Feb 2016 | pinarchitecture-2

FEBRUARY 2016 COMPETITION

The Permanent Form ///

Everything that is designed and built will eventually be destroyed. By weather, wear, or war, built form eventually returns to its elemental state. Objects made of durable materials may last longer, but will not last forever. What if everything that was built became permanent? How might the process of design change when all objects, once fixed and formed, could never be altered or moved from its location? With finite material and space how must designers adjust to planning for the extreme long-term? How might future generations adapt inconvenient forms from the past to meet contemporary needs and functions? What happens when form becomes permanent?

Participants should consider that objects are not only fixed in form, but also fixed in place. Submissions may be conceptual, technical, and/or artistic.

Top 8

Editor's Choice

RESULTS ///

Ufuk Uğurlar

Ankara, Turkey

Nur Hazal Gürgöze

Ankara, Turkey

Fabio Giuseppe

Casirati Milano, Italy

Cristina Anastase

Bucharest, Romania

Marko Karovic

Belgrade, Serbia

Kyungil Min

North Bergen, New Jersey, United States

Berk Coşkun

Ankara, Turkey

JURORS ///

Allison Carafa

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States

Masters in Critical, Curatorial, and Conceptual Practices in Architecture,

Columbia University, NYC

Eric Salmon

Salem, Oregon, United States
Masters in Architecture

Kansas State University

Matthias Steenackers

Antwerp, Belgium

Masters in Applied Sciences and Engineering - Architectural Design
Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium
Firm: Matthias Steen Architects

ENTRIES ///

81 Entries from 23 Countries.

Cansu Yesil

Ankara, Turkey

Garam Hann

San Francisco, California, United States

Ufuk Uğurlar

Ankara, Turkey

1ST

JURY COMMENTS ///

"Cultural objects that stand the test of time illuminate or distort our perspectives of history. The entry may be showing us how this brief responds to us today, rather than an alternate reality. The stone human can be a metaphor to the human condition confronting impermanence. The aging cycle segments are divided like the twelve hours of an analogue clock, both implications pointing to the scale of time."

Nur Hazal Gürgöze

Ankara, Turkey

2ND

JURY COMMENTS ///

"This entry makes me feel connected to the whole history of the world through the most basic of shapes and its constant reinterpretation. This form, no matter what scale or material, holds some basic truth in it that is both human and not human, man-made and supernatural."

"I like the comic directness of this entry. Would the pyramidal shape be the best form for building - is this all we could come up with? Historical references prove the attention to this form throughout the centuries. But would we just keep on stacking them on top of each other?"

Fabio Giuseppe Casirati

Milano, Italy

3RD

JURY COMMENTS ///

"Currently we are building skyscraper-addicted cities near rising tides, doubtfully with a concept of permanence. So, would permanent form really change the human desire to build these vertical monuments? The image evokes fantasies and questions like an evocative painting."

Cristina Anastase

Bucharest, Romania

TOP 8

JURY COMMENTS ///

"This entry shows a clever idea on how to renew a permanent structure, just wrap in a new skin! It shows in a visually distinct way the disconnection between building and façade and flirts with the current trend of renovation. It would be interesting to see how many layers have been added over the course of the centuries..."

Marko Karovic

Belgrade, Serbia

TOP 8

JURY COMMENTS ///

"I appreciate the vagueness of this entry, both the archaic and futuristic feeling of it. It opens up ideas on what this picture means. Were ancient men - knowing that their structures would be permanent - more thoughtful when designing? Perhaps their designs were perfected, eliminated of all decoration, robust in time and weather. The perfect round sphere became the end form, being in fact a formless structure. But how keep it floating?"

Kyungil Min

North Bergen, New Jersey, United States

TOP 8

JURY COMMENTS ///

"In a time when everything can be customized to your liking and you can ignore basic reality, this brief is intriguing. If everything must stay the same, having a device that is programmed to visually change the appearance of the world around you may not be a crazy idea. It makes me wonder whether this would be done on a mass organized scale, ie every building has its own image generator/projector inviting in the use of a designer, or if the individual determined the appearance, truly creating his own world."

Berk Coşkun

Ankara, Turkey

TOP 8

JURY COMMENTS ///

"Japanese culture is the wellspring of living with impermanence. This graphic is compelling by reflecting on the fragility of human life even with everlasting forms. The stage is set in a moment in time: two humans dancing amongst the rubble of permanent material, holding a temporary position."

Cansu Yesil

Ankara, Turkey

TOP 8

JURY COMMENTS ///

"Visually this entry is quite catching. For me it tells a story of attempted change going wrong. Society was sick of its surroundings and tried to make the materials budge, but all they were able to do was distort and misshape. It is now used as a example of what not to do."

Garam Hann

San Francisco, California, United States

Editor's Choice

Mariadni Karachaliou

Volos, Greece

EDITOR'S COMMENTS ///

"The succinct explanation and clear graphics successfully define a framework for how to address the reality of permanent form. This entry was one of the few that proposed an adaptable system. Other entries hinted at a timeless or universal architecture as well, but here it is illustrated how it might actually function."