Architecture is about solving problems for people through the composition of light, space, and material. It is about embracing the way space can be sculpted to improve how we live.
Many standards of normalcy have changed considerably over the last five years, especially with regard to how we gather for learning, dining, and performing. While outdoor gathering spaces are not a wholly new idea, they have become essential in our current situation. With this design competition we are seeking your solutions for making dynamic, thoughtful, and functional outdoor spaces for gathering. We ask you to carve out public space in your town or city to accommodate public activity in fresh air. This space could be a parklet for restaurant outdoor dining, an outdoor internet lounge, or an outdoor Tik Tok performance space.
A successful Pocket Place, or outdoor gathering space, should be an effective place to foster community, learning, thinking, sharing, and experimentation. By moving a gathering space outdoors, consider that you are doing more than shifting activity from indoors to outdoors. A major change in the shell and surroundings creates new opportunities for interacting with a space. How many ways does gathering outdoors change how you interact? What is easier? What may be more challenging? The community may use the Pocket Place as a public library, an outdoor café, a performance space, an internet hub….
Size: The Pocket Place should be no bigger than 2 combined parking spaces, 9' wide x 36' deep x 15' tall or no bigger than a 325 square foot footprint up to 15' tall.
Site: The site is your choice, but the Pocket Place should be specific to a location in your city or town.
Include:
• Space for at least 8 people to gather
• Some shelter from rain and/or snow
• Some shelter from the wind
• Solar lighting for evening gatherings
• At least one specific portal or view to the scenery
• A place where at least 4 people can sit at one time
Submission Requirements:
A) At least 4 critical views of your design
Provide at least 4 illustrations of your design. Your submission can include drawings, sketches, photographs of a physical model and/or renderings of a digital model. You can work by hand, with digital design software, or a combination. We are most interested in the quality of your ideas and the way you use the tools at your disposal. A thoughtful sketch can communicate as much as a digital model.
B) A narrative description of your Pocket Place. (No more than 500 words.)
All material must be submitted in pdf format.
Competitors will receive a link to submit their entry along with contact information for the Norwich University School of Architecture + Art for questions or guidance.
Competing students and teams will submit an innovative and unique design for an outdoor Pocket Place no later than midnight eastern time on November 24, 2024. All entries will receive feedback from the faculty of the Norwich University School of Architecture + Art, who will also be available to provide advice and guidance to registered competitors during the competition.
Title
Pocket PlaceType
Competition Announcement (Student Competitions)Website
Organizers
Norwich University School of Architecture + ArtSubmission Deadline
November 24, 2024 05:51 PMVenue
Your choice! Somewhere in your town/city.Price
FreeCountry Restrictions
United States