Foreword

Leap, a village in County Cork, is located near the southern tip of Ireland. The town’s full name of “O’Donovans Leap” is adopted from the story of an Irish chieftain who, pursued by British soldiers, escaped by jumping on horseback across a deep ravine located here. The village is home to a collection of bars and the beloved music venue Connolly’s of Leap. The venue’s building is historic to the region, having functioned as a pub since 1810, and it has championed providing live music through three family generations - the current owners and operators of the Connolly’s of Leap, were both born and raised in the building. The venue was closed to the public from 2006 until 2015, when it was reopened with a renewed enthusiasm to support musicians.

This competition tasked participants with envisioning a concept for a renovation and programmatic extension of the Connolly’s of Leap venue. The site, located on a steep hill next to the storied ravine and a waterfall, contains the existing music venue building and family quarters, as well as a collection of outbuildings today used for storage. Participants were challenged to re-think the site and its ability to offer a unique setting for musical performance in two ways: first the refurbishment of the existing venue with the possibility of altering it with design interventions; and second, an expansion within the site to include the following recommended programs: an external performance zone with a bar, a cafe or restaurant, external seating area, a recording lab, management offices, a creative workshop and studio spaces, exhibition spaces, a waterfall viewing deck, parking, guest quarters for visiting artists, and a sound engineering booth for stage. This list of programs was left open to interpretation and modification by each participant.

Several factors were considered by the jury while reviewing the submissions. Those which were considerate of the landscape, as well as the integrity and spirit of the existing venue, were reviewed favorably. The jury also gave importance to design which acknowledged the ravine, waterfall, and neighborhood context. The winning proposals offer flexible building plans, and programs which test new ideas for viewing and performing. Bee Breeders would like to thank all participants for their submissions, and looks forward to further development of Connolly’s of Leap’s site and venue.

COMPETITION ORGANISERS
Irish 
Cult Music 
Venue
Official partner
Irish 
Cult Music 
Venue

1st Prize Winner

Project name

The Leap

We participated in this competition because it gave us a chance to exercise our muscles on a different project type and in a different context. Cultural venues are a building typology that interests us deeply because of the clear connection between people, place, events history and identity. It’s a tremendously exciting thing to be a part of and the competition gave us just that opportunity.

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Country United Kingdom

2nd Prize Winner

Project name

Connolly's of Leap: Shaping the Sound

In our project work, we always strive to surprise with new, unexpected ideas while meeting the functional needs of the project. Participating in architecture design competitions affords the opportunity to keep our creative minds fresh by temporarily removing some of the constraints of day-to-day work and reminding us to keep our imaginations fresh. We also love the team-building aspect of architecture design competitions – bringing together a small group within the office, different for each competition, builds connections between team members and fosters a team spirit and enthusiasm that spills over into other projects.

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Authors Kga Architecture,
Country United States

3rd Prize Winner

Project name

Rooted|Rootless

Most of the time we are working with so many demands; it can be a wonderfully collaborative experience, but it can pull us away from our original intentions as architects. Competitions are an opportunity to step away from external demands and rediscover what is important to us. Ideally this resonates with others, and we see how others responded to the exact same parameters.

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Country United States

BB STUDENT AWARD +
BB GREEN AWARD

Project name

Bring the Artist and the Audience will follow

It’s a challenge and only by challenging yourself can you find something special and broaden your own mind. For this particular competition, it was also the theme that got me interested in it, because I’m deeply in love with music and finding place like Connolly’s of Leap just blew my mind, so I simply couldn't resist. Also, with this project I was defending my Bachelor’s degree and after four years in university I wanted to end it with a project that I’m passionate about and I think that this was the best path I could take to do that.

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Authors Ineta Leonavičiūtė,
Country Lithuania
+124 points Buildner University Rankings

Honorable Mentions

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Project name

Low-Def

Authors Andi Reeder, Kirk Malanchuk,
Country United States
Project name

Rhetoric of a piece of music

Authors Gonzalo Ignacio Garrido Courbis, ,
Country Chile
Project name

Irish Cult Music Venue

Authors Robert Leslie Hillman,
Country Australia
Project name

From Venue to Center

Authors Aleksandra Marjanović, Ciarán Duffy, Dragana Ćiprijanović
Country Germany
Project name

Connolly's Yard

Country United States
Project name

Path

University UPC-etsav
Authors Guillem Roca Canals,
Country Spain
+72 points Buildner University Rankings

Shortlisted projects

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Irish Cult Music Venue

Dragan Acimovic

Philip Plowright

Lawrence Tech University

+22 points Buildner University Rankings!
Canada

Sheds Of Leap

Tania Helen

Sara Love

Brian Maguire

Nicola Woods

Ireland

Mitsuki Shibairi

Japan

Irish Cult Music Venue

Robert Leslie Hillman

Australia

Music is life

Yu-hsuan Liu

Min-han Kao

Tzu-yu Lin

Taiwan

THE VILLAGE

Bishwajit Banerjee

United Arab Emirates

Beyond the Leap, Beyond the Law. History repeats itself.

Rodrigo Lima

Studio Flex

Netherlands

Bring the Artist and the Audience will follow

Ineta Leonavičiūtė

Lithuania

Rhetoric of a piece of music

Gonzalo Ignacio Garrido Courbis

Chile

Connolly's of Leap: Shaping the Sound

Kga Architecture

KGA Architecture

United States

Low-Def

Andi Reeder

Kirk Malanchuk

United States

Irish Cult Music Venue

Derrick Mielanczak

United States

Path

Guillem Roca Canals

Spain

MUSICAL EMOJIS

Wanling Zhang

China

The Leap

Ian O'Brien

Enrique Garcia Blázquez

Oliver James

United Kingdom

From Venue to Center

Aleksandra Marjanović

Ciarán Duffy

Dragana Ćiprijanović

Germany

Beyond

Henri Lautamäki

Tampere University of Technology

+22 points Buildner University Rankings!
Finland

Connolly's Yard

Marty Sandberg

Cristina Gallo McCausland

United States

Rooted|Rootless

Lisa Mullikin

Kevin Stevens

United States