Alternative Housing Ideas Challenge - shortlist announced.

AHA! Alternative Homes Agency proposed by Architects for Peace

We’d like to congratulate the seven short-listed entries for the City of Sydney’s alternative housing ideas challenge, announced mid-June. These entrants will now have until November this year to develop their proposals further, and present them for public consultation.

https://www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/vision/planning-for-2050/alternative-housing

The competition attracted over 230 entries, among them a proposal on behalf of Architects for Peace, developed by Megan Spoor, Eva Rodriguez Riestra, Nicole Mechkaroff and Eleanor Chapman.

Although globally many kinds of housing models exist, in Australia, reliance on a very limited range of housing tenure options not only keeps housing costs high, but also excludes other kinds of housing possibilities from the public imagination. Our proposal seeks to disrupt a deeply-rooted reliance on the private market by opening up the public imagination to other ways of living together – and practical means to realise them. 

We propose to establish an information agency to foster awareness of alternative housing models, as well as support development and implementation of self-organised housing initiatives. Our proposed Alternative Homes Agency (AHA!) challenges the dominant acceptance of the private housing market by filling a crucial gap in community knowledge and skills - a gap that prevents the imagining of alternatives. AHA! will work alongside government service providers and NGOs to:

• Raise awareness among home-seekers of the diversity of possible communal housing models beyond private renting or ownership.
• Map and create a register of existing vacant and under-utilised properties.
• Educate home-seekers in the skills and knowledge needed to initiate a self-organised housing project.
• Connect independent home-seekers from a range of backgrounds with Community Housing Providers, with a view to realising joint projects.

View our proposal in detail here

We’re grateful to the City of Sydney for leading a much-needed public discussion of housing alternatives, and for the internal discussion it’s sparked within our team recently! Architects for Peace is committed to standing up for decent affordable housing for all.

If you are interested in getting involved with related A4P activities, please contact us at team@architectsforpeace.org.

Association of Pacific Rim Universities Sustainable Cities and Landscapes Hub (APRU SCL) Conference

Association of Pacific Rim Universities Sustainable Cities and Landscapes Hub (APRU SCL) Conference

APRU SCL brings together experts from around the region to exchange ideas and engage in activities focused on sustainable city-landscape interactions.  

The Association of Pacific Rim Universities Sustainable Cities and Landscapes Hub (APRU SCL) announces opening registration for its upcoming 2019 conference hosted by the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia from August 29 through September 1, 2019.

The APRU SCL conference invites academics, practitioners, and public officials from different disciplines to collaborate on research and advocacy projects that foster long-term sustainability and resilient city-landscape relationships. This three-day conference is structured around 11 working groups that bracket a range of social, economic and environmental issues. Each conference attendee will contribute to a working group of their choice as well as participate in conference-wide plenaries and events.

Visit the 2019 APRU Sustainable Cities and Landscapes Conference website for more information about the conference program and working groups. Early bird registration of $225 USD ends on June 15, and after that will increase to $275 USD. The conference registration covers lunch, morning and afternoon tea during the days of the event, and a special dinner cruise on Sydney Harbour on Friday evening, August 30.

Student Design Competition

Students are invited to enter the Cities and Refugees Global Student Design Competition organized by the Rapid Urbanization Grand Challenge at the UNSW Sydney, and supported by the Australian Red Cross, ARUP International Development, UNHCR, and the APRU Sustainable Cities and Landscapes Program Hub. The winning schemes will be announced in Sydney at the APRU SCL Conference.

Find out more about the competition, eligibility, and prizes, and register before the submission deadline on July 20, 2019."

"For questions regarding the 2019 APRU SCL Conference and the Student Design Competition, please contact Sara Padgett Kjaersgaard, Co-Organizer of APRU SCL conference. 

For questions regarding the APRU SCL Hub, please contact Yekang Ko, Program Director of APRU SCL Hub."

ENERGY OVERLAYS Civic Art for a Circular Economy

In 2018, the directors of the Land Art Generator Initiative (LAGI) invited Beatriz Maturana Cossio as the Founder of Architects for Peace and academic of University of Chile, to be a member of the judging panel for the competition for an urban intervention in the highly controversial St. Kilda triangle in Melbourne, Australia. The competition was a call for feasible proposals for an urban intervention based on a cross disciplinary response to this unique public space, based in landscape and urban design and the physical, social and economic aspects of sustainability. A perfect fit for the principles of Architects for Peace. LAGI occurs in a different city each year. The following article, published with the permission of its authors, presents LAGI’s contribution to the built environment through ecological civic art that produces renewable energy.

