Introduction
Buildner is excited to announce the results for the fourth edition of its Museum of Emotions Competition!
The event once again tasked participants with exploring the extent to which architecture can be used as a tool to evoke emotion. The brief called for the design of a museum comprising two exhibition halls: one designed to induce negative emotions; the other designed to induce positive emotions. Participants were free to choose any site, real or imaginary, as well as choose the scale of the project. The definition of ‘positive’ and ‘negative’ emotions was also up for interpretation: whether fear, anger, anxiety, love, happiness, how might a designer define or conceive a corresponding space?
The Museum of Emotions is one of Buildner's silent competitions, in which participants must communicate ideas using imagery void of text in any form: titles, captions, words rendered within visuals, even annotations related to scale or cardinal directions.
Buildner worked with a strong international jury panel to evaluate the received entries: Julien de Smedt is Founder of Brussels-based JDS Architects; Stephanie Deumer is a Canadian Visual Artist currently living and working in Los Angeles; Sonia Gagné is Partner at Montréal-based practice Provencher_Roy; Daniela Holt Voith is Founding Principal and Director of Design at Voith & Mactavish Architects; Lydia Kallipoliti is an architect, engineer, scholar and an Assistant Professor at the Cooper Union in New York and Principal of ANAcycle thinktank; James Krueger is Design Principal at HMC Architects’ in San Diego, California; Nuno Pimenta runs a transdisciplinary practice in Porto, with a portfolio that spans temporary architecture, installation, public art, exhibition design and performance; Italy-based architect Angelo Renna; and Lukas Rungger, Co-founder of NOA - architecture and interior design studio.
Buildner and its jury panel thank each participant for submitting to this event, which received outstanding entries from around the globe!
We sincerely thank our jury panel
for their time and expertise
Julien De Smedt
JDS Architects
Denmark
Stephanie Deumer
Visual Artist
USA
Sonia Gagné
Provencher_Roy
Canada
Daniela Holt Voith
principal and director of design, Voith & Mactavish Architects
USA
Lydia Kallipoliti
Tallin Architecture Biennale, ANAcycle thinktank
USA
James Krueger
Design Principal in HMC Architects
USA
Françoise N’Thépé
Françoise N'THEPE - Architecture & Design
France
Nuno Pimenta
NUNO PIMENTA
Portugal
Angelo Renna
Architect
Italy
Lukas Rungger
noa* network of architecture
Italy
1st Prize Winner +
Buildner Sustainability Award
Buildner Sustainability Award
Open Secret
Jury feedback summary
The proposal depicts a mounded garbage dumping ground within a field. A deep cut through the man-made grassy hill dramatically reveals the layers of trash that form it. The newly planted hillside appears as a sort of oasis from afar, set along a meandering hiking path. Only when one accesses the quasi-monument are the rather sickening aspects of the interior revealed. The project is sophisticated in its delivery and the tension it creates between the idyllic exterior country scene and the interior experience. The project is powerful in its potential to be both immersive and educational.
Buildner's commentary, recommendations and techniques review
Order your review hereThe project is very successful in its hierarchy, its excellent use of color, and its advanced visuals which all clearly describe the scale of the visitor in relation to the form and scale of the site to clearly describe a unique and potent spatial experience. The use of greens and blues to depict nature stand in great contrast to the varied colors of trash to create a board that is striking. As a visual story, the more one looks, the more one can discover. As an architectural proposition, however, there are many unanswered questions. Would glass really be used as the material to create a ‘window’ into the hillside? How does the structure work? What supports this window wall against lateral forces?
2nd Prize Winner +
Buildner Student Award
Buildner Student Award
How do you affect others ?
The competition provides us with an opportunity to explore and challenge various topics, pushing us beyond our comfort zones to try different types, thus fostering a continuous learning process. In competitions, we are often faced with numerous requirements and constraints, similar to those encountered in future architectural practice. However, they are also more theoretical, which stimulates our imagination and creativity. This is particularly meaningful for us as students.
Read full interviewJury feedback summary
The project appears to be set within an urban park. In section it depicts a vast, concave excavation within a grassy field, topped by two canopies: the first, a thin shell of concrete layered in grass and peppered with rectangular openings that allow the entrance of sunlight as well as views into and out from the cavernous subterranean; the second, a set of ethereal fabrics supported on thin vertical rods which filter the sunlight and create a covered park space. The project is reminiscent of a variety of well-known projects realized in particular by Japanese architects in recent years.
Buildner's commentary, recommendations and techniques review
Order your review hereThe section and perspectives are outstanding in their ability to describe two wholly different spaces marked by contrasting conditions of illumination and sets of materials. One can almost feel the difference in temperature and texture above versus below the contrived ‘ground line’. The section is very successful in its varied heavy and light black linework mixed with elements of color, and in its clever balance of horizontal and vertical elements; the complexity and clarity are to be applauded. But the architecture is to be questioned: to support grass, a reasonable thickness of soil buildup is necessary, as are realistic considerations of weight, slope and drainage. The vertical poles, too, while ambitious in their lightness and thinness, will certainly need tie backs and lateral supports.
3rd Prize Winner
Tower
Jury feedback summary
The proposal is for a form of tall Belvedere, stairway or tower constructed within a body of water and accessed via a lengthy raised walkway stretching linearly from a shoreline. The entire structure has a hairline thinness and the verticality of the stair is balanced by the horizontality of the walkway. One can imagine that such a crossing brings a visitor into a totally different, quiet and raw environment that contrasts with what one might find on the shore. The tower is depicted to extend below the water nearly as far as it extends skyward. Here, while the stairs are totally unnecessary, a deep dive is required to experience the darkness and marine life below the water line. The experience depends on how deep or high one might be willing to venture.
Buildner's commentary, recommendations and techniques review
Order your review hereThe project does well to balance sky with water, and verticality with horizontality. The line-based section is interesting in its scale, however, it lacks the sort of depth and variation that would bring it more meaning and detail. The sheet, as a result, appears rather unfinished and leaves one wanting to understand more about the proposition. The author would benefit from additional consideration of structure and material. The deck supports would need to extend to the sea floor, for one, and both this element and the tower are rather infeasible in their thinness. A visually slim and even dematerialized tower could certainly exist, but not without a serious foundation and robust seabed connection.