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
August 1, 2012: [UN]RESTRICTED Winners
Winners have been announced for the Open Architecture Challenge: [UN]RESTRICTED ACCESS hosted by Architecture for Humanity. The Founders' Award goes to Paicho Huts, a Ugandan proposal to transform a former IDP camp to benefit rural countrymen. The Winner of the challenge, OCO - Ocean & Coastline Observatory, is a Portuguese proposal to reassign the Trafaria defense batteries outside Lisbon.
Challenge Winner - Ocean & Coastline Observatory, near Lisbon, Portugal
Founders' Award - Paicho Huts, near Gulu, Uganda
Finalists arranged by jury-determined categories:
Environmental Impact
First Place: Humboldthain Food Cooperative, Berlin, Germany
Second Place: Ecological Processing Zone (EPZ), Oakland, United States
Third Place: REGENERATE FT. CARROLL: a gateway ecological park, Baltimore, United States
Political Response
First Place: ALTER YOUR NATIVE BELFAST//ALTERNATIVE BELFAST, Belfast, United Kingdom
Second Place: Kikotemal' Rik K'aslem Memorial, Guatemala City, Guatemala
Third Place: Healing a Nation: Healing the Wounded, Tripoli, Libya
Economic Development
First Place: Magazine Hill: a weathered continuum, Pretoria, South Africa
Second Place: [ARCH]itecture for Comm[UNITY], Anniston, Alabama, United States
Third Place: The Store - Pillbox Conversion, Napier, New Zealand
Small-scale Intervention
First Place: PLUG-In HEBRON - People Liberated Urban Gaps In Hebron, Old City Hebron, Israeli Occupied Palestinian West Bank
Second Place: B-Tower (TM), various sites, Netherlands
Third Place: Paicho Huts, outside Gulu, Uganda (recipient: Founders' Award)
510 teams registered for the challenge
74 countries responsed to the Challenge
174 entries qualified for Round 1 jury
24 semifinalists qualified for Round 2 jury
13 finalists received awards and a feature at the 2012 Venice Biennale
10 countries on 6 continents contain award-winning design proposals
These proposals highlight the results of a Challenge that had engaged 510 teams from 71 countries in re-imagining former military spaces. The nature of the resulting standings reflect the extreme difficulty with which the interdisciplinary jury of 33 professionals evaluated the entries.
From five judging criteria - community impact, contextual appropriateness, ecological footprint, economic viability, and design quality – four further projects showing incredible strength were named equal First Place winners, behind the First Place and Founder’s Award, and seven additional teams identified as Runners-Up. Back-to-back rounds of judging narrowed nearly 200 qualifying proposals to 24 semifinalists, and then the winners.
“The turnout and production for this Challenge were incredible,” remarks T. Luke Young, who coordinated the competition at Architecture for Humanity. “This is the most geographically diverse response we’ve had to an Open Architecture Challenge, a fact made more interesting considering the complexity of the project.” Young recognized the effort made by the jury to provide each entrant with a thorough evaluation.
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Winner |  |
Founders' Award |  |
Top Finalists |  |
Finalists | 
| Semifinalists |
July 18: Finalists update
On Monday the jury results had been compiled, and we were very impressed and surprised to see so many strong projects. As a result, we have had to restructure the awards to add $1500 in winnings to four equally-deserving runner-up teams. The winners have been identified, and the Challenge coordinators have decided to reach out to each team individually before announcing worldwide the final results. This will take a few days, so bear with us!
The prize distribution for Finalists are below.
The Biennale swiftly approaching we will be reaching out to teams to be sure we have HiRes board files (300dpi, A-1) ready for presentation. There will be room enough to exhibit the six winners in "full board format" - the eight other finalists will be asked to submit a series of their favorite renderings for an "immersive interactive format" (coordinated by the exhibition team) at the festival.
July 3: Semi-finalists announcement !
