Open Call: [Layer 02. City] more socially sustainable designs

About Competition

Architectural designers are vested with the power to shape space in their own perspective.  A design task becomes difficult when the context for the architecture evolves continuously.  In this brief, we focus on Hengqin, a work-in-progress city undergoing drastic changes in unimaginable ways.  Hengqin was a rural community in Mainland China at the door of Macau, the Las Vegas in Asia.  It is facing social and physical advancements that make it an ideal site for architectural experimentation and exploration.

In the ‘2022 Development plan’, the local governments laid foundation for Layer 01: economic diversification.  Some would say that there were limited considerations for the public infrastructures and existing cultural and historical contexts.  In this competition, we ask that you to intervene and design Layer 02: the buffer between the changes and the existing context, to plug the gaps of the life that Layer 01 has not accounted for.

URBAN ASPIRATIONS

Hengqin Island is at the mouth of the Pearl River, adjacent to the Taipa and Coloane districts of Macau, with the Shisanmen Waterway separating them, and is connected to Macau’s Cotai via the Lotus Bridge. The island is the largest among the 146 islands of Zhuhai, being roughly three times the size of Macau.

Hengqin had been transformed into a special economic zone (SEZ) – city which undergoes economic reforms.

1 TERRITORY 2 SYSTEMS

In September 2020, The Draft of Urban Master Plan for Macau SAR 2020-2040 (“the Plan”) was published.  However, Macau lacks an immediate hinterland to match its ambition for expansion.

Consequently, Hengqin is “leased” by Mainland China to provide a new space to facilitate the life and employment of Macau residents; strengthening policy support, vigorously developing new technologies, new industries, new formats, and new models, by injecting new impetus into the long-term development of Macau.

Ultimately, the governments and their joint proposal seek to promote the in-depth integration of public services, provide more convenient conditions for Macau residents to study, find employment, start a business, and live in an environment that is convergent with Macau.

Competition Website: https://moooarch.com/competitions/layer02city/

Submission / Key Dates

Brief Launch – 2nd April 2022
Super Early Bird Entry Deadline – 30th April 2022 – 11:59pm (GMT)
Early Bird Entry Deadline – 31st May 2022 – 11:59pm (GMT)
Standard Entry Deadline – 15th August 2022 – 11:59pm (GMT)
Last-minute Entry Deadline – 04th Sept 2022 – 11:59pm (GMT)
Submission Deadline – 18th September 2022 – 11:59pm (GMT)
Public Vote – Mid October 2022
Evaluation Period – Late October 2022
Announcement of Winners – Early November 2022

About the Organizer

Being an Architect was once a lot more respected by society as a role model. Only those who were gifted with both creative and practical minds could excel in this profession. Good architectural designs have to be innovative, aesthetic and practical at the same time. Today, more and more young professional architectural designers were being trained even more rigorously than ever. Though, countless creative ideas and designs go unnoticed and discarded in this new information age. 

We, architectural designers, have spent so many years on academic projects. A few degree shows and portfolios should not be the only ways to showcase our creativities and abilities. It is for this reason, the mOOO team, a group of architectural designers based in the United Kingdom, created this international platform to promote young talents through hosting architecture design competitions. 

Occasional crits and tutorials are far from adequate for design education. It is also our goal to provide stimulating briefs that challenge the creative minds of international designers. What we do is almost equivalent to the milking process of cows. Creativity dies if not exercised constantly.