Architecture

Laka Competition celebrates futuristic architecture that reacts with its surroundings

Laka Competition celebrates futuristic architecture that reacts with its surroundings
Surftopia by Eduardo Camarena Estébanez and María Urigoitia Villanueva received Special Recognition in this year's Laka Competition
Surftopia by Eduardo Camarena Estébanez and María Urigoitia Villanueva received Special Recognition in this year's Laka Competition
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First Place - Tidal Terrains. Designer notes: "The proposal incorporates programs such as swimming, the agricultural farming of algae, restaurants and boulevards into a floating park typology which embraces water and encourages access to make it once again a sociable, livable part of the city. Within these programs, the landscape integrates a cycle in which algae, wastewater and atmospheric CO2 is converted to energy, food products and clean water. As such, this means that the dirty water of the Thames River becomes an asset to produce energy, rather than a commodity to be expensively processed."
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First Place - Tidal Terrains. Designer notes: "The proposal incorporates programs such as swimming, the agricultural farming of algae, restaurants and boulevards into a floating park typology which embraces water and encourages access to make it once again a sociable, livable part of the city. Within these programs, the landscape integrates a cycle in which algae, wastewater and atmospheric CO2 is converted to energy, food products and clean water. As such, this means that the dirty water of the Thames River becomes an asset to produce energy, rather than a commodity to be expensively processed."
First Place - Tidal Terrains by American architect Mary Denman
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First Place - Tidal Terrains by American architect Mary Denman
Second Place - Embodied Homeostasis. Designer notes: "Architecture is still being built and formed to meet the demands of the tools of the first machine age and the spirit of mechanical mass production. The fact that today’s machines are not the ones Le Corbusier and his friends admired almost a century ago is being widely ignored. The project “embodied homeostasis” challenges this well-known hylomorphic approach in architecture and proposes a more morphogenetic strategy to create spaces by human interaction and its techno digital co-habitants."
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Second Place - Embodied Homeostasis. Designer notes: "Architecture is still being built and formed to meet the demands of the tools of the first machine age and the spirit of mechanical mass production. The fact that today’s machines are not the ones Le Corbusier and his friends admired almost a century ago is being widely ignored. The project “embodied homeostasis” challenges this well-known hylomorphic approach in architecture and proposes a more morphogenetic strategy to create spaces by human interaction and its techno digital co-habitants."
Second Place - Embodied Homeostasis by David Stieler
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Second Place - Embodied Homeostasis by David Stieler
Third Place - The Platform of Motion. Designer notes: "The Platform of Motion is a speculative design for Amazon distribution center at Brooklyn (3rd st 3rd ave), NY, USA. This is an architectural experimentation of looking at the future of amazon’s logistics center as an urban interface right at the moment when Amazon has the initiative to buy the Whole Foods Market and is planning to step in the online grocery services. To keep pace with the demands of “quick online deliveries”, physical spaces of existing logistics centers are being re-designed."
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Third Place - The Platform of Motion. Designer notes: "The Platform of Motion is a speculative design for Amazon distribution center at Brooklyn (3rd st 3rd ave), NY, USA. This is an architectural experimentation of looking at the future of amazon’s logistics center as an urban interface right at the moment when Amazon has the initiative to buy the Whole Foods Market and is planning to step in the online grocery services. To keep pace with the demands of “quick online deliveries”, physical spaces of existing logistics centers are being re-designed."
Third Place - The Platform of Motion by Nusrat Jahan Mim and Arman Salemi
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Third Place - The Platform of Motion by Nusrat Jahan Mim and Arman Salemi 
Special Recognition - Platinum City. Designer notes: "Born at the advent of the worlds first post-human industry of asteroid mining, sat proudly upon the surface of the Rosetta Asteroid located in the depths of a magnificent asteroid crater at the foot of the 1,700-meter high Putoran Mountains lies Platinum City! A pop up industrial city that embodies bio-mechanical characters within its urban fabric, Platinum City exists somewhere between a pristinely manicured garden and a well-oiled machine. Through constant energetic adjustments the biomechanical and majestic regolith architectures respond to stimulus of the celestial environment and develop solutions to scenarios as they arise in real time."
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Special Recognition - Platinum City. Designer notes: "Born at the advent of the worlds first post-human industry of asteroid mining, sat proudly upon the surface of the Rosetta Asteroid located in the depths of a magnificent asteroid crater at the foot of the 1,700-meter high Putoran Mountains lies Platinum City! A pop up industrial city that embodies bio-mechanical characters within its urban fabric, Platinum City exists somewhere between a pristinely manicured garden and a well-oiled machine. Through constant energetic adjustments the biomechanical and majestic regolith architectures respond to stimulus of the celestial environment and develop solutions to scenarios as they arise in real time."
Special Recognition - Platinum City by Sean Thomas Allen
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Special Recognition - Platinum City by Sean Thomas Allen 
