Introduction
Buildner is pleased to announce the results of its fourth annual Last Nuclear Bomb Memorial competition.
This competition is held each year to support the universal ban on nuclear weapons. In 2017, on the 75th anniversary of the bombings of Nagasaki and Hiroshima, which claimed the lives of over 100,000 people, the United Nations adopted the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. In recognition of this significant treaty, Buildner invites conceptual designs for a memorial to be located on any known decommissioned nuclear weapon testing site. As a ‘silent’ competition, submissions are not allowed to include any text, titles, or annotations.
Buildner collaborated with a distinguished international jury panel, featuring Flora Lee, Associate Partner of MAD Architects' Los Angeles office; Olha Kleytman from SBM Studio in Kharkiv, Ukraine; Paul Monaghan of Allford Hall Monaghan Morris | AHMM in London; UK artist Peter Newman; Vincent Panhuysen, co-founder of KAAN Architecten in the Netherlands; British architect James Whitaker; and Wu Ziye, head of Mix Architecture in China.
Buildner and the jury congratulate the winning and shortlisted teams and extend their gratitude to all participants for their time and dedication to this exceptional competition.
We sincerely thank our jury panel
for their time and expertise
Flora Lee
Associate Partner, MAD Architects
USA
Olha Kleytman
Founder of SBM studio
Ukraine
Paul Monaghan
Executive director and Head of Design Studio AHMM
United Kingdom
Peter Newman
artist
UK
Wu Ziye
co-founder of Mix Architecture
China
Vincent Panhuysen
KAAN Architecten
Netherlands
James Whitaker
Founder of Whitaker Studio
United Kingdom
1st Prize Winner
Hidden Forest
Architectural competitions are an open field to share ideas and rethink with an optimistic view the future in which we want to live. Every competition is like a celebration, a new opportunity to learn and to challenge your own ideas together with other architects.
Read full interviewJury feedback summary
The project showcases a crater filled with a forest, where trees are arranged in concentric circles along the stepped slopes of the crater. At its center lies a body of clear water, with the stepped terrain extending into it. The forest creates the impression of a hidden oasis, contrasting sharply with the surrounding brown, arid, almost desert-like landscape.
Buildner's commentary, recommendations and techniques review
Order your review hereThe use of vegetation is always effective in adding depth, warmth, visual balance, and complexity to a presentation. This is particularly true here, where the relatively simple concept of filling a cavity with rings of trees conveys a strong message. The contrast between the large aerial image in the top left and the smaller, human-eye perspectives in the bottom right works well. These are further complemented by a range of drawings that clearly communicate the project's scale and geometric design. However, the project would benefit from the inclusion of an enlarged section that highlights the scale of both the human and the trees in relation to the sloping earth. Currently, the project is viewed from a distance, and incorporating this detail would help the viewer understand it on a more intimate level.
2nd Prize Winner +
Buildner Student Award
Buildner Student Award
The Lightness
Jury feedback summary
Buildner's commentary, recommendations and techniques review
Order your review hereThe project focuses on the contrast between lightness and darkness, and it achieves this effectively through the use of a warm, yellow-orange light that resonates on both a human and geological scale. The visuals present a balanced mix of distant aerial perspectives and close-up details of the design's light fixture 'unit.' However, including a human figure for scale would make the size of the fixture clearer. The light line drawings, set against a white background, offer a pleasing contrast to the renderings. That said, they would benefit from being positioned higher on the sheet to prevent a sense of visual imbalance, as they currently feel somewhat overwhelmed by the heavier black images above.
3rd Prize Winner
The Scrutiny
Competitions provide a unique opportunity for us to engage in design beyond our regular work, keeping our curiosity and creativity alive as we explore projects outside our usual scope. They also serve as an outlet for us to share our design perspectives and ambitions with the industry. Additionally, by engaging with a broader audience, competitions allow us to address important societal questions through the architectural lens.
Read full interviewJury feedback summary
This project envisions a monument situated on the National Mall in Washington, DC. Similar to the iconic Vietnam Memorial, it cuts into the landscape, creating a wound-like structure that serves as an internal viewing gallery. Its sloped design acts as a surface where the elongated shadows of visitors are cast, eerily projecting human forms onto the vast landform.
Buildner's commentary, recommendations and techniques review
Order your review hereThe single-sheet presentation effectively communicates the project's scale, materiality, and the impact of lighting. The combination of line drawings and well-rendered images from various perspectives offers a balanced mix of visuals that are both engaging and informative. The project excellently uses a primary bold render which is powerful and memorable. The submission would benefit from an enlarged detail or sectional drawing within the landscape to more impactfully communicate the project as a serious architectural proposition.
The submission presents a light installation featuring what appears to be thousands of spherical fixtures embedded in the sloping soil of a bomb crater. The result is a space that glows from within at night, evoking the imagery of a volcano.