The wisdom and the experience of the jury members have spoken. After a hard week of voting, during which they had to make tough decisions between the 200 uploaded entries, they finally came up with the names of the semi-finalists. Here under are the names of those 23 semi-finalists that are still in the competition for the 5 winning places ! We congratulate all of the participants for the quality of your project and thank them again for their participation! The second round of the jury process will begin on the 3rd of July and will last for two weeks.
- 12262 - The Store - Pillbox Conversion - New Zealand
- 12282 - underground refuge - Iran
- 12316 - Amphibia - Chile
- 12457 - Human Nature - United States
- 12490 - [OCO - Ocean & Coastline Observatory] - Portugal
- 12684 - Kikotemal' Rik K'aslem Memorial - Guatemala
- 12773 - Healing a Nation: Healing the Wounded - United States/Libya
- 12874 - Decolonizing Architecture: Vieques as Symbol for a Post-Colonized Puerto Rico - Puerto Rico
- 12954 - (Un)Earthing Tustin - United States
- 12958 - [ARCH]itecture for Comm[UNITY] - United States
- 13022 - B-tower (TM) - Netherlands
- 13044 - ALTER YOUR NATIVE BELFAST // ALTERNATIVE BELFAST - Ireland
- 13063 - Magazine Hill: a weathered continuum - South Africa
- 13296 - Paicho Huts - Uganda
- 13412 - PLUG-In HEBRON - People Liberated Urban Gaps In Hebron - United Kingdom
- 13425 - Marine Research Facilities - France
- 13561 - The Poetry of Wind Power - Indonesia
- 13693 - Micro-Revolutions - Brazil
- 13765 - Ecological Processing Zone (EPZ) - United States
- 13792 - [un]restricted access Entry: MAKEALLNOTWAR - Poland
- 13775 - Reciprocal Gaze - Turkey
- 13779 - FLAKTURM ARCHIVES - United States
- 13789 - Humboldthain Food Cooperative - Germany
- 13812 - REGENERATE FORT CARROLL: A Gateway Ecological Park - United States
June 1: Submission Period Closed
Greetings Challengers!
We're amazed by the output from teams during the submittal session. Now that the session is closed, as of 23:59:59 PDT June 1, we will begin evaluating the entries. Well, actually, we'll be taking the weekend off, and will evaluate submissions starting Monday. As per tradition, the Open Architecture Challenge has a "grace period" whereby teams are given the chance to correct minor errors/ omissions on their project pages. Team reps will be notified directly by e-mail as to their status of completion, over the course of the next week, and there will be a period where teams can make adjustments. Thanks for your patience and we applaud your efforts!
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, Uganda, 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 | Registration Ends |
| June 01, 2012 | Submission Deadline |
| July 09, 2012 | Semi-Finalists Announced |
| August 01, 2012 | Winners + 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 was judged by an international, inter-disciplinary panel of experts in various fields within the network of stakeholders in base closure, site demilitarization and realignment:
- Philippa Abbott - Codesign Studio/A+D Projects
- Patricia Arquette - Ecosanitation NGO head (and actress)
- Ishmael Beah - Author, A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier
- Ute Bauer - Director of iFAG, the Interdisciplinary Research Association for Architecture and History in Vienna, Austria. Specialized in built relicts from Second World War in Austria and published several research papers about the Flak Towers
- Pedro Buraglia - Urban Designer, former president of Urban Planning Department, Universidad Nacional de Colombia
- Jon Calame - Founding partner of Minerva Partners
- C Greig Crysler - Associate Dean for Undergraduate Studies; Associate Professor of Architecture at University of California Berkeley
- Kevin Conger - Founding Partner, President and CEO of Conger Moss Guillard Landscape Architecture
- Peter J Croll - Director, Bonn International Center for Conversion
- John Feffer - foreign policy author, blogger & professor
- David Fletcher - Urban Designer and Landscape Architect, professor at CCA, founding principal of Fletcher Studio, and writer
- Dr. Bronwyn Hanna - Heritage Officer, Office of Environment and Heritage, New South Wales (Australia) Department of Premier & Cabinet
- Aaron Harcek Senior Designer - Perkins + Will Architects
- Paul Jenkins - Professor at the Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh
- Ralph Johnson - Design Principal at Perkins + Will Architects
- Bruce D Judd, FAIA - Principal, Bruce Judd Consulting Group
- David Listokin - Professor at the Center for Urban Policy Research of Rutgers University
- Sherwood McGinnis - Professor of International Relations, US Army War College
- Habi Girgis - Egypt-based Graphic Designer
- Tom Kundig - FAIA is a principal/owner of the Seattle-based firm Olson Kundig Architects
- Zsofia Marton - MSc in Civil Engineering specialized in community design and sustainable architecture, and certified in the Social Economic Environmental Design® process
- Andres Meira - Architect, working with the Clinton Foundation, Deutsche Bank Foundation and others to deliver award-winning educational projects in the UK, Africa and Haiti
- Carlos David Montoya - Urban Project Architect
- Elizabeth Ogbu - Global Fellow at IDEO.org, and Lecturer at California College for the Arts
- Renzo Piano Building Workshop
- Alex Schafran - Doctoral candidate in City and Regional Planning at UC Berkeley and visiting researcher at the Institute Français de Géopolitique, Paris 8.