Special Recognition - Surftopia. Designer notes: "Surftopia is born from the observation of human activity at the beaches. This temporary colonization is often determined by the use of umbrellas that deploy, acting as occupancy indicators. The proposal dialogues with the environment through a series of reactive masts that open and close like umbrellas depending on the amount of surfers using the beach. When closed they conform a field of vertical lines, that doesn´t obstruct the views and allows the use of the space in between them. However, when rented they deploy to accommodate a fully equipped living unit."
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Special Recognition - Surftopia. Designer notes: "Surftopia is born from the observation of human activity at the beaches. This temporary colonization is often determined by the use of umbrellas that deploy, acting as occupancy indicators. The proposal dialogues with the environment through a series of reactive masts that open and close like umbrellas depending on the amount of surfers using the beach. When closed they conform a field of vertical lines, that doesn´t obstruct the views and allows the use of the space in between them. However, when rented they deploy to accommodate a fully equipped living unit."
Surftopia by Eduardo Camarena Estébanez and María Urigoitia Villanueva received Special Recognition in this year's Laka Competition
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Surftopia by Eduardo Camarena Estébanez and María Urigoitia Villanueva received Special Recognition in this year's Laka Competition
Special Recognition - Volcano Lite. Designer notes: "VolcanoLite is a proposal for a buoyant research station that sustains itself through the distillation of volcanic gas abundant in the area. Gases ejected from the pyroclastic cone contains a higher concentration of helium when compared to normal atmospheric air. This excess helium can be extracted through the process of fractional distillation, and collected in an inflatable envelope. In this way, the upthrust created can be used to counter the weight of the structure, producing a buoyant architecture that neither exerts significant force onto the ground nor floats up into air."
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Special Recognition - Volcano Lite. Designer notes: "VolcanoLite is a proposal for a buoyant research station that sustains itself through the distillation of volcanic gas abundant in the area. Gases ejected from the pyroclastic cone contains a higher concentration of helium when compared to normal atmospheric air. This excess helium can be extracted through the process of fractional distillation, and collected in an inflatable envelope. In this way, the upthrust created can be used to counter the weight of the structure, producing a buoyant architecture that neither exerts significant force onto the ground nor floats up into air."
Special Recognition - Volcano Lite by Patorn Sangruchi
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Special Recognition - Volcano Lite by Patorn Sangruchi
Honorable Mention - Arctic Seed. Designer notes: "The proposed arctic seed is a tool for targeted and rigorous investigation in the harsh and ephemeral domain of the polar ice sheet. The proposal aims to enable the prerequisite scientific investigation which could elicit an overdue and imperative social change. Temporary and portable, the station can gather data from a range of sites, in advanced and otherwise difficult-to-access locations, without leaving detrimental impressions in the observed and documented landscapes."
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Honorable Mention - Arctic Seed. Designer notes: "The proposed arctic seed is a tool for targeted and rigorous investigation in the harsh and ephemeral domain of the polar ice sheet. The proposal aims to enable the prerequisite scientific investigation which could elicit an overdue and imperative social change. Temporary and portable, the station can gather data from a range of sites, in advanced and otherwise difficult-to-access locations, without leaving detrimental impressions in the observed and documented landscapes."
Honorable Mention - Arctic Seed by David James Morgan
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Honorable Mention - Arctic Seed by David James Morgan
Honorable Mention - Lotus. Designer notes: "Lotus is an architectural monument that cultivates onus and stewardship regarding the cities freshwater, while emphasizing water experientially to increase quality of life in the urban core. Though technological processes are intrinsic when discussing a strategy for urban water sustainability, it will play a minor factor in the overall design. Lotus seeks to strengthen public awareness of the fragility of Urban Fresh Water. The design looks to increase governmental transparency, monumentally showcasing the cities effort to maintain fresh-water supply."
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Honorable Mention - Lotus. Designer notes: "Lotus is an architectural monument that cultivates onus and stewardship regarding the cities freshwater, while emphasizing water experientially to increase quality of life in the urban core.  Though technological processes are intrinsic when discussing a strategy for urban water sustainability, it will play a minor factor in the overall design.  Lotus seeks to strengthen public awareness of the fragility of Urban Fresh Water.  The design looks to increase governmental transparency, monumentally showcasing the cities effort to maintain fresh-water supply."
Honorable Mention - Lotus. Designer notes: "Lotus is an architectural monument that cultivates onus and stewardship regarding the cities freshwater, while emphasizing water experientially to increase quality of life in the urban core. Though technological processes are intrinsic when discussing a strategy for urban water sustainability, it will play a minor factor in the overall design. Lotus seeks to strengthen public awareness of the fragility of Urban Fresh Water. The design looks to increase governmental transparency, monumentally showcasing the cities effort to maintain fresh-water supply."
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Honorable Mention - Lotus. Designer notes: "Lotus is an architectural monument that cultivates onus and stewardship regarding the cities freshwater, while emphasizing water experientially to increase quality of life in the urban core.  Though technological processes are intrinsic when discussing a strategy for urban water sustainability, it will play a minor factor in the overall design.  Lotus seeks to strengthen public awareness of the fragility of Urban Fresh Water.  The design looks to increase governmental transparency, monumentally showcasing the cities effort to maintain fresh-water supply."
