THE BENCH 2017 International Design Competition Official Program of Winnipeg Design Festival 2017
OVERVIEW THE BENCH is an idea based design competition open to all ages and backgrounds. The challenge of the competition is to design and install a temporary structure on a street to transform the street environment to a form of public space. The challenge of THE BENCH 2017 is to design a seasonalseating-space along the street edge(s) defined by the competition. The competition will unfold in two phases: selection by jury and installation for seasonal use. Multiple entries will be chosen as winning entries and will be constructed for public use during the 2017 WINNIPEG DESIGN FESTIVAL. During the festival, the organizers will schedule and facilitate THE BENCH TALKs alongside the benches and the festival grounds. The talks will invite urban designers/planners and the public to discuss street as public space and specific resonances that the installed entries bring to the topic. Designers of the winning entries invited to take part in THE BENCH TALK. The only legitmacy of the street is as public space. Without it, there is no city. -Spiro Kostof For the STREET is human movement institutionalized. An individual may clear or mark a path in a wilderness; but unless he is followed by others his path never becomes a road or a street because the road and street are social institutions and it is their acceptance by the community that gives them the name and the functions with which I am here concerned. - Joseph Rywkert All entries will be documented and exhibited for public viewing, to generate awareness and discussion about street as public space. The organizers of THE BENCH will facilitate ongoing discussions of the topic during the use of THE BENCH and will seek ways to disseminate THE BENCH (i.e. donate to public school/ park) at the end of the season.
DESIGN BRIEF How can we (re) imagine the street as a public space? How can we imagine the street beyond its function as a route? How can we enact new dynamics and life on to the street? What are the existing potentials? How can we engage and interact with the existing potentials on the street? What kinds of (new) street dynamic can we imagine today? What new kinds of public space/scene could emerge from streets today? What are the spatial elements that could trigger such transformation? space-surfaces. Ease of use and access is important consideration to facilitate instant, ongoing and changing street dynamics. General street safety including traffic related issues and legibility of its physical presence are important considerations in the design. Ancillary functions such as bike racks, planting areas, and storage can be considered as a part of the design, as long as they do not interfere or compromise the seating function and street-safety aspects of THE BENCH. FABRICATION INSTALLATION From digital fabrication to reuse/recycle, the competition is open to all mediums and methods. However, all entries are expected to position their ideas in responding to following general criteria: 1. Simplicity in construction and ease of assembly, 2. exposure to elements of the street environment, and 3. ease of cleaning and maintenance of functional and structural integrity, including general safety within the street environment. PUBLIC SPACE TEMPORARY STRUCTURE BUDGET The objective of the competition is to re-envision and re-engage the street as a public space. The competition invites ideas to transform the street as a public space through an infrastructure intervention, a seating-space. The challenge is to design a public seating that can engage and transform the dynamics on the street, triggering and sustaining temporary (short) social and cultural transactions. THE BENCH will be installed on street edges during the 2017 WINNIPEG DESIGN FESTIVAL, at predesignated areas of the festival grounds. FUNCTIONAL SPACE THE BENCH must function as a public seating with minimum of 12 seating THE BENCH, as a temporarily public infrastructure, will be installed on the street s edge [see site description] during the festival and possibly through the fall season. Once installed, THE BENCH will remain outdoors exposed to the weather conditions and public interactions for the entire duration of its season. The fabrication, installation and the material condition of THE BENCH must consider such exposures and interactions. The design must also consider the structural and functional integrity of THE BENCH for the entire duration of its installation season. THE WINNIPEG DESIGN FESTIVAL and sponsoring businesses will assume the use of the site from the city and general public liability for the duration of their use. The competition invites new ideas to realize an affordable and efficient public spacestructures, including innovative fabricationconstruction, in-kind donations, and reuse/ repurpose of materials. A total amount of CD$5,000 will be the targeted budget for each individual bench. Selected benches will be financed through 1. Winnipeg Design Festival s support 2. local business sponsorships and 3. CROWDFUNDING efforts. The crowdfunding part of the financing will also be a way to build a sense of public ownership of the benches as well as the street. This funding structure aligns with the competition s mandate: street as public space.
