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Dotting the global landscape, decommissioned military installations are leaving their mark – symbols of triumph, pride, pain and the unforeseen consequences of military aggression. These abandoned structures and ghost towns disrupt neighborhoods and split entire communities.
Architecture for Humanity is hosting the 2011 Open Architecture Challenge – [un]restricted access – a design competition that will re-envision the future of decommissioned military space. This is an open invite to the global design and construction community to identify retired military installations in their own backyard, to collaborate with local stakeholders, and to reclaim these spaces for social, economic, and environmental good.
Keep updated on progress with the Challenge
On Twitter: @afh_challenge
On Facebook: [UN]RESTRICTED Facebook
Learn More
Please review the Frequently Asked Questions for clarifications.
The Mission
The 2011 Open Architecture Challenge: [UN] RESTRICTED ACCESS asks architects and designers to partner with community groups across the world and develop innovative solutions to re-envision closed, abandoned and decommissioned military sites. The six-month competition requires designers to work with the communities surrounding these former places of conflict to transform oftentimes hostile locations into civic spaces built for the public good.
Download the design brief (PDF)
Who's Representin'?
508 registrants from 71 countries have entered the competition:
Algeria, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Ethiopia, France, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Guatemala, Honduras, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iran, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kenya, Kosovo, Lithuania, Macedonia, Malaysia, Mexico, Mozambique, Netherlands, New Zealand, Pakistan, Panama, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States, Venezuela, Vietnam, Zimbabwe.
Entrants will be asked to identify a site in or near their community and develop a design concept for that site. The only rule is: It must be an abandoned, closed (or scheduled for closure) or decommissioned military site. If you cannot find a local site, you can choose a site identified by Architecture for Humanity:
Site 1: Guantanamo Bay Detention Center, Guantánamo Bay (Cuba)* Gitmo Here
Site 2: NSA "East Bank", New Orleans, LA (USA)
Site 3: Johnston Atoll, U.S. Minor Outlying Islands (USA)
Site 4: Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS), Tustin, CA (USA)
Site 5: Flak Towers, Vienna (Austria)
Site 6: Marine Corps Air Station MCAS), Futenma, Okinawa (Japan)
*Currently not decommissioned but scheduled for closure.
Schedule
| Dates | Competition Schedule* |
|---|---|
| October 18 2011 | Challenge Launch |
| May 01 2012 [Extended!!] | Registration Ends |
| June 01 2012 [Extended!] | Submission Deadline |
| July 01 2012 [Updated] | Semi-Finalists Announced |
| July 29 2012 [Updated] | Winner + Finalists Announced |
| Fall 2012 | Exhibition of Entries |
*Dates subject to change. All registered teams will be notified, and promotional documents and media channels will be updated to appropriately reflect updates.
Jury
The design competition will be judged by an international, inter-disciplinary panel of experts in various fields, such as experts in base realignment processing, real estate and building professionals, former world leaders, and members of communities that have experienced a base closure or site demilitarization, including:
- Tom Kundig - Architect
- Patricia Arquette - Ecosanitation NGO head (and actress)
- Bahram Shirdel - Iranian Architect / former AA design head
- John Feffer - foreign policy author, blogger & professor
- Ishmael Beah - Author, A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier
- Sherwood McGinnis - Professor of International Relations, US Army War College
Prizes
All finalist designs will be displayed at the Palazzo Bembo for the Venice Biennale, kicking off this August, and sent on an exhibition world tour.
Specific prizes break down as follows:
- 1st Place: Revit AutoCAD 2012 Suite and SketchBook Pro, and cash, signed DLYGAD2, $2500
- 2nd Place: Revit AutoCAD 2012 Suite, signed DLYGAD2, $1500
- 3rd Place: Revit AutoCAD 2012 Suite, signed DLYGAD2, $1000
- 4th Place: Revit AutoCAD 2012 Suite, signed DLYGAD2
- 5th Place: SketchBook Pro, signed DLYGAD2
- Founder’s Award: TBA ;)
Why This Challenge?
Every other year, Architecture for Humanity's Open Architecture Challenge brings international attention to issues in the built environment affecting the health, prosperity and well-being of underserved communities. This year’s Open Architecture Challenge will focus on helping communities reclaim abandoned, closed and decommissioned military sites.
