Southbank competition
Architecture, Sustainability, and African Arts Call for entries
Submission Deadline:
7 August 2006
For further information, please consult
or Hannah le Roux/Daniel Irurah
info [at] southbank-competition.com
Southbank is an international competition for the design of a new environment that will encompass residential space, landscape elements and space for the production and exhibition of art from Africa, on a site near Stellenbosch in the Western Cape. The competition is open to architects, artists and designers from around the world. The sponsors of the competition are a leisure and wine company, Spier Holdings, who plan to use the forum of the competition, and the building of the winning community, to construct new models for the integration of spaces for living, working, learning, and creative expression. The brief calls for the practice of social equity, environmental conservation and creative freedom on the site, in dialogue with the rich history and contemporary contribution of African heritage and culture.
Integrated into the competition brief is the design of the new Africa Centre. The Africa Centre is both a physical entity and an ongoing process. Meant to grow spatially and conceptually over a period of years, in time it will emerge as a multi-sited, multiple-usage space where the visual and performance cultures of Africa South and North, present and past are celebrated, studied and brought to life for diverse audiences in innovative ways.
In order to serve diverse communities of users, the Africa Centre plans to sponsor a range of different types of programs. Among these will be residencies for visual and performance artists, intellectuals, scholars, instructors and activists, to take place in the Southbank and nearby communities. The Africa Centre will encourage joint endeavours among residents and maximize interaction through activities such as conferences, workshops, classes, discussion groups and open studio sessions led by residents and open to the public, on the Southbank and in nearby communities; and an ongoing series of temporary exhibitions and performances showcasing works in progress and finished pieces in dedicated exhibition and performance spaces.
The Southbank competition will be run in two stages. The first, open stage, called image/bank, will be focused on visualisations of the environment, and the second stage, south/centre, will see five finalists refine their ideas into tangible plans. The winner will be announced on January 20, 2007. Prize money of US $225,000 will be awarded. Entrants will have to register by July 16, 2006 to enter the competition, and submit their first ideas online by August 7, 2006.
The competition jury is Spier CEO Adrian Enthoven, Salah Hassan, (curator and art historian), Mike Keniger (architect and academic), Anne Lacaton (architect), Luyanda Mphalwa (architect), Ikem Stanley Okoye (architect and academic), and Mike Rainbow (engineer).
Rules and information relating to the competition can be downloaded at: www.southbank-competition.org.
E-Mail enquiries can be sent to: info@southbank-competition.org
