Archaeological park in the Mines of  Rio Tinto, Spain.

The condition of contemporary society is struggling to find itself in common identity values condensed in a recognizable iconography. Assuming that in contemporaneity it is an achievable goal, yet it turns to be an accumulation of dislocated and dislocating experiences. Perhaps for this very reason, it's now a good time to reconsider the debate between nature and architecture but with new assumptions.

A usual way we move close to this idea is by wrapping things up under the term ‘sustainability’, which deals with this entire issue in a lot of fragments. Eventually leaving an unsatisfied need for an architecture that homogeneously condenses a theme that is not only technological, nor exclusively formal or typological. Instead of an ethical and structural connection between humans and society with nature, and a huge opportunity of how architecture be an element of mediation between them. 

The competition brief was to design an archaeological park in the Mines of  Rio Tinto Spain.

The aim of this competition was to go far beyond a simple, even if necessary, use of nature as a product, but wants to push the architectural experimentation through a process of hybridization of two. In usual architecture discourse, they are apparently different bodies and two different languages how can we merge boundaries between both?

The design question of the competition was:

How can architecture manifest itself like a human body where the architectural spaces can be understood as an extension of it? How can the structure of the territory itself with the corresponding morphological and topographical variations be fused with the nature it is surrounded with?

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: 

Alessandro Melis, Director, Heliopolis 21, United Kingdom

Carlos Campos, Architect / Professor, ccyza architects, Buenos Aires, Argentina

José Juan Barba, Editor-in–Chief / Architect, METALOCUS, Madrid, Spain

 

Some of the Best of competition projects are:

 

Winning Project: Symbiotecture

By: Sanny Ng & Iris Lee

     

Description: A geological park design challenge.

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People’s Choice: Symbiotic Archeology Lab

By: Jose Carlos & Anna Denardin

Description: This project aims to support an even richer web of relationships, strengthening a symbiotic network of mutual prosperity between humans and nature.

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Editor’s Choice: Art Wave

By:  Misak Terzibasiyan

Description: This idea shows fully integrating building and site planning into the landscape planning process. Designing with pathways presents a spatial design approach for adaptive landscapes. This aim to study spatial design based on pathways can help develop more adaptive and sustainable landscapes.

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Editor’s Choice: REMISSION

By: Joshua Walton

Description: An Archaeological Park located in the mines of Huelva, Spain, that creates a symbiotic relationship with the site and develops ecosystems.

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Editor’s Choice: Verge Geopark

By: Mark Manrique 

Description: Verge is a geological park in the Rio Tinto mines that is designed to be integrated into the artificial environment of the Corta Antalya mine with minimal site intervention.

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Editor’s Choice: NUEVA ATALAYA

By: Vincent Tiburcio

Description: The site of Rio Tinto is located in Andalusia, Spain. Home of one of the biggest man-made open pit mine is the host for a symbiotic architecture where the concept of reclamation becomes an inspiration to shape this project.

 

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Discover the design brief here: https://uni.xyz/competitions/symbiotecture/info/about/ 

Discover the full results here: https://uni.xyz/competitions/symbiotecture/entries/     

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