ENERGY OVERLAYS
Civic Art for a Circular Economy

Robert Ferry and Elizabeth Monoian
Founding Directors,
Land Art Generator Initiative

“The next culture will be a culture of ‘stewardship,’ the energy driving it will be renewable, and the art it produces will be quite different from the art favored by production and consumption cultures.” — Margaret Atwood on the writing of Barry Lord¹

“All life is a struggle for free energy.” — Leslie White²

More than a decade after the release of Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth there remains a vocal segment of the public who are unmoved by images showing rising sea levels and global heat map projections. Talk of mass extinction events and droughts still does not seem to motivate many of us to take civic action to protect the climate. In some cases it can have the exact opposite effect, either entrenching denial or causing political paralysis in the face of the problem’s enormity. The scope of climate change leaves many feeling un-empowered as individuals to make a difference.

It pains us to hear such acquiescence on display, like the time we casually remarked about the unusual weather we were experiencing during the week of one of our LAGI workshops. A 14-year old girl responded in earnest, “I heard the world is ending because of the climate.”

What if instead we could change the message of fear and disaster into one of hope and optimism—an inspirational message about the greatness of a post-carbon future? What if rather than show disaster images to run away from, we could instead design a future that people desire to run towards? What if we changed the conversation about gloom and doom to one of beauty and cultural transformation? While science communication has enlightened the world and brought us to where we are today in the climate debate, it is the humanities and the arts that make us unique and that remind us of what is worth saving for tomorrow.

Culture and energy are two sides of the same coin, but as a consequence of this geometry they rarely catch a glimpse of one another. We know that fuel and electricity keep the lights bright upon our stages, the welding torches lit, and our audio visual equipment humming. It is energy that makes it possible to turn four billion trees every year into magazines, journals, paper, and books.³ Culture can be thought of as a reflection of a society’s ability to orchestrate the use of energy beyond that required for the most basic human survival.

La Monarca. This Land Art Generator Solar Mural artwork for San Antonio is a functioning solar array with a capacity of 1 kW. The graphic was designed by San Antonio artist Cruz Ortiz with creative direction by Penelope Boyer. Photographed at the San Antonio Zoo by Penelope Boyer

Read more »

ESPACIFICACIÓN II

1. Antecedentes:

De acuerdo a encuestas de opinión y la difusión sobre el tema en los medios de comunicación social, el problema de la seguridad ciudadana en el país continúa siendo uno de gran preocupación para los ciudadanos. A pesar que los índices de delitos han ido bajando, la percepción y los hechos delictivos se mantienen en la agenda pública.

Si bien el fenómeno es complejo y multifactorial en sus causas, expresión y desarrollo, los delitos ocurren en espacios y territorios determinados. Son áreas principalmente urbanas tanto del espacio público como del espacio privado.

Un conjunto de instituciones públicas y privadas con experiencia en el asunto, se han reunido y han decidido avanzar en la búsqueda de nuevas ideas y propuestas para avanzar en alternativas que cooperen a mejorar el panorama expuesto. Ellas son la Subsecretaría de Prevención del Delito del Ministerio del Interior, la Consultora Publika Consulting, International CPTED Association (ICA), Cámara Nacional de Comercio, Fundación Paz Ciudadana, Dirección de Estudios de Carabineros de Chile y el Instituto de la Vivienda, de la Facultad de Arquitectura y Urbanismo de la Universidad de Chile.

Para el propósito anteriormente expuesto, se invita al conjunto de disciplinas de la arquitectura, el diseño y la geografía y a sus estudiantes de pregrado de universidades chilenas, a participar en un ejercicio de diseño (repentina) titulado ESPACIFICACIÓN II, cuyos objetivos se precisan a continuación.

Los mejores trabajos serán destacados y premiados en un seminario sobre Seguridad Ciudadana ad hoc que se desarrollará en Facultad de Arquitectura y Urbanismo de la Universidad de Chile y además tendrán reconocimiento en la Feria Internacional de Seguridad FISEG 2013.

