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Architects envision Trump's America in the “Complicity and Defiance” charrette — winners announced!

2017-04-28T15:53:00-04:00

The U.S.A. is barely 100 days into the Trump presidency, and a sure hell of a lot has happened in the last few months, huh? No doubt, the design community has reacted strongly to Trump's rambunctious power-mongering, including a revival of the debate on complicity and defiance in architecture.

In response, competition organizer Archistophanes/Reality Cues — who previously created the cheeky “Good Walls Make Good Neighbors, Mr. Trump” competition — launched the Complicity and Defiance in Architecture charrette, wherein entrants had to create “a provocative message of critique and/or defiance” towards any of Trump's authoritarian legislation measures. Here's a peek of the top three winners and a few honorable mentions:

1ST PLACE: Oil Border by Elisabeth Drumpf

2ND PLACE: Absurdity Redlined by SJ Kwon

3RD PLACE: Humane Security Corridor by Zachary Wilson

HONORABLE MENTION: EcoPorn by Yoshihara Hisao

HONORABLE MENTION: Trumpe L’œil by Sara Castillo

HONORABLE MENTION: The Garden of Contemporary Blight by Black Fish

See more of the top entries on Bustler.

New Competition from Archistophanes: Complicity and Defiance in Architecture

2017-03-16T17:50:00-04:00

This post is brought to you by Reality Cues.

Architecture is historically complicit with the policies of those in power, both symbolically and functionally. It offers not only representations of power, but also vehicles for enacting power in its most grandiose, oppressive, and physically enduring expressions, from palaces and corporate skyscrapers to border walls and prisons.

Art that opposes power, on the other hand, is more fluid. Graffiti, protest songs, and written manifestos cost nothing and are easily disseminated–all things that architecture has historically never been. As such, there is no canon of activist built architecture. And while there have been revolutionary movements and utopian visionaries in the history of architecture, only now through Photoshop and the internet can an architecture of protest and revolution truly form and proliferate, through imagery that is arguably more provocative in imagined scenarios than built projects in their real-life executions.

We are on...

“Good Walls Make Good Neighbors, Mr. Trump” — the verdict is in

2016-10-10T13:40:00-04:00

Architects around the globe got to show some Internet meme-worthy snark in Reality Cues' latest installment, the “Good Walls Make Good Neighbors, Mr. Trump” ideas competition. Based on Donald Trump's xenophobic plans to make the historically controversial U.S./Mexico border wall into a reality, the charrette invited architects to do one thing: Design a wall that separates Mr. Trump from the rest of the U.S.

Here are a few of the top entries:

First Runner Up: Taco Truck Block Party by Rajiv Fernandez

Second Runner Up: The Future is Bleak by Rob Anderson

Honorable Mention: Cleansing the Earth by Aly Perez

Honorable Mention: Shhhh, Don't Tell Richard by Daniel Rogers

(cover image) Best Overall Image: FIREWALL - You're Fired...Just Kidding, You're Stuck Here Forever! by Zachary Wilson

Find the rest of the winning submissions on Bustler.

Design a wall that separates Trump from the U.S. in this call for ideas

2016-08-09T17:51:00-04:00

Amid everything that Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump continues to recklessly spew, one of the milestones in his circus of a campaign is his apparent plans to build the U.S./Mexico border wall... Competition creator Reality Cues turns the tables in their newest installment: Good Walls Make Good Neighbors, Mr. Trump. The objective is pretty straightforward: Design a wall that separates Mr. Trump from the rest of the U.S.

“We want to ask questions more than produce answers,” Reality Cues emphasizes in the brief. Curious? Learn more about their latest snarky competition on Bustler.

Seeing (Too Much) Green: Reality Cues' Eco-Porn Competition

2013-08-15T21:41:00-04:00

Whether by accident or on purpose, we've all seen it somehow.

The Eco-Porn Competition, which launched on August 11, is the latest in Reality Cues' series of tongue-in-cheek competitions that point out the tropes in architecture. The series gives entrants a chance to be sassy yet reverent with their submissions, while opening a broader discussion on various architectural trends. This time around, Reality Cues is looking for some top-notch Eco-Porn in the green architecture trend.

Sustainability, now a requirement in modern architectural projects, has brought about revolutionary ideas into the field. But there are those questionable renderings that go a little too far, adding excessive greenery and other common eco-friendly paraphernalia to merely sell the project as sustainable (a.k.a. eco-porn). The competition questions the motives behind this trend: Are architects seeing too much green?

Entries are being accepted until Sept. 21. Winners will be announced by Reality Cues on Oct. 31.