PFFF… Inflatable Architecture Competition

Yarışmaya son başvuru tarihi 9 Ocak 2012.

PFFF is an architecture competition dedicated to architects, designers, students and engeneers focused on the design and realization of an inflatable pavilion that can embody the spirit of the FARM project.

The competition is promoted by CityVision and FARM, a contemporary active cultural and turistic center project based in Sicily that has as first mission the promotion of contemporary art and culture.

PFFF was established under the FARM Cultural Camp project, which aims to carry around the world works and installations by national and international creative youth.

This international competition has two goals:

1. Stimulating the research on new materials and new technologies for inflatable and temporary buildings.

2. Encouraging the designers’ creativity.

The inflatable mobile pavilion project will have a maximum size of 50 square meters.

The pavilion will be used many times and it will have to be easily transportable and installable in squares, parks, meeting places of different cities and FARM Cultural Camp tour’s stops.

The study of the atmospheric conditions (wind, rain, heat, cold) will be very important as well as the pavilion’s internal security.

The study of materials, methods of inflation and deflation, structure anchoring to the ground and openings will be critical to the success and safety of the project.

PFFF will be judged by an international jury which will have as president Italo Rota, founder of Studio Italo Rota & Partners and again Benjamin Ball, Marco Canevacci, Vanessa Todaro and Andrea Bartoli, all of whom are distingueshed by the large experimentation willingness in their work. Inside this issue you will have the opportunity to virtually meet some of them, their ideas and their philosophies and to have a look to their work’s images.

To download the complete competition brief, please go to the Download section.

COMPETITION BRIEF SUMMARY
1.1 PFFF – An Inflatable Architecture Competition: Nature and purpose of the competition

PFFF is an architecture competition dedicated to architects, designers, students and engeneers focused on the design and realization of an inflatable pavilion that can embody the spirit of the FARM project.

The competition is promoted by CityVision and FARM, a contemporary active cultural and turistic center project based in Sicily that has as first mission the promotion of contemporary art and culture.

PFFF was established under the FARM Cultural Camp project, which aims to carry around the world works and installations by national and international creative youth.

This international competition has two goals:

1. Stimulating the research on new materials and new technologies for inflatable and temporary buildings.

2. Encouraging the designers’ creativity.

The inflatable mobile pavilion project will have a maximum size of 50 square meters.

The pavilion will be used many times and it will have to be easily transportable and installable in squares, parks, meeting places of different cities and FARM Cultural Camp tour’s stops.

The study of the atmospheric conditions (wind, rain, heat, cold) will be very important as well as the pavilion’s internal security.

The study of materials, methods of inflation and deflation, structure anchoring to the ground and openings will be critical to the success and safety of the project.

1.2 PROCEDURE OF PARTICIPATION
The architectural competition in a single phase.

Participation in the competition is open to architects, engineers, designers, students and creatives world-wide. Individual or group entries are permitted. The indication of a group leader is required.

1.3 LANGUAGE
The official competition language is English.

CityVision will also provide a competition brief in Italian but the final proposal must be submitted only in English.

1.4 REGISTRATION
Architects, engineers, designers, students and creatives are invited to take part in this competition. Temporary groups are allowed especially if they are multi skilled. Being multi skilled is an important characteristic because it can help to understand and to better represent a global vision of the project.

Participants can register at

www.cityvision-competition.com/pfff/registration

– before the November 28th, 2011 paying via Paypal with a fee of 70€ (early registration deadline)

– before the January 9th, 2012 paying via Paypal with a fee of 90€ (late registration deadline)

There is an entry limit of one proposal per individual/team and there is no limit to the number of participants per group.

After your registration CITYVISION will provide by email a registration number which must be included on all entry panels

1.5 QUESTION
Questions should be sent via email to the following email address: info@cityvision-competition.com on and before 12.00 hours (Greenwich Time), January 5th, 2012 inclusive.

Answers to f.a.q. are already on the website page Q&A and CityVision will update them question by question.

1.6 AWARDS
1st place € 1.000 + REALIZATION

2nd place € 500

3rd place € 500

And 6 Honorable Mentions.

1.7 TECHNICAL SPECS
Dimension, colour: maximum 50 sqm monocolour. The pavilion can an open or closed space so it does not necessarily have to have a covering.

Intended use: space for lectures and presentations for about 30 people.

Inflatable typology: inner tube.

Seams: they are important for the resistance of the inflatable pavilion, they can be hot-welded or sewn with a double needle machine.

Durability: the pavilion has to be designed to be inflated an infinite number of times.

Material: check the availability of manufacturing companies, usually they use a PVC waterproof.

