New architecture and design competitions addressing COVID-19, microneighborhoods, school design, and skyscrapers of the future

Bird’s-eye view of Seattle where a new ideas competition aims to reduce the region’s auto-dependency and improve walkability. Photo: Josh Fields/Pexels.

Included in this week’s curated picks of new architecture competitions listed on Bustler are four design challenges with a focus on walkable microneighborhoods in Seattle, architectural responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, a new elementary school in Senegal, and innovative skyscraper ideas.

For the complete list of newly listed competitions click here.

Towards A Region Of Short Distances
Registration Deadline: Friday, Sep 18, 2020
Submission Deadline: Friday, Sep 25, 2020

Much of the area within the central Puget Sound Urban Growth Area is auto-dependent. […] How do we incrementally reshape our region to eradicate urban automobile dependency? A “City of Short Distances”, in which most needs of daily life are a short walk or bike-ride away, is the logical path forward for our region. We seek ideas that explore seeding areas of the greater Seattle region plagued by poor walkability with incrementally developed “microneighborhoods” at walkable intervals to restructure our region.

‘What is to be asked?’ – Architecture and Urbanism Beyond COVID19, Open Call for Collaborative Research and Proposal
Register/Submit Deadline: Wednesday, Sep 30, 2020

What is the question to be asked now? In the crisis from living environment that we called earth, architecture and city are facing due to COVID19, What is To be Asked Platform_WTA Platform is set up, to reflect and gather wisdom from professionals, researchers and citizens globally. Each one of us should draw a map by gathering individual observation during COVID19, and through cooperation and alliance, we invite questions and topics that worth exploring deeply.

SENEGAL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL: “Sambou Toura Drame”
Register/Submit Deadline: Wednesday, Nov 25, 2020

Archstorming is calling for proposals to design an elementary school in Marsassoum, Senegal. The school is currently constructed of bamboo walls and zinc roofs and it is in very bad conditions. The classrooms rarely survive the rainy season and that results in the cancellation of classes and students failing their academic year. In this competition we will research innovative and low-cost construction techniques in order to replace this temporary school with built structures. One of the most important aspects of this competition is to inspire people so they can build their own houses using the same technique once the construction of the school has finished.

2021 Skyscraper Competition
Registration Deadline: Tuesday, Jan 26, 2021
Submission Deadline: Tuesday, Feb 9, 2021

eVolo Magazine is pleased to invite architects, students, engineers, designers, and artists from around the globe to take part in the 2021 Skyscraper Competition. Established in 2006, the annual Skyscraper Competition is one of the world’s most prestigious awards for high-rise architecture. It recognizes outstanding ideas that redefine skyscraper design through the implementation of novel technologies, materials, programs, aesthetics, and spatial organizations; along with studies on globalization, flexibility, adaptability, and the digital revolution. It is a forum that examines the relationship between the skyscraper and the natural world, the skyscraper and the community, and the skyscraper and the city.

If you would like to contribute competitions, award programs, or calls for submissions that aren’t listed on Bustler yet, send them directly to our team to review. We may include them in next week’s roundup.

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Post-COVID, More Office Designs Include Permanent Outdoor Workspaces

A 500,000-square-foot office complex in Atlanta by RIOS. Image Courtesy of RIOS

• Written by Lydia Lee

For years now, designers have been emphasizing natural lighting, ventilation, and connectivity to nature as ways to improve employee health and wellness. Now that the coronavirus is much more likely to be transmitted indoors—the risk is nearly 20 times greater, according to one study—a strong case could be made for moving some office work completely outside. “The benefits of light and fresh air are pretty self-evident, and the pandemic only reinforces that,” says Christopher McCartin, managing director of design and construction at real estate developer Tishman Speyer, which has been including “significant outdoor space” in all of its office developments nationwide.

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A conference room on the boards for Stanford University’s Department of Public Safety by RossDrulisCusenbery Architecture. Image Courtesy of RossDrulisCusenbery Architecture

While employers on the temperate West Coast may have an advantage when it comes to incorporating outdoor spaces, the concept has been spreading to other climes. Los Angeles–based RIOS (formerly Rios Clementi Hale Studios) hopes their design for a 500,000-square-foot, five-story office complex in Atlanta, currently in the permitting stage, will catch on as a model. All circulation corridors are open-air, and each floor has balconies that are at least 10 feet wide and can accommodate conference tables; they are also located on the north side of the building for shade, protected from rain by overhangs, and cooled by ceiling fans. Designed before the pandemic, the project is continuing to move forward rapidly. “The client can see that the benefits they signed up for—which seemed revolutionary at the time—are what the market is demanding,” says Mark Motonaga, creative director at RIOS.

Neglected terraces and balconies on existing office buildings are also being pressed into service. Valerio Dewalt Train is applying the same level of attention and design to terraces as to interiors for two buildings they’re remodeling in Silicon Valley. In one case, the firm is subdividing a large 3,000-square-foot terrace into several outdoor “rooms” for different uses. Bill Turner, principal at the firm’s Palo Alto office, notes that these spaces can sometimes be cold and windswept. In the past, the architects have implemented wind buffers in the form of tall glass panels, like those on a restaurant terrace, and hedges.

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Contra Costa County Sheriff’s new Emergency Operations Center in Martinez, California, by RossDrulisCusenbery Architecture. Image Courtesy of RossDrulisCusenbery Architecture

Elsewhere, the main conference room, which is typically one of the largest spaces in an office, is being reimagined as an indoor-outdoor space. Designed by SF Bay Area–based RossDrulisCusenbery, the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s new Emergency Operations Center in Martinez, California, has a conference room that seats a crowd of 175 on risers. But the back wall can be opened up entirely to a shaded patio via a glass garage door, to accommodate another 100 people, and provide flexible space for training sessions. “Rather than narrowly focus on customizing spaces for a specific program, we’re prioritizing them for social interactions,” says firm principal Mallory Scott Cusenbery. For another building, currently in design for Stanford University’s Department of Public Safety, the architects are extending a conference room for breakout meetings by adding lighting stanchions with built-in power outlets around an adjoining courtyard. Instead of relying on a dim laptop screen, groups will be able to give presentations on portable, high-lumen monitors.

Besides a power source and Wi-Fi, shade is critical for working outdoors. “Pavilions are great conceptually, but it’s important to fine-tune them to create workable shade,” says Motonaga.  At the Playa District office complex in L.A., his firm replaced ineffective rectangular pavilions with triangular-roofed ones that maximize shade. The shade can, as Motonaga says, “move radically off the work area,” so workers could be under the canopy but still in full sun.

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Contra Costa by RossDrulisCusenbery Architecture. Image Courtesy of RossDrulisCusenbery Architecture

Privacy is another important consideration. “People don’t like to work where others can look down on them or see their screens easily,” says Motonaga. “If you have a barrier or grade change, that can make a huge difference in people’s comfort levels,” he notes. The firm has found that people tend to gravitate towards bar-height tables versus low furnishings for work, perhaps because solo workers feel lonely sitting by themselves in lounge chairs. Lightweight furniture that can be easily reconfigured is useful, in these cases—and these days, critical for social distancing.

This article was originally published on Metropolismag.com.

We invite you to check out ArchDaily’s coverage related to Coronavirus, read our tips and articles on Productivity When Working from Home and learn about technical recommendations for Healthy Design in your future projects. Also, remember to review the latest advice and information on COVID-19 from the World Health Organization (WHO) website.