cal Competition Brief

8/3/2019 cal Competition Brief

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COMPETITION BRIEF
http://www.architecture.com.au/http://www.canberra100.com.au/http://www.act.gov.au/http://australia.gov.au/


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INTROduCTION

Canberra is Australias national capital. Discussion about a new capital began in the 1890s, beore

Federation, with many towns and cities across the continent ancying their chances and promoting

their wares. But Section 125 o the new Constitution changed all thatthe capital would be in NSW,

at least 100 miles rom Sydney. The Battle o the Sites was on in earnest in the Mother Colony

amidst lengthy, sophisticated debate about the kind o capital city that should be created.

Extensive surveys were conducted during 1909-10, and once the broad Federal Capital Territory

borders were established, the land ceded rom NSW and the new Territory created on 1 January

1911, the decision was soon taken to hold an international competition to design the new capital.

The competition was launched on 30 April 1911 hence our launch o this competition 100 years

later. Walter Burley Grin (working closely with his wie and proessional partner, Marion Mahony

Grin) was announced as the winner a year later, on 23 May 1912, and on 12 March 1913, the wie

o the Governor General o the time, Lady Denman, ceremonially pronounced that the place shall

be called Canberra. This date is now celebrated each year as Canberras birthday and it will come

into sharp ocus in the Centenary year, 2013.

As Canberra recognises a succession o centenary moments in the build-up to 2013, it is timely to

consider the actors and inuences that led to the citys creation. The CAPITheticAL competition

invites designers rom a broad range o disciplines to review Canberras history and imagine

how an Australian national capital might be created in the 21st century. We expect proposals to

demonstrate an awareness o the national capitals rich history.

Canberra has undergone many changes over the last century and surveys reveal that, despite the

odd grumble, the overwhelming majority o Australians like their capital and enjoy visiting, working,

living and bringing their big ideas here. CAPITeticAL seeks to revisit the kind o lively dialogue that

was happening one hundred years ago, and to see how that dialogue plays out in the 21st century.

It seeks to provoke the very best thinking and practice around 21st century planning and design,

noting how closely the team led by Romaldo Giurgola responded to the Grins (and their visionary

plan) when designing the new Parliament Housewhich celebrates its 25th anniversary in 2013.


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We expect participants in CAPITeticAL to oer widely diverging paths in this hypothetical

exercise and we encourage everyone to be as creative and imaginative as they wish when

initiating a dialogue around the genuine needs, concerns, conditions and demands o the 21stcentury and beyond.

CAPITeticAL invites responses to many questions, including:

WouldyoubuildanewcapitaltodayorcouldtheAustralianFederationbeexpressedina

dierent way?

Woulditbeacityintheconventionalsenseornot?Ifnot,whatformmightittake?

Whatideaswoulddriveitsdesignanddevelopment?

Howwould21stcenturysocial,politicalandenvironmentalfactorsinuencethenature

o the city?

Ofwhatshouldournationalcapitalconsist?

Entries should demonstrate knowledge o the debates, inuences and processes that led to the

competition in 191112 or the design o Canberra as Australias national capital. Participants should

be inormed by an understanding o the history and design o other planned capital cities - realised,

unrealised and proposed.


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OBjECTIvEs

The objectives o the CAPITeticAL design competition are:

Toencouragethebestinnovativecurrentthinkingaboutcitymakinginthishypothetical

capital city context.

Toexamineandunderstandtheforcesthatinformedthedecisionsonthelocation,siting,

design and development o Canberra as Australias capital.

Toexplorehowanationalcapitalengageswithitsnationandhowthiscontributesto

reinorcing national pride.

Topromotecollaborationbetweenthediverserangeofdisciplinesthatengageincity

making and urban design.

Tospeculateonthefutureofcitiesandtheroleofanationscapitalinthe21stcentury

and beyond.

Tocriticallyexaminehowacapitalanditsarchitectureexpressnationhoodandserve

national government, while simultaneously providing or the needs o its residents.

PROgRAM

The timeline or this two-stage design competition is:

Competition announcement, registrations open 06 May 2011

The period or lodging questions closes 30 August 2011

Responses to any questions placed on the competition web site,

and online entry system becomes available

30 September 2011

Stage 1 submission due 31 January 2012

Short-listed submissions announced 23 May 2012

Stage 2 submissions due 30 November 2012

Prize winners announced March 2013

Selected submissions will orm part o a curated exhibition to be

held in Canberra.

March 2013


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CAPITeticAL dEsIgN PARAMETERs

KEy PROPOsITION

Between Federation in 1901 and the selection o the national capital site in 1908, various pressures

particular to the concerns and conditions o the time inuenced Canberras establishment and

growth. Today, those pressures seem less compelling.

