relationship with
the original ethos of architectural creativity and freedom has remained, however. Are new
and innovative uses of materials, traditional and new, a source of inspiration, or an iron
cage of architectural creativity? What will be the role of ubiquitous technology in smart
buildings and the urban environment?
Abstracts of no more than 3000 characters (without spaces), including the authors'
names, their affiliation and contact information should be sent to leif.ostman@novia.fi,
for the distribution to the scientific committee the 29th of February. Authors of accepted
papers will be informed the 13th of April, and the authors are requested to submit their
full paper the 15th of August for refereeing. Referees' comments will be given the 30th of
September, and the final paper should be submitted the 21st of October. All submitted
final papers will be published on-line, and a selection of the papers will be published as a
book in 2013.
Registration and Fee
Deadline for registration is April 30, 2012. The fee for attending the conference is 100
Euros for students, 200 Euros for others (researches, teachers and practicing architects).
Late participants: 250 Euros.
Organizing Committee
• Professor Kimmo Lapintie, Aalto University, kimmo.lapintie@aalto.fi
• Professor Raine Mäntysalo, Aalto University, raine.mantysalo@aalto.fi
• Senior Researcher Helena Teravainen, Aalto University, helena.teravainen@aalto.fi
• Dr Leif Östman, Novia University of Applied Sciences, Leif.Ostman@novia.fi
• Associate Professor Magnus Rönn, Royal Institute of Technology, magnus.ronn@arch.kth.se
• Dr Jonas E Andersson, Royal Institute of Technology, jonas3@kth.se
• PhD Student, Zheng Liang, Aalto university, zheng.liang@aalto.fi
Looking forward to seeing you all in Otaniemi!
Date: Thu, 9 Feb 2012 18:38:25 +0100
To: Naomi Stead <n.stead@uq.edu.au>
Subject: Conference on architectural competitions 2012 in Helsinki
Dr Naomi Stead
Co-Editor – Architectural Theory Review
Research Fellow
ATCH (Architecture Theory Criticism History) Research Group
School of Architecture
The University of Queensland
St Lucia, Q, 4072
Australia
p. + 61 7 3365 3848
f. + 61 7 3365 3999
e. n.stead@uq.edu.au
w. www.architecture.uq.edu.au
w. www.naomistead.com
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