The “Zijin Award” of Architectural Design & Environmental Art Contest is co-sponsored by the Publicity Department of Jiangsu Provincial Committee of the CPC, Department of Housing and Urban-Rural Development of Jiangsu Province together with the Architectural Society of China, China Engineering and Consulting Association, and Chinese Society of Landscape Architecture. The contest was established in 2014 and has been held annually for 5 years. It has become a contest brand with domestic influence in architectural and environmental design field and a platform which fully integrates professionalism and sociality for designers, students and the public. It promotes the improvement of urban and rural spatial quality with creative ideas and design and leads to the formation of social consensus in architectural culture. The theme of the Sixth Contest in 2019 is “Liveable Home and Better Life”. The relevant information and requirements are announced as follows:
Contest Theme
The theme of the contest “Liveable Home and Better Life” is established based on the work-live ideology, focusing on the improvement of sustainability and liveability in practical environments. Aiming at systematically improving city liveability and meeting people’s needs for better lives, this contest is not only an implementation of General Secretary Xi’s directive of “striving to build cities as beautiful homes where people and nature coexist in harmony”, but also an implementation of Premier Li Keqiang’s deployment of “vigorously renovating and upgrading old urban districts” which was mentioned in this year’s government work report.
Contest Contents and Requirements
The contest continues the tradition of open-ended topic. Contestants should utilize habitable urban space as the theme of their creation. You should design practical solutions based on realistic themes, choose locations by yourself, and formulate your own design tasks and sub-topics. The contest focuses on good urban living and humanistic perspective. On this basis, contestants should improve and enhance accessibility, liveability and spatial quality through creative design, aiming to solve problems and improve shortcomings of urban space, such as poverty, homelessness or lack of human-based design. The object of creation can be a residential area, block, public space or any other space which is closely related to the core theme of “liveability” and “home” and daily life experience. The topic can be large or small. It is recommended to start with topics related to those around you and in ordinary life. You can choose to make a renovation or an extension to existing buildings or sites, or design a newly built one. The contents of works may include improvement of facilities, functional upgrade, environmental optimization, space shaping, etc. There is no limitation of subject matter, scale or technique. Architecture design, landscape design, art design (including environmental embellishment) or urban design which is individual or comprehensive would all be permitted. Contestants are encouraged to explore their creations freely. It is encouraged to propose comprehensive design schemes for the integrated improvement of existing residential areas, the transformation of small and micro-spaces, renewal of urban blocks and improvement of public space quality or identity creation. Through the design with “friendliness” and “sense of place”, we can improve the quality of residential environment, promote the construction and co-governance of beautiful homes with humane sharing and environmental security for all ages, and encourage designs that serve, transform, and enhance life, making our city more liveable, inclusive and cultural to enhance people’s happiness, sense of belonging, and love for city.
Registration and Submission
Registration
Applications for this competition should be submitted online. Contestants can sign up through the official “Zijin Award” of Architectural Design & Environmental Art Contests website (www.iarchis.com), the Wechat Platform (arches; Architecture Idea Space) or the official “Zijin Award Cultural Creative Design Competition” website (www.zgwcsj.com). The deadline for applications is September 10, 2019. Participants can be individuals, teams or organizations. Cross-specialty teams are encouraged in this contest. Designers can create works based on the competition requirements in conjunction with projects they are currently designing; students can create works instructed by teachers. Completed, published, or projects that have participated in other competitions are not allowed to participate.
Submission
The deadline for submission is September 20, 2019. In order to avoid network congestion, contestants are required to submit projects as soon as possible after completion.
Professional and student groups should submit design instructions and design boards. The content requirements for Boards are as follows: design description (including problem proposal, creative planning, design ideas and highlights of the design program), location map, existing site map, analysis diagrams, masterplan, landscape plan, node design plan, renderings, and any other concept related drawings. Contestants should adopt appropriate expressions according to the contents of their projects, with no limitation of form or drawing proportion. It is recommended to use 2 boards. In principle, 4 boards are the maximum one can use. Example boards can be downloaded from the official website or the Wechat platform. The layout can be arranged according to the needs of the project. In principle, boards should be A1 sized and in portrait orientation as shown in the example file.
The public group should also submit design instructions and design works with clear expressions. These works can be texts, pictures, drawings (hand-drawn) and models with no limitation of form.
Texts such as design instructions should be submitted in DOC or DOCX format, while charts, pictures and drawings in JPG format with a resolution of no less than 300 dpi. Participants should also submit sketches, work photos and other creative process information (JPG format, with a resolution of no less than 150 dpi).
The competition uses Simplified Chinese as the official language. International submissions can be in Chinese only, or in both Chinese and English with metric measurements. Excluding design instructions and illustration annotations, board contents should not be marked with the names of contestants, organizations or other irrelevant marks. Otherwise, the contestants will be disqualified.
Contest Schedule, Appraisal, and Awards
The contest is divided into two rounds: preliminary contest (professional appraisal) and final contest (comprehensive appraisal).
Preliminary contest (professional appraisal): The jury committee is headed by academicians of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and composed of national engineering survey and design experts, provincial masters of design and other well-known experts in the industry. The competition chairman is Academician Meng Jianmin. The first, second and third places of the “Outstanding Project Award” will be awarded through professional appraisal with certificates and prizes awarded by Jiangsu Department of Housing and Urban-Rural Construction.
Final contest (comprehensive appraisal): Projects awarded first place in the “Outstanding Project Award” in the professional appraisal stage are included in the final contest for comprehensive evaluation. The final contest is a comprehensive competition that integrates professionalism and sociality. The jury committee is composed of academicians, masters of design, well-known industry experts, cultural personages, public figures, representatives of community residents, and media representatives. The program for the final contest will be released separately. Gold, Silver and Bronze Awards certificates and prizes for the “Zijin Award” will be delivered by the Organizing Committee of the “Zijin Award” Contest.
Awards for the Professional Group Outstanding Project Award:
10 first-place awards, 30 second-place awards, 50 third-place awards, no prizes. Award-winning projects are also awarded a “Jiangsu Province Outstanding Design Award for Urban and Rural Construction” of the same grade.
Zijin Award: Two gold awards with a 100,000 CNY prize for each award. Gold award-winning projects would also win the first place of “Jiangsu Outstanding Engineering Award for Applied Social Science Research” and “Jiangsu Outstanding Engineering Design Award”; three silver awards with a 30,000 CNY prize for each award. Silver award-winning projects would also win the second place of “Jiangsu Outstanding Engineering Award for Applied Social Science Research” and “Jiangsu Outstanding Engineering Design Award”; five bronze awards, with a 5,000 CNY prize for each award. Bronze award-winning projects would also win the third places of “Jiangsu Outstanding Engineering Design Award”. There are also Outstanding Awards with no prizes but certificates.
Awards for the Public Group Outstanding Project Award:
- First place awards, 6,000 CNY prize for each award.
- Second place awards, 3,000 CNY prize for each award.
- third place awards, 2,000 CNY prize for each award.
For further information about this competition, please pay attention to the Website： www.iarchis.com
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