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What will space exploration look like in the near future? The inaugural Outer Space competition winners propose their architectural visions

2019-09-17T00:00:00-04:00

Many of us have long been captivated by the fantastical sci-fi visions of space exploration from previous decades, but are these images still the best representation of our future in outer space? For the inaugural Outer Space competition organized by Blank Space (the creators of the popular Fairy Tales Architecture Competition), architects and designers from around the planet were challenged to envision what space exploration could look like within the next two centuries.

Through intricate stories and original artwork, entrants considered how today's scientific and technological advances can shape futuristic visions of space exploration in the near future. “What kinds of structures will be developed to move, house and sustain people? How will robotics, AI, autonomous spacecraft, and satellites enhance our reach?,” Blank Space writes.

The esteemed jury — which included astronaut Chris Hadfield, architect David Benjamin of The Living, Studio Drift, Chris Precht, and more — evaluated ...

New Call for Submissions for MONU #29 - Narrative Urbanism

2018-05-02T13:21:00-04:00

One important outcome of our last MONU issue #28 on "Client-shaped Urbanism" was the realization that in order to create better cities, we need to improve the communication among everybody involved in the creation of cities, whether they are clients, developers, municipalities, architects, urban designers, or the users of cities, to name just a few. Especially for architects and urban designers, one way to make themselves understood better, is to use the power of "narratives", helping them to connect not only to experts and intellectuals in the field, but to everybody else too. To find out what such urban and architectural narratives might look like today - and what they were like in the past - how they can be crafted, where they may be used and how narratives can help improving our cities in general is one of the main aims of the upcoming issue of MONU that we call "Narrative Urbanism".

In the history of human civilisation, narratives and storytelling have always been an importa...

Announcing the winners of the 2017 Fairy Tales Architecture Competition

2017-02-07T03:01:00-05:00

The Fairy Tales Architecture Competition concluded another successful edition Monday evening with the anticipated reveal of its 2017 winners. The competition had its biggest winners announcement yet in front of a live audience at the National Building Museum in Washington D.C.

Like every year, the submissions blur the line between fictional and non-fictional. Narratives are depicted as storybook-friendly illustrations, but refer to themes like real-life current events or evergreen topics like the creative process, mundane everyday activities, and relatable human emotions.

The esteemed jury — which included Marion Weiss, Jing Liu, Stefano Boeri, Michael Maltzan, National Building Museum Executive Director Chase W. Rynd, and Archinect's very own Alexander Walter, among others — selected three prize winners, an American Institute of Architecture Students winner, and 10 honorable mentions.

1ST PRIZE: “Last Day” by Mykhailo Ponomarenko | Ukraine

Synopsis: “The entry utilizes classical painti...

Recounting stories from the Fairy Tales Architecture Competition — 2017 winners to be revealed February 6!

2017-02-03T14:54:00-05:00

Storytelling has the magical ability to influence our perception of the world we live in, and such observations couldn't be more valuable in the field of architecture. The Fairy Tales Architecture Competition captured the imaginations of architects everywhere when Blank Space first launched the 2014 edition. Every year, architects, designers, artists and the like are invited to write and illustrate their very own architectural narrative.

The competition brings up both evergreen topics and timely issues that constantly press on the minds of architects, but the submissions themselves vastly differ from year to year. What kinds of stories will the 2017 edition tell?

The big winners announcement will happen at Washington D.C.'s National Building Museum on February 6 — so be on the lookout for the winning entries right here on Archinect and Bustler on Monday night!

In the meantime, here's a flashback to the winning entries in the previous Fairy Tales competitions.

2016

↓ 1st Prize: "Welcome t...

Olson Kundig will design the Noah's Ark-themed Children's Museum for the Jewish Museum Berlin

2016-08-03T20:25:00-04:00

Noah's Ark will be brought to life once again in the upcoming Children's Museum on the Jewish Museum Berlin campus. The Jewish Museum Berlin Foundation launched an invite-only international competition this past January wherein participants added their own spin in incorporating the biblical story in their proposals. Late last month, Seattle-based Olson Kundig Architects won the commission. Berlin-based Staab Architekten won second place, while Michael Wallraff ZT GmbH of Vienna received third.

Authored by Olson Kundig owner and principal Alan Maskin, their team's approach to the concept ultimately won the jury's favor with its playful depiction of the essential themes of the Children's Museum. Visitors both young and old will get to experience the museum as if they were Noah, exploring the space through interactive and imaginative installations that tailor to kids ages 5-12 years old.

“The design by Olson Kundig has the potential to unpack the biblical story in all its relevance, ...