Honorable Mention - Lotus by Christopher Pin and Timothy Lai
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Honorable Mention - Lotus by Christopher Pin and Timothy Lai 
Honorable Mention - GlazeNet. Designer notes: "GlazeNet is high tech flying robot that is capable of ejecting excess heat out of the atmosphere in the form of infrared rays and in the same time can cool down the surface of the glacier so it reduces the process of melting."
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Honorable Mention - GlazeNet. Designer notes: "GlazeNet is high tech flying robot that is capable of ejecting excess heat out of the atmosphere in the form of infrared rays and in the same time can cool down the surface of the glacier so it reduces the process of melting."
Honorable Mention - Cactus Pavilion. Designer notes: "The project is defined as a double-sided statement. On the one hand, it presents a real constructive experience regarding experimental lightweight Architecture. This experience involves in-depth research around Advanced Geometry, Digital Fabrication and ephemeral architecture applied to heritage, along the lines of low-cost construction and environmental concerns. On the other hand, the proposal advances in the exploration of adaptive envelopes, reactive materials, and the continuity of geometric development towards the use of quasi-developable and responsive surfaces in Architecture."
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Honorable Mention - Cactus Pavilion. Designer notes: "The project is defined as a double-sided statement. On the one hand, it presents a real constructive experience regarding experimental lightweight Architecture. This experience involves in-depth research around Advanced Geometry, Digital Fabrication and ephemeral architecture applied to heritage, along the lines of low-cost construction and environmental concerns. On the other hand, the proposal advances in the exploration of adaptive envelopes, reactive materials, and the continuity of geometric development towards the use of quasi-developable and responsive surfaces in Architecture."
Honorable Mention - Cactus Pavilion by Andrés Martín-Pastor and Francisco González-Quintial
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Honorable Mention - Cactus Pavilion by Andrés Martín-Pastor and Francisco González-Quintial 
Honorable Mention - Ground Re-Activator. Designer notes: "The reactivator placed in a high-risk zone helps to prevent landslides and protects crops and infrastructure at the bottom of the hill. It slowly filtrates nutrients in the ground and captures soil that may slide from the top. At the same time, it provides to farmers and local communities basins where specific useful plants grow naturally."
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Honorable Mention - Ground Re-Activator. Designer notes: "The reactivator placed in a high-risk zone helps to prevent landslides and protects crops and infrastructure at the bottom of the hill. It slowly filtrates nutrients in the ground and captures soil that may slide from the top. At the same time, it provides to farmers and local communities basins where specific useful plants grow naturally."
Honorable Mention - Ground Re-Activator by Alice Tasca, Francesco Stassi, Zeno Riondato, Giacomo Zambon and Eric Mutabazi Kayijuka
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Honorable Mention - Ground Re-Activator by Alice Tasca, Francesco Stassi, Zeno Riondato, Giacomo Zambon and Eric Mutabazi Kayijuka
Honorable Mention - Sound Pods. Designer notes: "Sound Pods give freedom back to all musicians Sound Pods provide an alternative solution to these restriction by providing a welcoming and respectful environment for performers and speakers of all kinds, while maintaining an appropriate environment for residents and workers who desire peace and quiet."
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Honorable Mention - Sound Pods. Designer notes: "Sound Pods give freedom back to all musicians Sound Pods provide an alternative solution to these restriction by providing a welcoming and respectful environment for performers and speakers of all kinds, while maintaining an appropriate environment for residents and workers who desire peace and quiet."
Honorable Mention - Sound Pods by Dan Liu
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Honorable Mention - Sound Pods by Dan Liu
Honorable Mention - Sound Pods by Dan Liu
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Honorable Mention - Sound Pods by Dan Liu
Honorable Mention - Crisis Shelter for All. Designer notes: "When disasters come in sudden, safety of life is the first priority. If there is no place to escape, no buildings to hide, do we still have options? Is the only thing we can do is waiting for death? This is what happens to people who live in the rural area all around the world. To solve this problem, we designed this disaster shelter that can react to the multiform of disasters. All components can be taken apart and carried by small vehicles."
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Honorable Mention - Crisis Shelter for All. Designer notes: "When disasters come in sudden, safety of life is the first priority. If there is no place to escape, no buildings to hide, do we still have options? Is the only thing we can do is waiting for death? This is what happens to people who live in the rural area all around the world. To solve this problem, we designed this disaster shelter that can react to the multiform of disasters. All components can be taken apart and carried by small vehicles."
Honorable Mention - Crisis Shelter for All by Zhiyong Wang and Zihao Wang
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Honorable Mention - Crisis Shelter for All by Zhiyong Wang and Zihao Wang
Honorable Mention - Crisis Shelter for All by Zhiyong Wang and Zihao Wang
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Honorable Mention - Crisis Shelter for All by Zhiyong Wang and Zihao Wang
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The winners of the 2018 Laka Competition have been revealed, collecting an exciting array of strange and innovative conceptual designs that focus on providing architectural or technological solutions to current environmental or social problems.

