Competition Call: “Closed Worlds” (Storefront, NYC)
Deadline: Monday, November 16, 2015 11:59pm.
Assistant Professor Lydia Kallipoliti, along with Michelle Addington, Eva Franch, Mitchell Joachim, and Michael Young will jury the Storefront for Art and Architecture’s forthcoming Closed Words Design Competition. As part of the competition jury, Kallipoliti will also serve as curator of the exhibition
What do outer space capsules, submarines, and office buildings have in common? Each was conceived as a closed system: a self-sustaining physical environment demarcated from its surroundings by a boundary that does not allow for the transfer of matter or energy.
The history of twentieth century architecture, design, and engineering has been strongly linked to the conceptualization and production of closed systems. As partial interpretations of the world in time and in space, closed systems identify and secure materials necessary for life. Contemporary discussions about global warming, recycling, and sustainability have emerged as direct conceptual constructs related to the study and analysis of closed systems.
In February 2016, Storefront for Art and Architecture will open Closed Worlds, an exhibition of 41 living prototypes built over the last century that present an unexplored genealogy of closed resource regeneration systems. From the space program to countercultural architectural groups experimenting with autonomous living, the exhibition documents a larger disciplinary transformation in the postwar period and the rise of a new environmental consensus in the form of a synthetic naturalism, where the laws of nature and metabolism are displaced from the domain of wilderness to the domain of cities and buildings.
For this exhibition, Storefront for Art and Architecture is looking for a designer to produce the 42nd piece of the chronology of experiments. The selected designer(s) will have the opportunity to use the installation as a testing ground for a new closed system. The designer will work closely with the Closed Worlds curatorial team, but will be responsible for the implementation of the installation and related exhibition materials and will lead overall exhibition design.
Competition Jury
Michelle Addington, Hines Professor of Sustainable Architectural Design at Yale University
Eva Franch, Director of Storefront for Art and Architecture
Mitchell Joachim, Associate Professor of Practice at New York University and Principal of Terreform One
Lydia Kallipoliti, Assistant Professor of Architecture at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Curator of Closed Worlds exhibition
Michael Young, Assistant Professor of Architecture at the Cooper Union and Principal of Young/Ayata Architects
Schedule
Registration Deadline————————————————November 10, 2015
Deadline to Submit Questions————————————-November 3, 2015
Answers to Submitted Questions Posted Online————-November 6, 2015
Digital Submission Deadline—————————————November 16, 2015
Physical Submission Deadline————————————November 17, 2015
Design/Management/Construction Period———————-Dec 2015 – Jan/Feb 2
Eligibility
This call is open to anyone with demonstrated experience in the conceptualization, design, and production of spatial prototypes, including architects, artists, designers, engineers, and environmental scientists, among others.
The winning team will be based in New York or be able to easily produce and manage the final design and construction of the installation and hold regular meetings with the Closed Worlds curatorial team. The winning team will be able to work intensely within a given time frame for the preparation and installation of the exhibition between November 2015 and February 2016.
Applications will be accepted from individuals and firms, and architects need not be licensed. Interdisciplinary collaborations are strongly encouraged. Applicants outside of New York City are eligible to apply, but housing and transportation will not be provided.
See Call for Ideas: Closed Worlds Design Competition for more information