Friday, 27 November 2015

The Value of Design Competitions; Warming Huts Competition of 2016

The Value of Design Competitions; Warming Huts Competition 2016,
(even when your entry is not selected)

REMNANTS
We went down to the river Jimmy and I. We were always free here. Free from the watchful eyes of adults, from rules and from homework. We found some lumber and plywood, a steel drum. “Let’s start a fire in the barrel!”  We scavenged down the bank. I found this round thing buried in the mud. Jimmy thinks it the top end of a smoke stack from an old paddle wheel boat.

We built a lean-to; Jimmy called it a Tee Pee. More drums formed a smoke stack and we capped it with the river boat top. We danced believing ourselves a part of a noble tribe. We played with reckless abandon. We held court, we waged wars, we talked about girls.

Mom and Dad and Sis would never understand this place, always so proper.  I was always so warm here. I wonder what ever became of Jimmy.
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Architecture at its heart is about artfully crafting space for a function. It is about place making. Place making is about connecting to people on some emotional, spiritual, intellectual or visceral level. When one decides to enter a competition like the Warming Huts Competition you must commit to an idea. You start in the ether, ground zero, and you engage your process. Who? What? Where? Why? You let your mind wander, you play with some ideas.

One of the ideas; lets recycle some material, let’s use 50 gallon recycled drums to create a fire place. What could that become? Maybe we should add a lean-to shelter opposite the wind.  A narrative story starts to emerge. The work starts to connect to my experience as a child, then our history. What if we fold this form? Keep it simple. An “Ah Ha!”, moment and we add some more history, a bit of drama. The nascent work becomes something that connects. We push forward. We had fun with the reminiscent nature of the narrative and allowed the final graphics to playfully express a different time and place.


Through a process that was focused on artful expression and less focused on building program  we came to understand a bit more of ourselves as architects and designers. We completed an exercise that allowed us to expand the way we look at architecture and this has been the real value for us. By participating we became better at what we do. In the end, we had not fully abandoned our pragmatism and the resultant work fit with a program. It fit to an idea that we were creating a place of warmth both literally and metaphorically. Even though we were not selected we have taken pride in our work and thought we would share it with those who are interested.

For the public as they engage the selected projects they will also be given the opportunity to ask the questions. Why do we build? How do we create place? In our creative endeavour how do we connect with our common humanity? This is the value of a competition such as this.

Congratulations to Peter Hargraves and the rest of the jury for another successful competition. We look forward to seeing the selected projects on the river in the New Year.

John van Leeuwen,

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