Anchoring to the ground: with bolts or concrete blocks, it’s essential against the wind, the dimensions of the anchorage system will have to be studied.

1.8 SUBMISSION OF BOARDS
This is a digital competition and hard copy proposals will not be accepted. All entries are to be submitted via e-mail on and before the January 16th, 2012 (hours 12:00 Greenwich Time) to the following email address: submission@cityvision-competition.com.

The attachment, packed in a ZIP file, should include 2 boards of the project in A2 horizontal format, a written report and partecipation data in A4 format.

Winners will have then to send the digilal files (.dwg or similar format) necessaries for the realization.

BOARD 1: One A2 horizontal format (300 and 72dpi) with the main image of the entry useful in showing in its beauty the planning idea; saved as follows: (xxxxx_01.jpg).

BOARD 2: One A2 horizontal format (300 and 72dpi) which describes the project in detail with proposed sections, elevations, plans with the metric scale indicated, schemes and useful images for better understanding the project; saved as follows: (xxxxx_02.jpg).

WRITTEN REPORT: One A4 vertical format 1 page of usefull text (Times New Roman 12pt) to explain the planning proposal; saved as follows: (xxxxx_description. doc). Texts saved in Jpg or Pdf won’t be valid.

PARTICIPANTS DATA: One .doc file (Times New Roman 12pt) A4 vertical format, containing participants names with profession, address, email, phone number; saved as follows: (xxxxx_info. doc). Files saved in Jpg or Pdf are not allowed.

Entry ID numbers must be positioned in the upper right corner with required dimensions 1cm x 5cm.
Entries are encouraged to inclued all necessary information to clearly explain the proposal. Board resolution will be one copy at 300 dpi and a second copy at 72dpi, RGB color mode in JPEG format. The entry ID number must be included on the top right hand side of all layouts, which is issued by CITYVISION at registration. No other form of identification permitted.

The file names should quote the entry ID number followed by an underscore and number of the board as follows: xxxxx_01.jpeg and xxxxx_02.jpeg. The same system is to be used for the written report (xxxxx_ description. doc) and the participants data (xxxxx_info. doc).

All files should be packed in a ZIP file labeled with your Registration Number, as follows: xxxxx.zip.
The choice of the graphic representation is completely open to the entry team. Refusal of any entry may occur if the mentioned guidelines and methods are not met.

1.9 METHODS OF EVALUATION OF PROPOSAL
1. Fleasibility

2. Experimental research on design and materials

3. Creation of unconventional spaces through the use of the same properties of an inflatable structure

1.10 RESULTS OF THE COMPETITION AND PUBLICATION
On February 2012 CityVision will publish the official results on the competition website www.cityvision-competition.com/pfff and on CityVision magazine 6 out on May 2012.

An Exhibition of winners will be held at the Farm Cultural Park.

1.11 SCHEDULE
OCTOBER 12th 2011
Announcement of the competition

NOVEMBER 28th 2011
Early registration deadline

JANUARY 5th 2012
Question submission deadline

JANUARY 9th 2012
Late registration deadline

JANUARY 16th 2012
Submission deadline

FEBRUARY 2012
Announcement of results

1.12 RULES AND REGULATION OF THE COMPETITION
To take part in this competition, all applicants must accept the rules. Every infringement of the rules will be noted and subject to the evaluation by the panel of judges. The participants in particular (however, without any limitation) irrevocably accept the royalty-free publication, in particular of their respective names.

This is an anonymous competition and the Registration Number is the only means of identification.
The files containing the personal information are confidential and known only to the Organizer Responsible and will not be revealed to the Panel until the final winners have been selected.

1. The official language of the competition is English.
2. The enrolment fee is not refoundable.
3. Applicants who try to contact members of the jury will be disqualified.
4. Participation requires that all the above rules are adhered to.

1.13 APPLICANTS AND THEIR PROPERTY RIGHTS
USE and PROPERTY:
All enrolments in the competition will remain in the care of the Organizer, who has the right to use the material for educational purposes, with the source credits, without obligation of remuneration to the applicant.
The property of the pavilion will be of FARM Cultural Park and designers can not claim any more economic benefits for the same. Still remains of course the authorship of the work to who designed it.

DISAGREEMENTS:
Any disagreements that rise between the organizer, Operating Body of the panel, including disagreements with one of the above conditions will be resolved by arbitration

IN CLOSING:
This competition is subject to the terms of this program. The program of the competition is the definitive declaration of the terms and conditions of this competition. The conditions are mandatory for the Organizer and the panel of judges. By presenting a proposal, the participant declares that he / she is aware of and accepts the terms and conditions of the competition.