CONTEXT 1 Broadway, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada 2 3 1+2: Broadway & Smith Street (ends of the median) 3+4: Broadway & Garry Street (ends of the median) 5: Broadway & Fort Street (end of the median) 4 DURATION OF PUBLIC USE SIZE September 2017 + Extended period (to be determined) 4 W x 20 L x 5 H (8 H) (up to 8 in height with no major visual interruptions between 5 to 8 ) 5
SUBMITTING PAST EDITIONS DESIGN DOCUMENT - Two sheets of 11 x17 (horizontal) with graphic illustration of the proposal including important dimensions, fabrication methods, and spatial/street use scenarios - Design Document must be anonymous without any elements of identification - A unique five-digit project ID number generated by the entrant is the be positioned at the bottom right corner of both graphic sheets TEAM DOCUMENT - Single sheet of 8.5 x11 (vertical) - Team bio (100 words max.) - Affiliated schools (student entries) - Project description, including budget and fabrication scenario (300 words max.) - Project ID number generated for the Design Document ADDITIONAL SUBMISSION FOR WINNING DESIGNS team, and its response to street as public space, will be requested. This video may be used for promotion and crowdfunding purposes. REGISTRATION + SUBMISSION Registration Deadline: August 18th, 11:59 PM CST Registration Fee CD $100 (general) CD $50 (student) (paypal to competition@stuffgroup.net) Submission email to competition@stuffgroup.net COMPETITION SCHEDULE Open June 24th Closure Aug. 23th, 11:59PM CST Results Aug. 27th, 11:59PM CST Q&A email to competition@stuffgroup.net V1-2015 DIY (Design it for Yourself!) Leehong Kim Architects, NY/Seoul 1 CNC Milled Plywood stacked on threaded bolt and nut Sponsored and manufactured by the University of Manitoba Fablab - Additional materials (including drawings and/or rendering) may be requested to better facilitate the fabrication and installation. - VIDEO: a video file (up to two-minute in length) explaining the project, the V2-2016 Over-Under MONK, Cornell Aluminum scaffold painted white, 3/4 Plywood box insert Sponsored and manufactured by Mayer s Construction
JURY Rami Bebawi, Montreal - KANVA Brad Pickard, Saskatchewan - OPEN Paul Dolic, Toronto - Kongat Rami Bebawi is the cofounding partner of KANVA, with Tudor Radulescu. Brad Pickard worked as an architect P3A and MASS DESIGN GROUP, and currently affiliated with OPEN. Paul Dolic worked as an architect and designer at BLDG, Studio Gang MVRDV and Kongats. Johanna Hurme, Wininpeg - 5468796 Sean Pearson, Vancouver - RUF Tanner Merkeley, Rotterdam - OMA Johanna Hurme is an architect and a founding partner of Winnipeg based 5468796 architecture. Sean Pearson is the Director at RUF Project. Tanner Merkeley is a project architect at OMA & AMO and leads Complex Projects Graduate Studio Coordinator at TU Delft.
THE BENCH 2017 SUPPORTERS ORGANIZERS THE BENCH is an annual design competition organized by STUFF to raise public interests and awarenesses in street as public space. THE BENCH 2017, as the third iteration, is adopted as an official program of the Winnipeg Design Festival. WINNIPEG DESIGN FESTIVAL 2017 The Winnipeg Design Festival aims to celebrate and promote contemporary design and art in the city of Winnipeg. The Winnipeg Design Festival attempts to cultivate and share Winnipeg s rich community of talented and creative individuals; and the products of their creative processes of design and making. WDF also strives to build and cultivate interdisciplinary relationship and partnerships with industry and likeminded organizations that promote the value of good design of art, objects, architecture, and the greater built environment. The festivals events are the primary means of participation and interaction amongst participants and festival patrons, and may include lectures, installations, tours, and symposiums. WDF also wishes to be inclusive to a greater public audience, as a means of promotion, appreciation, and education of the design of the built environment. STUFF Studio for Transformative Urban Forms and Fields is a Winnipeg-based design-development studio founded in 2010 by Jae-Sung Chon. The studio focuses on developing ideative and generative designs (formal & informal) to engage various foms of living and its environments. The studio actively develops collective and collaborative platforms alongside its formal works, to raise public awareness towards design, as an act of urban-engagement. In 2012, STUFF, together with 5468796 Architecture, led the Canada s official entry at the 2012 Venice Biennale in Architecture Migrating Landscapes ; in 2014, STUFF was invited to Seoul Korea to develop and construct a multifamily housing prototype within the context of city s impending renewal; in 2016, the BEE HOUSE LAB international design competition at the University of Manitoba, developed and directed by the studio, was recognized with the AASHE Campus Sustainability Achievement Award; recently, a couple of the studio s research-based projects, NEXT HOME and PARA-PORTAL, are invited to the 2017 Seoul International Biennale on Architecture and Urbanism. JSC KM MH