This competition, a hypothetical, invites participants to re-imagine the task aced by those whose

job it was to decide how the capital would be created.

Whatkindsofpressuresandinuenceswouldtherebeifthecitywerebeingplannedtoday?

Arethererelevantsecurityconcernsthatwouldinuencethelocationanddesignofanational

capital today?

Canthedesignandlocationofacityinuenceclarity,compassionandproductivityinthethinking o Governments and political representatives?

Whatinuencewouldclimatechangehave?

Canthedesignofacityinuencethelifeandworkofitsresidents?

CRITERIA

Submissions are invited that reveal, through hypothetical proposition, creative connections with

the circumstances o the national capitals establishment. Thus:

entriesshoulddemonstrateknowledgeoftheoriginaldebatesandissuesthatledtodesign

competition or a new capital;

participantsshouldbeinformedbyanunderstandingofthehistoryanddesignofotherplanned

capital cities (realised, unrealised and proposed);

thecompetitioninvitesparticipantstorespondtoquestions,amongthem:

- would you build a new capital today?

- Would it be a city in the conventional sense?

- What ideas would drive its design and development?

- How will 21st century cultural, social, political and environmental actors inuence the

nature o the city?

- Ofwhatshouldournationalcapitalconsist?


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CAPITeticAL PROvOCATIONs

The ollowing provocations are prompts, potential ways o creating a space or thinking through

the consequences o bringing Canberras past history into our present and very dierent world.

What kind o national capital would we imagine now?

NATIONAL vERsus LOCAL

The architecture o a capital is imposing as an expression o nationhood and heritage, values

and aspirations. How then should such a city express itsel as a place where people also live,

work and play?

sIzE

Australia is the worlds most urbanised nation, with 57% o its population living in the fve largest

cities. This fgure is close to double that o Europe and the USA. Should a hypothetical capital haveambitions as a sixth metropolis?

WhAT

What is a city?

event?

infrastructure?

home?

market?

government? landscape?

sustainability?

object?

experience?

commerce?

community?

communication?

Is a capital city dierent?

WhOsE

Does our changing demographic inuence the shape, substance or style o the city?

hOW

Do social, political and environmental pressures and expectations inuence how an Australian

capital might be created today?


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COPyRIghT

Participants in CAPITeticAL will retain copyright o any original material, designs or ideas

developed by the participant. The Proponent o CAPITeticAL Design Ideas Competition may onlyuse any o the submitted material or the purposes o

activitiesrelatedtotheCentenaryofCanberra;

promotionofthecompetitionandtheresults;

publicationofentriesinthecompetition;

publicationandadvertisingassociatedwiththeexhibition;and

theexhibitionofselectedentries.

The proponent reserves the right to donate any or all entries to a National Institution or other

relevant Australian archival body. By entering this competition participants agree to these condition.

MORAL RIghTs

Each participant must clearly defne the orm o attribution to be included with the submissions

selected or the exhibition, where applicable. Agreed attribution will also be included in any other

public use o the designs, such as promotional posters, booklets or brochures.

hOW ANd WhERE TO suBMIT ENTRIEs

Hard copy submissions are to be delivered by the closing date to:

The Australian Institute o Architects

ACT Chapter

2a Mugga Way

Red Hill ACT 2603

Digital submissions are to be lodged by the closing date through the CAPITeticAL website.

Submission instructions will be provided to all registered participants by 30 September 2011.


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ANONyMITy

Upon registration, each participant or team o participants will be issued with a discrete number

which is to be used as the only identiying mark on each component part o the submission.

A separate sealed envelope with the participants discrete number only on the outside is to be

securely attached to the submission at the time that it is submitted.

Full details o the participant or each member o the participating team are to be provided inside

the sealed envelope.

The inormation provided in the sealed envelope or each participant or each member o a

participating team must include;

abriefbiography(1xA4page)and

aheadandshouldersdigitalphotograph(onaCDRom).

Where the submission is lodged entirely online the biography and photo are to also be lodged

online through the CAPITeticAL website www.capithetical.com.au

Participants are responsible or ensuring that entries are securely wrapped and identifed only by

the entrants registration number.

All parts o multiple-part entries must be clearly identifed as part X o Y, with each part also

identifed only by the entrants registration number.

At the discretion o the Jury, ailure to comply with this requirement may result in a submission

not being considered.


