The Tired Column ///
Columns are designed to have the appearance of stability. It is reassuring to consider that the element holding objects aloft is stoic and permanent. On the surface a column might seem static, but it is constantly reacting to dynamic forces, including live loads, wind gusts, seismic events, and temperature fluctuations. What if, under such stresses, a column began to falter and bend? How might it reflect the external forces imposed upon it? How might it degrade, sink, or buckle in reaction to events around it? What happens when a column gets tired?
Participants are asked to design a structure that does not harm its inhabitants while failing or degrading. Submissions may be technical, conceptual, practical, and/or artistic.
JURORS ///
Chris Dove
Liverpool, United Kingdom
PG DipArch, Mackintosh School of Architecture, Glasgow School of Art
Nicholas D. Paley
Manchester, Cheshire, United Kingdom
B.Arch, Lincoln University
Firm: Unknown Studio
Conor Roche
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
BS.Arch, Temple University
Firm: Con Roche Construction
RESULTS ///
Alex Willms
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Kyle Faulkner
Rockford, Illinois, United States
Ornella Clappier
Vienna, Austria
Adam Hills
London, United Kingdom
Curtis Wayland
Arlington, Texas, United States
Joseph Meucci
Boston, Massachusetts, United States
Anna A Misharina
Izhevsk, Russia
ENTRIES ///
ENTRIES
Africa
Asia
Europe
N. America
S. America
Oceana

Alex Willms
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
JURY COMMENTS ///
"This entry describes the translation of forces on the column to the formal and spatial properties of the environment. I think its an excellent response to the brief from an architectural design perspective. I like to imagine the spatial change within a building that could incorporate this system."
"I really like the idea of G. The idea that a column might contract or retract depending on the different, variable loads exerted on it would really give the inhabitant a knowledge of how the building works. If several were used throughout the same structure, a knowledge would be passed on, illustrating physically the forces exerted through different points of the architecture, instead of this phenomenon happening where we cannot see or understand it. The entry is also well illustrated, explaining the idea in diagram form, without relying on text to do the explaining, which is something incredibly important to architects and designers."
"This entry shows key understanding of the brief, and is presented elegantly in terms of presentation. Technically inventive in terms of changing forces and loads, elegant in its material restraint. Translation of ‘dynamic force’ into a design for a column that creates dynamic floor spaces below: this is an architectural answer."

Kyle Faulkner
Rockford, Illinois, United States
JURY COMMENTS ///
"I like how this entry implies that a column has a metabolism, reacting to the stresses of daily life until it ages beyond its capacity to function."
"K is an entry that has clearly undergone some interesting thought of the world we live in. Comparing a building to the world we inhabit, and to human beings as columns is an apt look at the way our society works, and in the constant life cycle of growing old and being replaced. Although not completely architectural, this idea brings to light an issue of how we treat our buildings and maybe even our people as disposable elements of a greater object."

Ornella Clappier
Vienna, Austria
JURY COMMENTS ///
"I enjoy the ambition and scale of D. The idea that buildings and the city can be changed constantly, through the use of moving parts and technology is something that causes an interesting discussion for the future of our cities. The idea reminds me of the ethics of the Metabolist movement of Japan led by Kenzo Tange, who dreamt of new, large scale ideas of how the city may act, change, grow and even die."

Joseph Meucci
Boston, Massachusetts, United States

Curtis Wayland
Arlington, Texas, United States
JURY COMMENTS ///
"It is great to see an entry addressing the unseen structures that are holding up our societies and our way of life. That data could be seen as a physical mass is neither here nor there, yet the idea that masses of digital information can both support and weigh us down is clever. Just think what Google's server buildings would look like!"
JURY COMMENTS ///
"This entry works well in describing physical and formal change due to load and stress. It gives a good sense of how materials react under pressure and provides a tangible base for design."

Adam Hills
London, United Kingdom

Anna A. Misharina
Izhevsk, Russia
JURY COMMENTS ///
"To think of human beings as being the columns supporting loading social and political tiers is thought provoking. The way a column holds it’s load could provide us metaphor as to how we all support the loads that bare down on us from day to day. What strength and appearance would a column made from an army or work force have compared to kings and queens? Who holds who and what?"hing like this?"
EDITOR'S CHOICE ///
Editor's Choice is given periodically to an entry that deserves recognition, but that was not voted on by the jury.
"I rather think the world is like sand. The fundamental nature of sand is very difficult to grasp when you think of it in its stationary state. Sand not only flows, but this very flow is the sand.” Kōbō Abe

Kim de Regt
Amsterdam, Holland

Fala Atelier (Filipe Magalhães & Ana Luisa Soares)
Oporto, Portugal

Halima Arevalo
Arlington, Texas, United States

Lana Shihabeddin
Fort Worth, Texas, United States

David Pacheco Garcia
Fort Worth, Texas, United States

Roque Orellana
Arlington, Texas, United States

Halima Arevalo
Arlington, Texas, United States

Agnieszka Ufnal
Bialystok, Poland

Saul Olmedo
Arlington, Texas, United States

Logan Axelson
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States

Melissa Chin
Paris, France

Roque Orellana
Arlington, Texas, United States

Aaron Lim Ee Zhen
Perth, Australia

Wesley Verhoeven
Lisse, Zuid-Holland, The Netherlands

Halima Arevalo
Arlington, Texas, United States

Carlos Cutting
Dallas, Texas, United States

Richard Manoharan
Mysore, Karnataka, India

Lucas Da Cruz
Garland, Texas, United States

Lucy Brown
Boston, Massachusetts, United States

Gerardo Cisneros Dallas
Texas United States

Carlos Cutting
Dallas, Texas, United States

Lucas Da Cruz
Garland, Texas, United States

Carlos Cutting
Dallas, Texas, United States

Ninad Sadanand Warghade
Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

Sadman Zaki Ahmed
Dhaka, Bangladesh

Carolina Zuniga
Arlington, Texas, United States

Roque Orellana
Arlington, Texas, United States

Dhaval Ashok Darjee
Umbergaon, Gujurat, India

Ganesan Muniyandi
Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Carolina Zuniga
Arlington, Texas, United States

Ulises Reyes
Arlington, Texas, United States

Christopher Laskoski
Fort Worth, Texas, United States of America

Adrian de Leon
Arlington, Texas, United States
