Alternate Realities 2020 Winners, Architectural 2020 Competition News, Architecture Contest

Alternate Realities 2020 Winners News

18 Feb 2021

Alternate Realities 2020

theCharette’s ALTERNATE REALITIES – Winners Unveiled

Alternate Realities 2020, an international architecture design competition, organized by theCharette, unveiled the winners of this year’s edition. The aim of this competition was to explore wild design ideas – what architecture truly means and what it can achieve without any constraints. The contest is an annual competition and will be released again in 2021.

The participants were encouraged to let their imagination run wild and create spectacular designs that grab the world’s attention. The intention was to spark a conversation regarding issues plaguing the world through design dialogue.

Participants were required to design an architectural response to an issue that the world is facing – climate change, pandemics, biological warfare, nuclear proliferation, social inequality, etc. The design didn’t necessarily have to be a solution. It could also be a visual commentary. The architectural response could fall anywhere on the Utopia – Dystopia spectrum. Reality could be anything the participants wanted it to be in this realm.

The full results, including the winners, the honourable mentions, and the top 30 shortlisted entries can be viewed here – https://thecharette.org/alternate-realities-2020-results/

JURY
This year’s jury included eminent designers and architects from around the world:

• ADRIAN WELCH (Architect & Founder – e-architect)
• MARK FOSTER GAGE (Principal & Founder – MFGA, Associate Professor – Yale School of Architecture)
• MICHAEL HANSMEYER (Computational Architect)
• MOND QU (Founder & Director – United Make)
• KEVIN VEENHUIZEN (Principal & Founder – Kevin Veenhuizen Architects)

Read on to discover the results of the 2020 edition of the competition and the top three winners.

PRIZES
Total Prize Fund: USD$2000
First Prize: USD$1000
Second Prize: USD$600
Third Prize: USD$400

1st Prize Winner
Icarus
Gary Polk and Jungjae Suh – USA

Image Copyright: Gary Polk and Jungjae Suh
Caption by Participant:
Icarus
The world of Icarus posits one simple idea: what if humans had wings? What if we had evolved with wings as just another anatomical appendage, as fundamental and ordinary as an arm or leg? This premise opens up contingencies that affect every part of the para-human history – from the way we survive, to the way we transport, the way we clothe, interact, and so on. More importantly, how do we cultivate our built environment?
These images explore this premise through a series of vectors – an alternate, linear time; an ascension of scale and displacement from the earth into the sky; and spatial evolution.
The objective of Icarus is to contemplate the importance of design origins – that roads built for cars and horses, that we have windows because we enjoy sunlight, and that cities are the way they are due to the intrinsic specifics of the human and the environment they inhabit.

Jury Comments
“These designs are complex and innovative. The proposal takes the concept of airships and balloons and adds a delightful mannerism to their forms.“
“If angelology is the study of angels, then this is angel-tecture– a fantastic counterfactual proposal that simply imagines how architecture might be different if humans had wings.”
“Change one human characteristic, and you get a true alternate reality. The timeline of evolution is well thought of.”

2nd Prize Winner
The Coffin Maker
Anoovab Deka • Inez Low – United Kingdom

Image Copyright: Anoovab Deka and Inez Low
Caption by Participant:
The Coffin Maker
“And yet, who could throw away the casting of a loved one?
Who would not want to study it longingly, as the distant freight train blows its mournful tone?”
A lowly Coffin Maker stands on Bitter Street, looking upon the vastness of the Red Station. Earth no longer exists. What lay in between are meteor debris and rocks that float on cyclically. All plans fell apart when the Space Chorus XXX5735 malfunctioned and exploded on its course to Mars. Highly capable and skilled, the Coffin Maker collected as many remnants as she could and started to build upon the abandoned structure, and eventually, forming a network that connects to nearby planets and space stations. She worked first on entombing all who perished in the explosion, making each a Death Mask – eyes closed, with the faintest and sweetest of smiles. She felt that she is capturing a sublime moment between life and death, a snapshot of the soul, if you must. Highly speculative design objects, the Coffin Maker romanticized them in all their majesty.
And now, an ending.
Where there was once one, there are now two. For when life departs, the Coffin Maker pans a mirror to reflect what was gone.
A chance to see two?
When there are chances for reflecting a presence, there can always be two – or more.
You’ll never know, really.

Jury Comments
“Beautifully presented, with a richness to the layering of designs and colors. The proposal and presentation is exquisitely poetic.“
“A gorgeous and haunting vision of a future that is entirely original.”

3rd Prize Winner
Protective Skins
Jon Andrew Sealey – Qatar

Image Copyright: Jon Andrew Sealey
Caption by Participants:
Protective Skins
The proposal focuses on material performance and expression. It hypothesises on the supernatural and the amplification of human abilities.
A series of protective skins which respond to the environment have been developed from organic compounds. By harnessing the attributes found in nature such as breathing underwater and camouflage, which have since been unattainable to humans, the skins allow buildings and humans to amplify and exaggerate their capabilities and respond to the environment. Invisibility and flying are now possibilities and are no longer human limitations.
The design is informed by technological advancements to generate displacements that replicate the visual properties of organic compounds both as a wearable and as a cladding material. The vision is that the alternative reality becomes adaptive and responsive.

Jury Comments
“Part architecture part fashion– or perhaps there’s less of a difference than we thought? This proposal deftly imagines a future where we need more and more forms of protection from an increasingly dangerous ecology and environment. Creepy, haunting, gorgeous. I would totally wear one of these.“
“Research on a very human scale, great way of thinking.”

HONORABLE MENTIONS
• Allen Bell • Ryosuke Imaeda(USA)
• Vlad Dumitru(United Kingdom)
• Lenka Petrakova (United Kingdom)
• Krina Christopoulou(United Kingdom)
• Zhe Zhang • Zihan Huang • Zeheng Wu (China)
• Liang Yu (USA)
• Raihan Reza • Khondaker Rahman (USA)
• Narthana(India)
• Younwoo Kim • Junren Jian • Xuanxuan Liu (China)
• Nadia Maarouf • Mira Burghed • Arkoun Merchant (Canada)

CONTACT
Please contact hello@theCharette.org with any questions or comments.

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Alternate Realities 2020 Winners images / information received 180221