Corus Student Architects Award Brief 2006-7
The Nineteenth Corus Student Architects Award is supported by the Steel
Construction Institute (SCI), the British Constructional Steelwork
Association Limited (BCSA) and The Architect’s Journal. RIBA Education
supports the competition
Introduction
The main purpose of this competition is to give architectural students a
creative vehicle for learning about the use of steel in buildings. By
taking part you will have the chance to explore the complex issues
surrounding the theme of how to live with rising water levels and the
ever-present threat of flood.
The competition is, as usual, open to students of architecture in
Europe. For both UK and overseas students the competition brief is to
address the theme of H2Ouse - living on the water.
Steel has been one of the most important materials used in construction
for the last 100 years or so. It has created a new architecture through
its qualities of flexibility and strength. In your submission you are
invited to explore the use of steel on a domestic scale – a difficult
balancing act between scale, weight and utility. Designing in steel on a
smaller scheme demands a light touch.
H2Ouse - living on the water.
It’s a problem that’s going to hang over new developments all over the
United Kingdom, particularly in the South East – how can we build on
flood plains without investing massively in the kind of flood protection
common in the Netherlands?
Furthermore some of our marsh habitat relies on the occasional
inundation, it’s what makes it a special and unique environment, and
other places have flooded regularly for centuries. In places like York
it is a risk you take for being in proximity with the river; in coastal
settlements affinity with the sea means sometimes having to share the
same space. These communities have developed strategies to cope – stone
floors and walls, which don’t absorb water, upper floor living areas.
Hardly innovative, but no less effective for that.
Living on the water has always, at least in the UK, been seen as a
slightly bohemian thing to do. Canal boat communities, itinerant yet
close knit; the houseboats on the Thames at Chelsea, even warehouse
conversions in docklands offer a vicarious association with the sea,
and, by association, far off lands and peoples – as if it were possible
to sail a narrow boat across the Atlantic bound for the New World.
But being flooded out clearly isn’t romantic, and insurance companies
aren’t noted for their endorsement of unusual modes of occupation. In
fact, unless it can be proven that significant steps have been taken to
avoid damage to property, it can be exceedingly difficult to obtain
insurance cover for new housing on land prone to flooding.
The challenge therefore is to design a housing type, utilising steel.
Whatever its form, H2Ouse will need to be accessible to a wide diversity
of people of different ages and varying capabilities, that can happily
co-exist with an unpredictable water level, or is perhaps permanently on
the water. You may wish to consider that this type of dwelling could
also be used for disaster relief, and used anywhere in the world, so it
might be easily demountable, or perhaps simply constructed using local
material and labour. In any respect your design should not simply be a boat.
The community should have at least a zero impact on the environment and,
despite the ever-present threat of flood; water conservation should also
be a primary concern.
But also consider some of the romance of living on the water and some of
the freedoms from conventional forms, which this affords. To quote from
Kenneth Graham’s Wind in the Willows:
“"And you really live by the river? What a jolly life!"
"By it and with it and on it and in it," said the Rat. "It's brother and
sister to me, and aunts, and company, and food and drink, and
(naturally) washing. It's my world, and I don't want any other. What it
hasn't got is not worth having, and what it doesn't know is not worth
knowing."
Form of submission
The submission will be required on 8 A3 Sheets or 2 A1 sheets.
* Drawings should include a location/site plan
* Floor plans, sections and elevations should also be provided at a
scale to suit the submission.
* Landscaping details, items of street furniture etc. should be
shown in an appropriate form.
* Models, although not acceptable in themselves as part of the
submission material for the judging process, may be photographed.
Drawings and photographs should be mounted on lightweight board. Perspex
or glass should not be used. Any entrant who is required to redraw
design illustrations for publication must do so at his or her own cost.
In a change from previous years there is no requirement for a separate
report. Text (if required) should be incorporated onto the 8 A3 Sheets
or 2 A1 sheets.
In addition to this, you are required to hand in an electronic copy of
your work on CD-ROM. In a jpeg format.
However, if you prepare any additional supporting material (such as
fly-through, videos, CD-ROMs etc) you may place these in a separate
envelope marked “For the attention of Ken Oliver” as this material may
be used by the organisers at the award ceremony if you win a prize in
the competition.
All submission items and packaging must be clearly marked with the entry
reference number. The entry reference number will be sent to you
following registration for the competition.
cont'd....
http://www.corusconstruction.com/en/news_and_events/awards/casa/the_brief/