The Laka Foundation has launched its fifth edition of Laka Competition 2020: Architecture That Reacts. The subject of the competition is architectural, urban, technological, or product design that is capable of dynamic interaction with its social, natural, or built surroundings. Laka invites designers from around the world to submit their ideas of "architecture that reacts."

The main focus of the competition is on solutions developed through a process of changes and adjustments. Achieving such a goal requires an interdisciplinary approach that often goes beyond typical solutions. The winning projects from the previous editions often took advantages from disciplines such as robotics, mechanics, digital fabrication, biodesign and biofabrication, computational design, materials science, bioarchitecture, social sciences, industrial design, mobility, and more. The participants are free to decide the project’s location, scale, size, and program.

Jury 

Claudia Pasquero (architect, researcher, lecturer, cofounder of ecoLogicStudio)

David Benjamin (founder and principal of The Living, professor at Columbia GSAPP)

Daan Roosegaarde (artist, innovator, founder of Studio Roosegaarde)

Emma van der Leest (bio-designer, product designer, founder of the BlueCity lab)

Elizabeth Monoian (artist, founding director of LAGI, cofounder of Studied Impact)

Robert Ferry (architect, founding director of LAGI and Studied Impact)

Dr. Peter Kuczia (architect, initiator and curator of the Design that Educates Awards)

Awards

Main prizes and honorable mentions will be selected. The winner for the year 2020 and the laureates of the main prizes will be awarded additional cash prizes and invited to present their projects during the ‘Architecture in Foyer 2020’ conference at the Solarlux Campus (Melle, Germany) on April 23–24, 2020 (learn more about the conference at Design Educates). Laureates of all recognitions will be presented on Laka’s websites, promoted via Laka's network of partners, and included in future publications related to the competition ‘Architecture that Reacts.’ Moreover, the best projects will be exhibited during ‘Architecture in Foyer 2020.’

Certificates

Winner for the year 2020

Laureate of Gold Prize

Laureate of Silver Prize

Laureate of Bronze Prize

Honorable mention

Financial compensations

1250 USD: Winner for the year 2020*

625 USD: Laureate of Gold Prize**

625 USD: Laureate of Silver Prize**

625 USD: Laureate of Bronze Prize**

Organizer will pay the 20% tax on awards in Poland.

*Net values after taxation: *1000 USD; **500 USD.

Exhibition

The projects of the winners, laureates of the main prizes, and honorable mentions will be exhibited during the ‘Architecture in Foyer 2020’ conference at the Solarlux campus in Germany on April 23–24, 2020. The winner for 2020 and the laureates of the main prizes will have an opportunity to present their designs during the ceremony.

Press packages

Laureates of all recognitions will be presented on Laka’s websites, promoted via Laka's network of partners, and included in future publications related to the competition ‘Architecture that Reacts.’ 

Moreover, the best projects will be exhibited during the ‘Architecture in Foyer 2020’ conference in Germany. The organizer will send out a press release to partners, media partners, and media sponsors after the announcement of the results.

Nominations

Nominations are an additional channel of access to the awards. Designers who receive a nomination are invited to register for the awards and submit their projects. In this way, the most interesting examples of architecture that reacts are already awarded the label of 'nomination' and moreover have a chance to compete for the main prizes. The nominations are sent out by the organizer until the deadline for registrations specified in the awards' schedule.

Join the "responsive design" category in the "Design that Educates Awards 2020"

In 2019, the Laka Competition ‘Architecture that Reacts’ celebrates its fifth edition! Together with the curators of the ‘Design that Educates Awards 2020’ (DtEA), Laka introduced a new category of submissions dedicated to responsive solutions in architecture, design, and technology. 

The aim is to boost the promotion of the best ideas, find more synergies between Laka Foundation’s programs, and provide more opportunities for participants. Learn more about the ‘Design that Educates Awards’ and the category of "responsive design" at Design Educates. 

Join

Laka invites everyone interested in the mission of the competition to submit their ideas.The participants are free to decide the project’s location, scale, size, and program and are encouraged to look for interdisciplinary solutions. Participants may submit multiple projects; each entry must be registered separately. There is no limit as to the number of participants per team. Individual entries are allowed. Interdisciplinary teams are encouraged to join.

Evaluation criteria

Entries will be evaluated based on the criteria of (1) overall idea and implementation; (2) an ability to respond to social, economic, or environmental changes; (3) the design’s level of social and environmental engagement; (4) a relationship to a specific social, natural, and built context; (5) the design’s level of flexibility and adaptability; (6) an innovative use of technology and sustainable systems; and (7) the design’s level of self-sufficiency. The submitted ideas should refer to the competition theme. Join the competition at Laka Reacts. 

Team of professionals:Early 100 USD; Regular 125 USD; Late 150 USD

Individual professional:Early 75 USD; Regular 100 USD; Late 125 USD

Team of students:Early 50 USD; Regular 75 USD; Late 100 USD

Individual student:Early 25 USD; Regular 50 USD; Late 75 USD

Submission requirements

The submission consists of the 3 following files:

(1) A single graphical board 24 inches (h) × 48 inches (w), named “Design.jpg”:

- saved as a JPG file in RGB mode, in horizontal format with 150 dpi and less than 10 MB

(2) A DOC file with the project statement (up to 500 words), named “Description.doc”

(3) A DOC file with the participants’ personal information; named “Authors.doc” and including:

- information about the names, surnames, professions, and email addresses of all team members

- a team representative must be indicated for contact purposes

- information about the author(s) should be included only in the file “Authors.doc”

- the Jury’s evaluation of the projects is anonymous

Save your submission as a ZIP file and send it via email (with “Laka Competition 2020 Entry” in the subject) to [email protected]. We will send you a confirmation of our receipt of the materials within 48 hours.

Schedule

Registration opens in June 2019

Early Registration until August 1, 2019

Regular Registration until November 1, 2019

Late Registration until December 1, 2019

Project submission deadline: December 20, 2019

Jury deliberation: January 2020

Winners’ announcement: February 1, 2020

‘Architecture in Foyer 2020’ conference: April 23–24, 2020

UTC time zone for all dates.

Organizer

The host of the Laka Competitions is Laka Foundation (a nonprofit and nongovernmental organization, EU VAT No. PL6381817438). Contact the organizer at [email protected]. Official website of the awards at Laka Reacts. The program is possible thanks to the kind support of the members of the jury, advisers, participants, partners, media sponsors, and media partners. All registration fees and donations are spent on the further development of the awards. 

Join Laka Foundation's newsletter and be the first to know about new editions of our programs: the ‘Laka Competition,’ ‘Laka Perspectives’ books, and ‘Design that Educates Awards.’ Laka usually sends two to five mailouts on major announcements per year, and you can opt out anytime: https://mailchi.mp/lakareacts/newsletter.

Download the competition brief here: Brief-Architecture-that-Reacts-2020.pdf

All images © "Towards a Lively Architecture" by David Heaton apart from top image.

> via Laka Reacts