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ELIgIBILITy

The competition is open to individuals and collaborative design teams o proessionals, students

and recent graduates in architecture, planning, engineering, landscape architecture and urban

design, as well as artists, environmentalists and other suitably qualifed design proessionals

with a passion or cities and urban culture.

REgIsTRATION

Register to enter the competition at www.capithetical.com.au.

There is no charge to participate in this competition.

PRIzEsMore than $100,000 has been provided or prizes in the competition.

The frst prize will be to the minimum value o $70,000.

Design students are encouraged to enter the competition, individually or in groups, and the Jury

may award a student prize with a value o up to $10,000 where high quality submissions are

received rom design students.

The prizes may include non-cash benefts such as travel and accommodation.

Where the quality o submissions is high and more than one submission merits an award, the Jury

may award other prizes, commendations or honourable mentions.

I a short listed entrant is asked to urther develop their submission the Jury may recommend the

payment o a small ee to the participant.

quEsTIONs

Any questions rom participants in the competition are to be directed to

[email protected] and all questions and responses will be made available to all

participants via the competition web site.


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ThE sELECTION OF ThE sITE FOR CANBERRA

A BRIEF BACKgROuNd FOR ENTRANTs

The selection o Canberra as the site or Australias national capital occurred at the end o a process

that took years (1902-8) to resolve. It involved no less than seven Commonwealth Governments,

fve NSW Governments, two Royal Commissions, nine Commonwealth Ministers or Home Aairs,

our lapsed Bills and three Acts o the Commonwealth Parliament. The process did not come

easily. It was exhaustive, contested, controversial and, in its way, a triumph or the young Australian

democracy. Compromises abounded: between high-powered colonial delegations, between

NSW and Victoria, between NSW and the other States, even between canny, motivated individual

politicians. All but one o the ormer colonies had had their own constitutions or some fty years.

They were not about to give up political advantage easily. Debate was also driven by the ambition

o existing towns determined to become the national capital, and oten promoted by the local

Member o Parliament. Many sites were considered, among them:

LakeGeorge

Albury

Orange

Bombala

Tumut

Armidale

Lyndhurst

Cooma

Dalgety,and

theYass/Canberradistrict

While the Snowy River hamlet o Dalgety was the chosen site in a Seat o Government Act in 1904,

it was almost immediately dismissed by the NSW Premier o the day, Joseph Carruthers.

Several more years would pass beore the region known as Yass/Canberra was fnally chosen in

desperately close votes in both the House o Representatives and the Senate.

The capital was required to have a plentiul resh water supply and a sea port, mainly because sea

transport was, at the time, the only means o international travel, and the export o agriculturalproduce was vital to the developing Australian economy. During the early years o the selection

process, security concerns, an overwhelming community desire to see the capital located in a cold

climate and the possibility o invasion were also inuences.

In the key years, 1907-8, all seriously considered sites were located some distance rom the coast.


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sOME suggEsTEd REAdINg

www.canberra100.com.au www.idealcity.org.au

Canberra1912,PlansandPlannersoftheAustralianCapitalCompetition,JohnWReps,1997

TheBushCapital,RogerPegrum,1983

Canberra,Yesterday,TodayandTomorrow,SirJohnOverall,1995

CanberraFollowingGrin,PaulReid,2002

TheSymbolicRoleoftheNationalCapital,DavidHeadon,2003

TheGrinLegacy,NationalCapitalAuthority,2004

Canberra,CityintheLandscape,KenTaylor,2006

NationalCapitalAuthority,AnnualReports2006,2007,2008


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ThE juRy

The members o the Jury or the CAPITeticAL design competition are:

PROFEssOR ALAsTAIR sWAyN

Proessor Alastair Swayn is an Award-winning architect and the frst appointed ACT Government

Architect. He is recognised as a leading architect in the ACT and amongst the nations leaders in

sustainable design. Since 1981, Proessor Swayn has been the Director in charge o Daryl Jackson

Alastair Swayn Pty Ltd Architects. Alastair Swayn is also an appointed Proessorial Fellow at the

University o Canberra.

Proessor Swayn and his team have won multiple awards or an incredibly varied portolio o works

which include the Brindabella Business Park at Canberra Airport, the Australian Institute o Sportsvisitorcentre,grandstandandswimminghall,theCSIRODiscoveryCentreatBlackMountain,

Lake Ginninderra College, Bonython Primary School and the oces o the Department o

Prime Minister and Cabinet.