Dotting the global landscape, decommissioned military installations leave their mark. They are symbols of triumph, pride, pain and the unforeseen consequences of military aggression. These abandoned structures and ghost towns disrupt neighborhoods and split entire communities.
While these sites are often laid to waste, Architecture for Humanity sees them as opportunities of global proportion. In the US alone we will spend billions of dollars of taxpayers’ funds to do environmental remediation on the 12 millions square feet of US military space scheduled to close this year. Can we use this opportunity to bring economic stability to areas deserted by closed bases?
This year marks a milestone: in the United States alone more than 235 military sites are scheduled for closure or realignment. The U.S. military is under orders to downsize 5% of its entire infrastructure on or before September 15, 2011 in accordance with the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) ruling. The ruling will force the relocation of more than 125,000 military personnel and their families.
Globally we see opportunity at every site. Can we re-envision the more than 750,000 abandoned bunkers that pepper the Albanian landscape? Is there a second life for the recently bombed Libyan military strongholds? Can we use environmental diplomacy to re-imagine Guantanamo Bay Detention Center? Is there a way to turn abandoned bases in Afghanistan into places of learning?
The 2011 Open Architecture Challenge will seek to provide solutions to these unanswered questions and will re-envision the future of decommissioned military space. This is an open call to action – the first of its kind. Architecture for Humanity will ask the global design and construction community to identify retired military installations in their own backyard, to collaborate with local stakeholders, and to reclaim these spaces for positive social, economic, and environmental change.
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This project is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts and Autodesk.
'Take Your Base' and Sponsorship Opportunities
We're continuing our recruitment of individuals and organizations who are ready to accept the mission of sponsoring the complex yet rewarding task of successfully transforming previously conflicted sites into civic spaces. If you are ready to enlist your financial resources in service of this greater good, please give us a call at 415.963.3511 or send us an email to challenge_at_architectureforhumanty.org
About the Open Architecture Challenge
The Challenge is hosted once every two years on Worldchanging, an open-source community developed by Architecture for Humanity. Design teams from all over the world compete to design and build the winning scheme. Support from sponsors and implementing partners funds the construction of selected designs. All of the designs are shared freely via Worldchanging and made available for future use.
Past Challenges
2009 Open Architecture Challenge: Classroom of the Future
2007 AMD Open Architecture Challenge: Digital Inclusion
About Architecture for Humanity
Architecture for Humanity is a charitable organization that seeks architectural solutions to humanitarian crises and brings design services to communities in need.
For more information, please visit: http://architectureforhumanity.org
Logo by Habi Girgis, winner of the [un]restricted access Identity RFP
[un]restricted access Identity RFP
Got a Question?
Contact us or leave a comment below!
Site Map
Precedents Page
Sample Sites Page
- Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp, Cuba
- Naval Support Activity "East Bank", New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
- Johnston Atoll, US Minor Outlying Islands, North Pacific Ocean
- Marine Corps Air Station Tustin, California, USA
- Flak Towers, Vienna, Austria
- Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, Okinawa, Japan
Identity Competition
Comments
When you refer to a 'site near you' you do mean one of the sites on the map which is closer to my location or we can propose a new site?? ..or both????
Both work. Thanks for your interest, and good luck!
You say, "The only rule is: It must be an abandoned, closed or decommissioning military site." Is it possible to choose a military site which should/will be closed in near future, such as the ones in Jerusalem or Cyprus?
Hi Publika
Yes, if there have been discussions of the sites closing, it qualifies! Ie, we're working with Guantanamo and Okinawa, whose decommissioning processes are still exist only in meeting rooms.
Just wondering before deciding to assign time and effort to this project - thanks!
Yes. The more people who enter, the greater the prizes.
At the moment it is $2500, $1500 and 2 $1000 prizes... If we double the entrants, we double the prizes.
Hello! I need to know something, I'm a architect formerly based in Venezuela, but now I'm living in U.S by the motive of studying English language. What kind of fee is applicable for my participation?
Regards.
Peter.-
If a military space has be decommissioned but ownership has been handed over to the state park system does it still qualify as long as the site has not be re-purposed or designed for new use?
Do we have to work with the buildings that are already on site? or just the site alone?
You can make a proposal to either the entire site or particular buildings on a site.