Fairy Tales 2016 winners highlight real architectural issues through fictional storytelling

2016-03-23T13:48:00-04:00

Fantastical fiction and harsh reality aren't so far apart in the winning narratives of the 2016 Fairy Tales Architecture Competition. Living in a time when the inevitable future is constantly on everyone's mind, this year's stories beautifully visualize and perhaps forewarn of what possibly awaits. Created by Blank Space, the international contest invites architects, artists, writers and the creatively inclined to pen their own architectural fairy tale narrative.

Since Blank Space revealed their first set of winners in 2014, the competition's rapid growth can be worthy of its own story. The 2016 edition reeled in more than 1,500 entries from 67 countries — the largest pool of submissions in the competition's history by far. Plus, the level of creativity was as strong as ever, with poignant tales based on recent real-world incidents to thought-provoking critiques on architecture's current state — and future, of course.

Blank Space's "Fairy Tales: Volume 3"

This year's jury also included...

Two days left to kickstart the full-length comic zine of Fairy Tales 2nd-prize winner "Beautifully Banal"

2015-07-13T19:07:00-04:00

After winning second place in Blank Space's 2015 Fairy Tales Architecture Competition, University of Illinois at Chicago graduate students Alexander Culler and Danny Travis took things one step further to publish their submission, "Beautifully Banal", into a full-length architectural comic zine. The duo initiated a Kickstarter campaign earlier this month that received speedy support, reaching their $1,000 goal in just two days. Now with 52 hours to go, the campaign has garnered $3,578.

Culler and Travis set up the campaign in an effort to bring a light-hearted story that readers both within and outside of the architectural community can appreciate. Derived from the universal notion of finding one's place in the world, the three-part narrative follows Phineas the fly's journey through three major architectural programs: Residential, Commercial, and Industrial.

Readers encounter various architectural drawing conventions at different scales like plans, sections, axonometrics, elevations,...

Challenging the space-age Manifest Destiny narrative, as Elon Musk vies to move humans to Mars

2015-05-08T12:26:00-04:00

It’s a myth almost universally believed, that sits at the core of liberal technocratic thought, and has been embedded in practically every other work of speculative fiction for the last half century. You can sum it up like this: 'When we go into space, we will all magically become nice.'...It’s early days, but if we really want to create a progressive new world then issues like these should be at the hearts of our efforts from the very start.

The longtime space-age Manifest Destiny of humans inhabiting Mars and the prominently white, European male perspective that narrative perpetually emphasizes has become a bubbling multi-faceted discussion among science bloggers as Elon Musk's staunch ambitions to ultimately turn humans into a "multiplanet species" continue to develop. Stemming from that discussion, writer Martin Robbins of The Guardian contemplates whether or not humanity's eventual future on Mars can exist without the earthly issues of sexism and racism.

"Towards Biology" tells the metaphysical tale of Ricardo Bofill's La Fábrica

2014-11-14T15:51:00-05:00

Ricardo Bofill Taller de Arquitectura collaborated with Onionlab from Barcelona to create a video-audio installation titled "Towards Biology" as part of the "Time Space Existence" exhibition at the soon-to-conclude Venice Biennale 2014 in Italy.

The exhibition explores going beyond the physical existence of La Fábrica -- the repurposed cement factory in Barcelona that has served as the Taller de Arquitectura's creative headquarters and Ricardo Bofill's private residence since the mid-1970s -- and reimagines it in different contexts, specifically in Venice.

In "Towards Biology", the rotunda-shaped screen draws in viewers to listen and watch a poetic narrative about La Fábrica, which symbolizes the fundamentals of Taller de Arquitectura and the firm's approaches to architecture.

Scroll further down to watch the installation in English or Italian.

Project credits:

Produced by Ricardo Bofill Taller de Arquitectura and Onionlab
Technical direction: Onionlab
Technical Engineering: Lloc Audiovisu...

WSJ's beautifully crafted story of the Kowloon Walled City

2014-04-28T19:31:00-04:00

Hong Kong's Kowloon Walled City was the densest place on the planet before it was torn down 20 years ago. In this Wall Street Journal interactive, you can take a trip through the city, explore its history and hear from the people who lived there.

The WSJ has developed an impressive rich-media piece on the Kowloon Walled City using photography, video, audio, text and interactive features to tell the stories of the history, environment and inhabitants.

Le Poème de WAI

2012-01-15T12:38:00-05:00

In order to celebrate its third anniversary, WAI Architecture Think Tank has released “Le Poème de WAI”, a peepshow of the visual combustible that fuels WAI’s intellectual project.

A trait d'union between brainwash and brainstorm, Le Poème de WAI shows an abstract of the forces that shape the texts, narratives and experiments of WAI Architecture Think Tank.

Music:
Miles Davis, “Ascenseur Pour L'Echafaud” (c.1958)
Jan Garbarek, Eberhard Weber, “Chorus” (1984)