PROFEssOR BARBARA NORMAN

Proessor Barbara Norman is the Head o Discipline, Urban and Regional Planning and Foundation

Chair, Urban and Regional Planning at the University o Canberra. She is Lie Fellow and past

national president, Planning Institute o Australia; Australian Centenary Medal Member, national

CoastalandClimateChangeCouncilMember,nationalstakeholderadvisorygrouptotheCSIROClimate Adaptation Flagship and Deputy Chair, Regional Development Australia (ACT). Proessor

Norman is the Co-director o Canberra Urban and Regional Futures (CURF). She has extensive

experience in the public sector at all levels o government including senior executive roles in the

ACT Government. She has also run her own consultancy.

Proessor Norman advises the public and private sector in Australia and has strong international

linkages within Asia, Europe and the United States. Her research interests include coastal planning;

sustainable cities, urban and regional planning; climate change adaptation; coastal and urban

governance. Proessor Norman has a particular interest in coastal adaptation and regional planning

in the context o sustainability and climate change and is also an author o a number o publications.

COuNCILLOR jOhN MCINERNEy

John McInerney is an Architect and Town Planner with special interests in transport and heritage.

He is a past National President o the Planning Institute o Australia, ormer Manager o Planning

or the City o Sydney and City o Melbourne and the ACT Commissioner or Land and Planning

1997-2004. John is committed to overhauling city planning instruments, developing his concept

o Sydney a City o Villages and implementing an integrated transport strategy with

emphasis on light rail and pedestrian/bike paths.


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dR CAThERIN BuLL AM

Dr Catherin Bull, MLArch (Melbourne), DrDes (Harvard), AM FAILA MAICD is Emeritus Proessor

o Landscape Architecture at the University o Melbourne and Adjunct Proessor at QUT. She hasled national and international consultancies in landscape architecture and urban design, been a

Commissioner in the Land and Environment Court o NSW and has been an academic or over

20 years, teaching, researching and supervising doctoral students, most recently as the Elisabeth

Murdoch Proessor o Landscape Architecture. She has published two books and over 50 papers

in Australia and internationally. As an advocate or better quality planning and design she chairs

and serves on planning and design review panels and boards across Australia, advising government

andindustryonopenspaceandurbandesignmatters.ShewasmadeamemberoftheOrderof

Australia in 2009 in recognition o her contribution to landscape architecture and urban design.

CALLuM MORTON

Callum Morton studied Architecture and Urban Planning at The Royal Melbourne Institute o

Technology (RMIT) beore completing a BA in Fine Art at Victoria College Melbourne in 1988 and

an MFA in Sculpture at RMIT in 1999. He has been a lecturer and instructor at numerous institutions

since 1996 including; The Art Center College o Design in Pasadena, in Los Angeles, Deakin

University, Royal Melbourne Institute o Technology, The University o Melbourne and The Victorian

College o the Arts. His work has been exhibited in solo shows at the Santa Monica Museum o Art,

LosAngeles(1999),TommyLundGallery,Copenhagen(2000),RoslynOxley9Gallery(2001,2006,

2009), Anna Schwartz Gallery, Melbourne (2002, 2006 and 2009), The National Gallery o Victoria,

Australia, at Federation Square (2003),The Museum o Contemporary Art in Sydney (2003), GimpelFils,London(2004),GOMA(2010)andatTheAustralianCentreforContemporaryArt(2005).

In 2007 Morton was one o three artists to represent Australia at the Venice Biennale. In 2009 he

completed the pavilion Grotto or the Fundament Foundation in Tilburg, the Netherlands and he

recently completed a major outdoor commission or the new premises o MUMA in Melbourne.

In 2011 his work will be the subject o a retrospective at the Heide Museum o Modern Art.

Te eciion reace b te jr are fnal an binin on all participant.

No olicitation will be coniere. A participant ma be ialife i e/e commnicate

wit te proponent repreentatie, ror or an oter conltant inole in te competition

(rearin te competition).


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CAPITheticAL is proudly supported by:
http://www.engineersaustralia.org.au/http://fcms.its.utas.edu.au/scieng/arch/http://www.utsarchitecture.net/http://www.deakin.edu.au/scitech/ab/http://www.nzia.co.nz/http://soa.anu.edu.au/http://www.architecture.rmit.edu.au/http://www.canberra.edu.au/faculties/arts-design/http://www.qut.edu.au/http://www.unisa.edu.au/artarchitecturedesign/http://www.planning.org.au/http://www.aila.org.au/http://buildingsmart.org.au/http://www.craftaustralia.org.au/http://www.consultaustralia.com.au/http://www.dia.org.au/http://www.alva.uwa.edu.au/http://www.artdes.monash.edu.au/http://www.fbe.unsw.edu.au/http://sydney.edu.au/architecture/

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cal Competition Brief