1st place – ID0001240 - Team: Piotr Pietras, Veronica Camuncoli; City: Lund; Country: Sweden

 

“The proposal reorders and structures the cities with innovative solutions very connected to the recent past. The buildings have a large range of detail in their composition elements and in their different scales. The somewhat conservative reference is equally attractive and well-worked.” Joanna Helm, arq.

 

“The proposal is based on an inspiring interpretation of handling density in complex urban settings, which also aims to minimize buildings’ impact on natural environments. The way the project interprets precedents and takes them further by speculating on the future of cities is appreciated. The versatility of individual “city floors” within the proposed system promises variations in urban settings with different requirements, which forms another important aspect of the design. Finally, keeping the limited time available in mind, the proposal has successfully been developed and elaborated to present its speculative scenario for prospective urban settings.” Onur Ozkoc, arq.

 

“Looking forward to Ct you, takes on the grand issue of densification while maintaining the urged quality of life. Light, air and a close relation to green nature is the remedy, so they stack the city to make space on the ground. I really like the ambitious thought of solving this through simple organization, solving the city as you would a building. The proposal is very elegantly communicated.” Martin Smedsrud, arq.

 

“The proposal has managed to create the perfect urban community in scale, diversity, legibility and organization. At the same time, it manages to propose a solution for solving a rational and effective mass production of communities on a macro level. It shows an understanding for the important, and at times dystopian, visions of the utopias from the last century, and combines them with a delicate solution for city design on a human scale. Prototyping the perfect city within a framework that can allow adjustment and local adaptation, stacked in mega structures that can inhabit any context and be scaled to infinity.” Arne Reisegg, arq.

 

“More than nine decades after first presented by Le Corbusier, the city of the Modern Movement still lives and thrives in our imagination: tabula rasa, implicit confidence in philosophical positivism and faith in technological progressivism.

How dense can we make the city? How clean? How tall? How fast can we move around it? In sum, what is the best city (future) technology can build? The Horizontal City is a powerful and neat proposal that skillfully answers all those questions with a good dose of optimism. It borrows heavily and uncritically from its Modern—and even pre-Modern—precedents, and it is perhaps that lack of criticism that pushes it forward making it somehow credible, and subtly disquieting.” Alvaro Bonfiglio, arq.

 

 

2nd Place – ID000730 - Team: Francisco José Vannini, Emiliano Barbeito, María Candela Parra; City: Villa Carlos Paz; Country: Argentina

 

“A solution that responds to a close contingent, with connections that adapts the technologies to aN utopian city.

 The central element of the city is renovated and transported through virtual reality is at last an interesting, creative and re-based element of the concept of the ancient Agora.

It is a simple proposal, static, without great aesthetic variations, which in the meantime is closer to a possible future reality.” Joanna Helm, arq.

 

“The project’s unique approach to merge the virtual and physical worlds in a single proposal is rather exciting, however, the project may benefit from a deeper investigation of the possibilities and extents imposed by digital media on individual’s lives. The brilliant proposal for coexistence in both realms may also benefit from eliminating direct references such as taking a circuit board as a model for “city growing concept.” Onur Ozkoc, arq.

 

“Over-linked takes augmented reality to city planning. The city center as what we want it to be, not on a personal level, but as something the public can experience together. It’s an intriguing thought, and nicely presented.” Martin Smedsrud, arq.

 

“The proposal focuses on a traditional mixed city ideal in combination with a utopia of futuristic connectivity and virtual experience. Although it is not scalable to address a larger demand for housing in an urban context, it could be copied and linked to create a cluster of mini cities.” Arne Reisegg, arq.

 

“Nowadays, we interact with the built environment through a mixture of real relationships and virtual connections: we search for a good coffee shop by checking maps over the smartphone, or we chat with friends in a bar while asking other friends to join us through some social media application. Or, we can even find specific sets of information overlaid directly on the camera feed of our smartphones through the use of augmented reality. The Over-Linked proposal tries and explores with great insight and craftsmanship these real, virtual and mixed reality environments, this is, the virtual continuum, at a city scale. Its main urban space, the QR Center–which is somewhat close to Star Trek’s holodeck–is actually a void ready to be filled with imaginary and fantastic worlds. Here, the traditional ceremonial, monumental and representative center of the city becomes a virtual playground. The possibilities are endless.” Alvaro Bonfiglio, arq.

 

3rd PLace – ID000580 - Team: Konstantin Golovnev, Ekaterina Limonova, Sergey Izko; City: Saint-Petersburg; Country: Russian Federation

 

“A proposal of conformation of utopian city that has responded with intelligence according to the requirements of the contest.

The solution of independent modules that are connected and that are in constant movement, is delicate and sensitive. Structures are grouped and separated by deconstructing the concept of boundaries, creating mutable and constantly moving cities.

The modules of occupation were well thought out and developed and the proposal explains well the mechanisms of operation and interconnectivity between spaces and the infinite possibilities of organization of cells. A simple proposal, which presents a futuristic rereading of beehive cities.” Joanna Helm, arq.

 

“The project successfully interprets cities as plug-in stations for mobile units. Variation in the layouts of individual units, and consideration of urban zones as a result of mobile units’ configurations are well elaborated to convey the main idea. In short, the alternative scenario of moving cities and stations forms an interesting contribution to the discussions on the future of cities.” Onur Ozkoc, arq.

 

““ Cities appear by the will of certain people to live together for a while on a particular territory” - The proposal redefines the city in an ideal world where you get to choose your

belonging. No strings attached.” Martin Smedsrud, arq.

 

“The proposal takes an interesting position in the discussion around countries vs cities for future power centers, and the possible changeability of the urban environment. The movable cells support the idea of the city as an organism, and a future society without borders.” Arne Reisegg, arq.

 

“Natural Born Nomads. This proposal generates a fantastic response to a simple thesis: Humans are roamers, and whenever the species reaches the necessary level of technological development, it will naturally evolve towards a nomadic society. Thus, this project feels closer to an exercise of prospective science-fiction than an urban design proposal, because in fact, there will be no cities. In the future, total mobility is achieved through drone-like dwelling units, which are capable of forming ad-hoc cluster compounds: always changing, always moving. Ready to fly to the next destination, looking for better weather, companion, or services.” Alvaro Bonfiglio, arq.

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*Some rererences: Ville Radieuse, Le Corbusier; Broadacre City, Frank Lloyd Wright, Garden Citie, Ebenezer Howard