Bases, requisitos, criterios y casos a resolver a través del concurso se encontrarán muy prontamente en el sitio web: http://espacificacion2.uchilefau.cl/

Read more »

Cambodian Sustainable Housing Competition Results Announced:

Emerging Melbourne transdisciplinary practice, Visionary Design Development Pty Ltd, announced as co-winner of international sustainable housing design competition. The competition brings new life to housing design and delivery for low income families living in Cambodia. All winning projects will be built later this year. Run by three non-government organisations, the competition had over 600 registered entrants from architectural practices around the world. The other two winners were British and US architects. Once constructed Visionary Design Development’s ‘WET + DRY HOUSE’ will be home to a widowed mother of 5 wanting to open a shop to provide for her family. The design of her new house will easily allow her to do accomplish this.

Winning entries were selected by a jury made up of representatives from Building Trust International, Habitat for Humanity Cambodia, Karuna Cambodia, MIT, Collective Studio, members of the Cambodian Society of Architects and most importantly the families that are going to live in the houses once they are built. The design competition asked for designs of a $2000 house that can withstand flooding and offer a safe and secure home for low income families in Cambodia.

Read more »

International competition for the restoration of the Pereira Palace in Santiago, Chile

Photograph: Cristian Domínguez

International competition for the restoration of the Pereira Palace in Santiago, Chile
Information source: http://www.concursopalaciopereira.cl/

"El Palacio Pereira fue una antigua residencia familiar de características neoclásicas del periodo ecléctico, construido en la segunda mitad del siglo XIX (1874), por el arquitecto francés Lucien Ambroise Henault".



Concurso internacional de habilitación del Palacio Pereira from Consejo de Monumentos Nacionales on Vimeo.

El Palacio Pereira fue una antigua residencia familiar de características neoclásicas del periodo ecléctico, construido en la segunda mitad del siglo XIX (1874), por el arquitecto francés Lucien Ambroise Henault, declarado Monumento Histórico el 28/08/1981 a través del decreto 5.746, Ley 17.288.
Su actual estado de conservación es crítico debido a la falta de mantención y a sus severos daños estructurales. En esta desfavorable situación es que el Estado de Chile adquiere el Monumento Histórico, se incorpora entre los proyectos del Legado Bicentenario, y se plantea como objetivo su recuperación y puesta en valor, estableciendo para ello un nuevo uso público, que a través de su habilitación y ampliación podrá dar cabida a la sede institucional tanto de la Dirección de Bibliotecas, Archivos y Museos como al Consejo de Monumentos Nacionales. Se consolidará además como un espacio cultural público, que valorice su entorno, y releve la imagen de las Instituciones que velan por el patrimonio del país.

Find more: http://www.concursopalaciopereira.cl/

A stroll along Paseo Bulnes and Sta. Isabel Street

Santiago, Chile

Paseo Presidente Bulnes

click here for competition details

Paseo Bulnes (Bulnes Promenade) and Santa Isabel areas represent another significant historical district in downtown Santiago (centre). A recent call for an international competition of ideas aims to revitalise its civic character and further its importance within the city´s grid. The elite jury for this competition includes the Pritzker Prize Rafael Moneo.

Find more about Paseo Bulnes and the competition here: Se revitaliza el Paseo Bulnes and Paseo Bulnes International Competition

Read more »

Transiting Cities Competition - call for entries

An international design competition is calling for entries to help transition the Latrobe Valley in Victoria into a low-carbon future. The competition closes on 30 November and is targeting the revitalisation of small towns, potentially rehabilitated mines and associated infrastructure. The project is sponsored by RMIT University's Office of Urban Transformations Research Laboratory in the School of Architecture and Design, Latrobe City Council, the State Department of Primary Industries Clean Coal Victoria Unit and the Gippsland Climate Change Network.

It's a big issue to tackle - amid the barrage of calls to shut down Hazelwood, what kind of future awaits those who live and work in this region that for years has contributed substantially to the State's economy?

Registration is relatively inexpensive (unlike some recent local competitions of late) and there are cash prizes - to register and find out more, visit the website www.transitingcities.com

Image: Hazelwood coal mine - credit: Lizardstomp