The Laka Competition is subtitled "Architecture that Reacts" and the main thrust of the contest is to celebrate designs that, "are capable of dynamic interaction with their surroundings." This is the fourth year the competition has been running and the winners, selected from 130 designs spanning more than 30 countries, are as innovative, experimental and mind-bending as ever.

First Place - Tidal Terrains. Designer notes: "The proposal incorporates programs such as swimming, the agricultural farming of algae, restaurants and boulevards into a floating park typology which embraces water and encourages access to make it once again a sociable, livable part of the city. Within these programs, the landscape integrates a cycle in which algae, wastewater and atmospheric CO2 is converted to energy, food products and clean water. As such, this means that the dirty water of the Thames River becomes an asset to produce energy, rather than a commodity to be expensively processed."
First Place - Tidal Terrains. Designer notes: "The proposal incorporates programs such as swimming, the agricultural farming of algae, restaurants and boulevards into a floating park typology which embraces water and encourages access to make it once again a sociable, livable part of the city. Within these programs, the landscape integrates a cycle in which algae, wastewater and atmospheric CO2 is converted to energy, food products and clean water. As such, this means that the dirty water of the Thames River becomes an asset to produce energy, rather than a commodity to be expensively processed."

The top prize in this year's competition went to American architect Mary Denman, for a fascinating piece entitled Tidal Terrains. The project considers the inevitable nature of rising global sea levels and proposes a hypothetical structure on the Thames River in London. The buoyant structure joins both sides of the rive with a landscape spanning restaurants, boulevards and algae farms.

Other highlights selected by the judges for special mentions include the remarkable Platinum City from Sean Thomas Allen, an industry city conceived as an asteroid mine; VolcanoLite, a buoyant research station that can harvest helium ejected from volcanos allowing for a semi-permanent structure to sit above unstable ground; and Surftopia, a beach-pod structure that expands when needed for human habitation and contracts when unoccupied.

Special Recognition - Platinum City by Sean Thomas Allen
Special Recognition - Platinum City by Sean Thomas Allen 

The Laka Competition is perhaps one of the more heavily academic and conceptual architectural competitions around, however, it always presents a vast array of innovative designs that push the limits of what we would define as a building.

Take a look through our gallery at the winners and some honorable mentions from this year's competition.

Source: Laka Competition

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