Open call for proposals. Spanish Pavilion for the Venice Architecture Biennale 2016

1 - FOREWORD

Alejandro Aravena's proposal for the Architecture Biennale 2016, "Reporting from the front”, invites each country to share experiences and moments of crisis that architecture has experienced in recent years. The proposal calls for a reflection on the mistakes in order to share solutions that may allow other countries to anticipate and avoid similar situations.

During the last period of economic growth in Spain, construction became the main driving force of the economy. Today, reality reveals us the built presence and the unfinished remains of what once was the largest edificatory enterprise in Spanish history, leaving behind a difficult situation in which to deal with partially constructed large volumes which are not consolidated.

Under the title "Unfinished", the exhibition in the Spanish Pavilion for the Venice Biennale 2016 draws attention to these unfinished architectures in order to discover virtues that can become design strategies. "Unfinished" wants to promote creative speculations about how to subvert the past condition into a positive contemporary action.

The Spanish Pavilion for the Biennale of Venice, in order to collect as many examples of architecture as possible that respond to this theme, has recently launched a call for built projects. The selected projects will become part of the exhibition and must fit in one of the following categories.

INFILL without facade
ELEVATIONS without land
CONSOLIDATE without autonomy
PATTERNS without deadlines
STRUCTURES without cladding
DEMOLITIONS without material
GENERIC without program
ADAPTABLE without permanences
REAPROPRIATION without new spaces
RAW without finishing
LOW COST without money
COLLABORATIVE without authorship
SUBVERSIVE without regulations

2 – CALL FOR PROPOSALS GOAL

In parallel to the previously mentioned call for projects, the purpose of this call for proposals is the development of an unpublished project that responds to the theme proposed by the Spanish Pavilion of the Biennale of Venice 2016 “Unfinished”. Projects must fit into one of the categories mentioned above.

Proposals may be located in real situations or may develop generic architectural approaches that deal with recognizable circumstances in the present juncture.

3 – CONDITIONS OF PARTICIPATION

Any architect or student of architecture is legible to submit a proposal which responds to the Spanish Pavilion’s argumentative theme.

4 – SELECTION PROCESS

This year’s scientific committee – Santiago de Molina, Jacobo García Germán and Ángel Martínez García-Posada – as well as the curators of the Spanish Pavilion – Iñaqui Carnicero and Carlos Quintáns – will take part of the jury.

After reviewing the submissions, the jury will select the projects that will take part of the exhibition which will take place between May and October 2016.
The result of the competition will be made public in April 10th 2016.

5 – DOCUMENTS, DEADLINE AND SUBMISION OF ENTRIES

The submission will consist in 3 documents, with a pseudonym, in the following format:

- A .pdf file presented in horizontal A4-sized sheets, 300 dpi, which will be named 01_ pseudonym_proposal. It must at least contain the following documentation: description of the proposal which justifies the work’s response to the theme proposed by the Spanish Pavilion; an axonometric view or a sequence of axonometric views of the starting point and the project’s evolution throughout time. Complementary information may be included in other pages different to those of the description and axonometric views.

- An animated sequence which will be named 02_ pseudonym_animation. This animation must not exceed 20 seconds and must reflect the proposal’s relevance.

- A .pdf file named 03_ pseudonym_identification containing the author/s’ identity and contact information.

The deadline for the submission will be April 1st 2016 before 23:59. Submissions after this date and hour will not be taken into account. Submissions must be sent to the following email: bienaldevenecia2016@gmail.com. Projects will be collected by someone outside the organization of this competition order to ensure anonymity.

Submitting a proposal for this call for projects implies full acceptance of this terms and conditions.

6 – PRIZES

There will be a total of 10 prizes of 1000€ each. Attendance of at least one of the authors will be mandatory for the presentation of the project in Venice. The jury may in turn select proposals for the exhibition that will be recognized with a mention without an economic price.