The 0 USD fee applies if ONE person of the competition team is a chapter member that has paid his dues or do ALL persons of the team have to be dues paying members of a chapter?
Hi
Good question. You may enter if anyone is a Chapter member. Although the rest of your team should join the chapter!
hello, i already register my self but im willing to do the challenge with a friend, how do we register as a couple?
Hi Adrianaccr
There is no need to re-register. Your team page has already launched, simply add them to your existing team.
I am student.
I will register your competition with my team members.
What is the maximum seating capacity of the student group?
Hello
There is no maximum number of persons per team. Best of luck!
It is nice to see that the US people alone will spend billions of dollars of taxpayers’ funds to do environmental remediation on the 12 millions square feet of US military space scheduled to close this year.
Regards,
lester (Physician Assistant)
Hi,
I just want to clarify, we are supposed to keep the current structures envelop/facade and reinvent the interior spaces? Or are we creating a whole new envelope/facade as well as the interior space?
Can we alter the exterior with for example, windows, openings, etc?
Thanks!
It's open to interpretation!
Hi,
There are no rules fixed for modification of the facade. It will depend on the site you choose, but basically you can do whatever you want. Be aware, though, that the way you preserved the historical meaning of the architecture of your site and you used it to recreate an other environment will be an important point during the jury process.
Good luck !
Hello,
Just to make it clear:
Which date (and time) is the real submission deadline - June 01 2012 or May 01 2012?
Because both dates can be found here as submission deadline, which is quite confusing...
Thank you in advance.
Sorry - we've fixed where it was confusing. Register by May 1. Entries by June 1.
Can the presentation board be in landscape format?
Thanks
Yes. Landscape is actually more conducive to online viewing.
May i represent my project on more than one presentation board?
In the whole concept of an urban site reuse can I do?
or just buildings?
You can do either.
Are projects limited to one presentation board?
If I don't have visa or mastercard, can I use someone's else card? And if I can, how should I use it? Because the owner should put his own name and other details. So how will you know, that he pays for me?
Hello,
Are there any sites in Africa or South America that one can chose?
Why there are only sites in America, Austria and Japan?
Chosing any site near us seem very ambiguos, and it seems a contradiction to the role and principle of the architectural competitions, in which each team propose an idea/project for the same place - there will be lots of "one proposal for one place" without any discussion or comparison to any others proposals.
Obsolete military spaces in develloping countries, would have much more impact and range to the local communities and it would be a real priority to improve the living conditions of people.
If there are any places in those countries we would like to know and participate. Thank you very much in advance.
Hi Pedro,
You can choose any site you want - should be in Africa or in South America. We did provide some exemples of military sites, but did not give a closed selection. We expect architects and members of the design teams to partner with local communities and to find their own bases in their backyard, to help their own local community, in a "think global - act local" philosophy. We do not want to restrict the choice as the goal of this year competition is to raise discussion around the important subject of base reusing and to influence political decision. More bases we have, bigger will be the discussion and larger will be the audience. It's the reason why the best entries will be part of a travelling exhibition and will be publicized in a book following the results.
Good luck !
I have chosen to work on the site on the east bank of new orleans. After reading about the site on the competition website I see that certain groups/developers affiliated with the city of new orleans are already planning to implement certain programs within the existing buildings on site. Is it imperative that I also adopt this programming into my plan? Can I pick and choose? Would it be frowned upon if I used any of it? Basically I am thinking that some of the proposed programming must reflect certain needs for the city/neighborhood around the site that I do not want to ignore, but don't necessarily want to be tied to it either.
Hi Catherine,
Thanks for your interest in our competition.
One of the main goals of the competition is to change opinions and influence decisions regarding base reusing. Therefore, feel free to rearrange, change or cancel the official programming that has already been adopted, as long as nothing has been built yet.
Good Luck.
Is there a minimum and maximum limit to the area of the site chosen?
Hi,
If you're speaking about size limit, no there isn't any limit.
hi I dont found where is the option to pay whit paypal, can you explain it.
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Hi,
which is the number of files that I have to submit?
In the section 'Required files' list it is not really clear if there are a maximum or minimum number of files that i have to submit
thanks,
The group of people, working on this projekt has extended unexpectedly (I decide that I need some additional consultation), can I still add them somehow to my team of people officially working on this project?
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