DECEMBER 2015 COMPETITION
The Missing Ground ///
The ground plane fundamentally influences a building's orientation and organization. Ground floors, basements, and upper floors are designed in reference to a grade. What if the ground disappeared, leaving buildings suspended in position? Without the connective tissue of streets, yards, and natural landscapes, how does the relationship between buildings change? What types of new infrastructure might be used to reconnect neighborhoods and cities? How do sections of a building reorganize when the primary datum vanishes? What happens when the ground goes missing?
Participants should respond to the new condition rather than focus on the event of the ground disappearing. Submissions may be conceptual, technical, and/or artistic.
RESULTS ///
Top 6
Editor's Choice
Anton Kotlyarov
Moscow, Russia
Ojaswani Mehta & Adil Hussain
Delhi, India
Dirgadirgent Artria Pratomo
Ubud, Bali, Indonesia
Pedro Namorado Borges
Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal
María Elena Moersen
New York, New York, United States
Ng Kei Yiu Alex
Hong Kong
Nguyen Quang Huy
Hanoi, Vietnam
JURORS ///
Aaron Boucher
Hoboken, New Jersey, United States
M.Arch, Texas Tech University School of Architecture
Firm: LAST
Kyle O'Connor
New York, United States
M. Arch & M. L.Arch, University of Pennsylvania
Firm: SHoP Architects
Alejandro Vega Tejada
Covarrubias, Spain
M.Arch, Alfonso X el Sabio University
Firm: RISE Design Studio
ENTRIES ///
45 Entries from 21 Countries VIEW MAP

Anton Kotlyarov
Moscow, Russia
JURY COMMENTS ///
"This could be seen as a convincing future where floating cities, disconnected from the ground-based technologies of yore, repurpose old telecommunications infrastructure in a desperate, ironic attempt to resurrect the obsolete concepts of physical proximity and face-to-face contact."
"The interconnectedness that the population shares through utilities and communication serves not only to transfer but also to connect."
"This approach sets an unknown scenario with existing architectural elements and consequently defines an ambiguous environment through the ordinary."

Ojaswani Mehta & Adil Hussain
Delhi, India
JURY COMMENTS ///
"The relationships and adjacencies of space are blurred by the inversion of plane and the rejection of physical boundary."

Dirgadirgent Artria Pratomo
Ubud, Bali, Indonesia
JURY COMMENTS ///
"Water poses a very real threat to the existence of the ground. The endangered Farnsworth House is a worthy reminder of the wet, groundless future that we are facing."

Pedro Namorado Borges
Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal
JURY COMMENTS ///
"The initiation of a homogeneous plane of spaces serves as both habitation and circulation; eliminating the private domain."

María Elena Moersen
New York, New York, United States
JURY COMMENTS ///
"This chaotic pattern suggests a whole new scheme of interaction. It successfully lays out a sensual graphic balance that captures the viewer’s curiosity."

Ng Kei Yiu Alex
Hong Kong
JURY COMMENTS ///
"An ambitious proposal that goes one step further by daring to define a detailed spatial response to the brief. This image hints a promising growing potential while being subtle and complex at the same time."

Nguyen Quang Huy
Hanoi, Vietnam

John Ferns
Newark, New Jersey, United States
EDITOR'S COMMENT ///
"This entry ambitiously proposes an infrastructural solution that uniquely responds to the scenario of a missing ground. Program zones, no longer fixed by the ground plane are reconnected by a flexible transportation network. The entry reimagines how a city can be organized when the ground disappears, where distances between whole neighborhoods can flex depending on need and time of day."

Chintan Shah & Lipika Kosambia
Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
EDITOR'S COMMENT ///
"Only one entry is selected for 'Editor's Choice' each month, but it is worth noting that this submission has many of the same qualities as the one above it. This entry proposes a radical reinvention of networked space. Each spherical building unit contains its own independent gravity. In absence of a ground datum a matrix of three dimensional grids creates a new system to understand and connect space."

Ivana Lidya
Malang, East Java, Indonesia

Tanvir Hasan
Dhaka, Bangladesh

Dan Whelan
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Stewart Lore
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada


Carmine Andrea Rago
Rome, Italy
Martín García Sixto
Bilbao, Spain

Kareem Nems
Cairo, Egypt

Ahmad Borham
Cairo, Egypt

Praharsh M. Pai Raikar
Panaji, Goa, India

Jacqueline Kim
Seattle, Washington, United States

Mohd. Adil Hussain & Ojaswani Mehta
New Delhi, New Delhi, India


Ailín Ó Cuinneáin
Westport, Mayo, Ireland
Matthew Carney
Almere, Netherlands


Sarah E Lawson
Glasgow, Scotland
Mariadni Karachaliou
Volos, Greece

Lincoln Antonio
Coral Springs, Florida, United States

Hayley Rosenfeld
College Park, Maryland, United States

Dragana Ljuboja
Prijedor, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Saiyed Nadia Ali
Delhi, India

Claudiu Chiciudean
Timisoara, Romania

Dinesh Ashok Lohar
Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

Pappa Maria
Patras, Greece

Ayrine Claudya S
Jakarta, Indonesia

Andreas Lim Ming Rui
Singapore

Abdel-Rahman El-Hiatmy
6th of October City, Giza, Egypt

Jash Hirani & Mahek Rohra
Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

Maria Loriti
Chania, Crete, Greece

siDE Architects - Colin Chan
Hong Kong, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR

Ryan Crooks
Atlanta, Georgia, United States

Ahmed O. Baoabid
Seri Kembangan, Selangor, Malaysia



Anirudh Govind
Bangalore, India
Oudyziea Aiz Samodra
Kuta, Bali Island, Indonesia
Sanya Bolia
Boston, Massachusetts, United States

Heinrich Rodatz
Bloomington, Indiana, United States

Paul Z. Drummond
Baltimore, Maryland, United States