- Bahram Shirdel - Iranian Architect / former AA design head
- Cameron Sinclair - Cofounder, Architecture for Humanity
- Nick Sowers - Designer & Founder: Soundscrapers
- Kay Strasser - Franco-Austrian architectural designer holding Master degrees from Ecole Centrale Paris and Politecnico di Milano, collaborating with Architecture for Humanity on social projects across Europe and researching on mid-term transitional responses after natural disasters
- Mohammad Tauheed - Architect
- Michael Tomlan - Historic preservation educator at Cornell University
- Seth Wachtell - Assistant Professor at University of San Francisco
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:
- Grand Prize (1): Revit AutoCAD 2012 Suite; Autodesk SketchBook Pro; A signed copy of Design Like You Give a Damn [2]; CASH: US$2500
- Runners Up (4): Revit AutoCAD 2012 Suite; A signed copy of Design Like You Give a Damn [2]; CASH: US$1000
- Honorable Mentions (8): Revit AutoCAD 2012 Suite; A signed copy of Design Like You Give a Damn [2]
- Founders' Award (1, among the above): Classified
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.
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
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.
How did you get to be this good? Its amazing to see someone put so much passion into a subject. I'm glad I came across this. I'm glad I took the time to read on past the first paragraph. You have got so much to say so much to offer. I hope people realise this and look into your page.water damage
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?
Thank you for this great advice. This was all most helpful. My friend will be thrilled to hear that she was right and my pesto will be all the better for it.Water damage Livingston TX
I just want to ask why is so important to make list of proposed construction materials in our project. Is it because ecology or economy? However, list of materials, and other technical details in project are described as always are, in brief text about project. I am just confused, why you put only that technical detail in your guidelines and requirements for presentation of project (not thinking of main board).
Thanks
Lighting transforms the look of anything, and this is a great guide for beginning DIY'ers. There are two main components of this project. One is the selection of the lights. As mentioned above, it is important that they look good during the day and at night. Landscape Lighting Chicago IL
Hi! we would like to thank people and faculties that gave us plans and pictures and researches on the military site chosen. Can we name them on our document or should there be no names what so ever? and if no names, at least faculties?
Thank you
MD
when you say that the deadline is the 1st of June 2012, what do you exactely mean? We can update files untill the 23:59 of 31 of May and which Timezone (UTC)?
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Hi dear colleagues,
Is it possible to have a full list of the submitted projects?
or there is a way to find the projects before the semi finalists announcement?
thanks.
Be afraid to be different. One winning tale began with getting lost in Lima and ended with a hummingbird that knew exactly where it was going. It worked because of the contrast between the two. Water damage Northfield IL
Just curious- how many entries did you receive for the competition?
Can a Plan File in itself be a site plan or building plan concept/development page?
and/or
Can we use the space on a plan or elevation file to include additional sketches, drawings or callouts to further clarify the idea and design process?