Designing to rejuvenate Urban Voids

Overview

When systems of infrastructure providing a single-use converge with each other, they produce residual spaces; spaces that are entirely forgotten or spaces whose intended purpose of use has been abandoned and replaced by an assortment of informal activities, thus disrupting the urban fabric, creating an Urban Void.

One such example is when one elevated passageway (roads/highways/bridges) passes over another one, creating a space that is longitudinal and barrier-free, sandwiched between an underpass and an overpass. 

When infrastructure is primarily a service that enables human circulation and interaction, can the revival of these unused, underused, or misused spaces only encourage this more?

Do these spaces present an opportunity for a design intervention?

Can a system of infrastructure typically assumed single-use, become multifunctional, allowing different spatial experiences to be created?

Would the addition of programs (services and social) lead to the development of a spatial identity that is reflective of its community?

Can the juxtaposition of various formal and informal programs mean that the space that was once inaccessible, is now accessible to all the members of the community?

Can design help transform these spaces to facilitate and redefine exchanges (service/social), allowing these voids to become seamless within the broader urban fabric?

Brief

Can these spaces be reimagined to become the heart of the community, facilitating creative patterns of use, drawing from the physical, cultural, and social identities that define a place, thus being able to reflect the community’s identity and channel its evolution?

Design Challenge asked to rejuvenate the urban void in question, creating a space that maximized its shared value and re-establishes the context. 

The jury for the competition consisted of esteemed designers, professionals, and academicians from around the world. The Lead Jurors for the competitions were as follows: 

 

Timur Shabaev, Partner, DROM, Netherlands

Eduard Callís & Guillem Moliner, Main Architects, Unparelld'arquitectes, Spain

Alex Hanazaki, Creative Director, Alex Hanazaki Landscape, Brazil

Some of the Best of competition projects are as follows:

 

Winning Project: Revitalization of the Bakhrushins` heritage

By: Anna Bogodaeva, Olesia Chentemirova & Ivan Korshakov

Description: Creation of a family quarter on the territory of the orphanage named after Peter, Alexander, and Vasily Bakhrushin (XIX century, SVAO, Alekseevsky district, 1st Rizhsky lane, 2).

-----------------

People’s Choice: The faces of the Soviet avant-garde

By: Aleksei Timonov, Alexander Demidov, Дмитрий Марачев & Nikolai Sivakov

 

Description: The creation of the art object "Leonidov-the face of the Soviet avant-garde" as part of the open-air museum is aimed at filling the urban environment with meaning, educating and attracting various groups of citizens to learn about the history of their country, as well as creating an additional point of attraction for the district.

-----------------

Editor’s Choice: Garden

By: Mawadah Khalid, Evan Fernandes & Evan Fernandes

Description: Leaside Bridge is a site where multiple suicides are either attempted or successful each year. Thus we wanted to not only prevent this but to find ways in which we can use our project to aid mental health.

                         

---

 

Discover the design brief here: https://uni.xyz/competitions/in-plain-sight/info/about 

Discover the full results here: https://uni.xyz/competitions/in-plain-sight/entries  

---

Follow us on social media: Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn | Twitter | Youtube

---

Discover other design competitions to participate here: https://uni.xyz/competitions