Açık Fikir Yarışması: locked-down(in120homes)

Görsel bir hikaye oluşturup, yeni karantina deneyimini ve bu alanın durumlarını kendi temsillerinizi kullanarak anlatabileceğiniz açık fikir yarışmasına başvuru için son tarih 11 Mayıs 2020.

The word quarantine emerges from the Italian ‘quaranta’, ‘forty’, originally used to describe “space for forty days”- “quaranta giorni” in Italian – to keep the ships coming from plague-stricken countries waiting at their port for forty days to make sure that no cases of disease were aboard. The word has since been used to define the state of requisite isolation of any kind of duration and reason in general. (https://www.etymonline.com/word/quarantine)

The home quarantine, a world-wide precaution initiated due to COVID-19 pandemic, has re-defined our relationship with the dwelling spaces we are living in abruptly, turning it into an intense and challenging one. Throughout history, the spaces of dwelling have always been a central issue of architectural reflections in relation to geographic, climatic, social, economic, technologic transformations. A 21st century pandemic is surely one of those impactful moments in history that causes new questions regarding our understanding of dwelling to emerge.

In encountering this new and startling situation, we have envisioned that two things could evolve further: firstly, our existing ideas on dwelling (concepts of self-sufficiency, endurance, openness, diversity, flexibility, ownership, scale, contextual relationships, boundaries, permeability, act of neighboring etc.) and secondly, the ways of architectural learning.

To merge these two lines of inquiry, we have decided to reformulate our in-studio research into an open call for collective thinking, imagination and discussion with the use of new online social platforms.

This exercise had been originally designed for the first year students of ITU Faculty of Architecture in Vague Storeys group (TES Project 2, Section 1), in order to introduce students to the question of dwelling with a hands-on precedents study, develop their skills in architectural literacy and techniques of visualization. After the break of the pandemic, we thought inviting other students into this inquiry would enrich our resources and platforms of architectural learning, increase the encounter to ideas and imaginations. So we have decided to re-formulate it as an open call with awards.

Different from a regular competition format, this open call is formulated as a collective and free thinking marathon. The submitted works will be exhibited on an open instagram account, accessible to general audience. Some submissions with outstanding qualities, such as conceptualisation, spatial interpretation, visual narration, etc. will be rewarded by assigned jury members under the two categories of in and off-studio.

Within this framework, a list of 120 dwelling projects (mass housing, house, unit, volume, furniture) of diverse geographies, periods, contexts and scales, affects and approaches is provided for the selection of participants (see the list in the following pages.)

The participants are asked to:

Work individually.
Choose 1 project from the select list (the students of Vague Storeys studio, please visit our common drive folder; other students may choose freely from the attached list.)
Examine the project you have chosen (from all the resources you can reach); analyze, read and discover its spatial qualities, design approach, technology, material, relations with its surrounding, foreseen living scenario.
Imagine living under quarantine inside this space. How do you envision spending a full day at this space? How would the spatial experience be transformed throughout the isolated time spent in it? Would it require interventions in the space? If yes, how would it transform? Would it match, contradict, or negotiate with the foreseen scenario? What would be an imaginary dialogue with the initial designer of this space?
Build a visual story, narrate the new quarantine experience and changing states of this space using your own representations (reference if any image/ or text is used as a resource). – Visualise the everyday life scenes of quarantine with changing time, light, perception, use, and modifications, if the scenario requires. Use freely all techniques of visualisation (sketches, drawings, 3D-modelling, physical models, collage, hybrid techniques). Follow the submission guidelines and build your story as it will be best displayed on instagram.

Submission guidelines:

The submitted works will be exhibited digitally on the official instagram account of the open call [lockeddownin120homes], the technical requirements for the submitted materials are determined to suit the exhibition format best.
Those submissions that don’t match the requirements will be eliminated.
Submit maximum 10 slides that consist of: images (separate images, as JPEG files, each in size 21x21cm, 300dpi) or videos (separate videos, as MP4 files, each max. 1min. in duration).
Write a paragraph of maximum 2200 characters with your name, a short text that introduces your work and max 10 #hastags that highlights your approach.
Email it all to twentyone.archive3400@gmail.com. either attached to your email, as individual images or videos, in size max. 20mb.; or attached to your email as a single RAR file, in size max. 20 mb.
The written language of this open call is English.

Awards:

10 equivalent prizes of 1000TL will be distributed to projects from two separate categories of in-studio and off-studio participants.

The submissions will be evaluated by the instructor team of the studio and invited jury members.

Jury:
[in alphabetical order]