The Zagreb Society of Architects is launching the first of four architectural competitions for this year’s Think Space cycle. For this year’s annual cycle, the main theme connecting all four competitions is Borders.
Devised by OMA New York Director, Shohei Shigematsu, the first competition challenges architects and designers to rethink one of the most fundamental borders – the ground plane.
Traditional notions of above and below ground are changing.
Issues of sustainability, preservation, urbanization and infrastructure are all shaping the ground plane today.
For example,
Green roofs activate a sustainable, rooftop urbanism.
Excavated volumes provide access and preserve historic sites.
Retail plinths and sky lobbies multiply the urban ground within mixed-use developments.
Transportation platforms are elevated and excavated to create highway and subway systems.
Climate-controlled underground corridors and sky bridges provide shelter from extreme weather.
How can we further manipulate and multiply the ground plane to develop the masterplan into the mastersection?
In the past, sci-fi films have imagined the future of the ground plane through floating cities and subterranean civilizations. This competition is an open call for entries that similarly redefine this flexible border with program above and below. Intentionally undefined, the scale and typology of entries may range from high rises to vertical masterplanning.
Criteria
| Concept | Address larger issues surrounding the future of the ground plane |
| Choice of Site | Address the significance of your site |
| Land Use | Address the Programmatic Needs of Surrounding Site and Users |
| Sectional Diversity | Address the implications for building above ground versus building below ground in your design |
| Sustainability | Address larger issues of air quality as well as the reuse of displaced ground |
Submission Requirements
All Submissions should be made digitally. Submissions formats include (a) one A2 sized board (landscape oriented) or (b) a bound research booklet. Submissions should also include a site section, plan, and rendering. Please include text that describes the project and clearly defines the questions that your project addresses and the approach that your project takes towards the ground as an urban border.