Young Architects Competitions (YAC) has launched a competition, called Ireland Meditation Mine, inviting creatives to recondition an Irish industrial archeological masterpiece into a meditation destination immersed in nature.

There will be a total amount of € 15,000 in prize money for the awarded proposals and the jury of the competition gathers outstanding international personalities like Valerie Mulvin (Mccullough Mulvin Architects), Gong Dong (Vector Architects), Neil Hubbard (Heatherwick Studio), Rossana Hu (Neri & Hu).

The team ranking first will receive a cash prize of € 8,000.

Ireland Meditation Mine is expected to be a moment of significant international participation for combining fascinating and up-to-date topics and a well-esteemed Technical Committee.

Brief

This is the Ireland of miners, men and women of brave heart that used to mine from the heart of the island the minerals feeding the furious 19th-century industry. This is a story of silent heroism, ordinary people, an extraor- dinary ordinariness attested by majestic ruins that are no less fascinating than the stark castles and mysterious abbeys depicting the best-known face of the Romantic Ireland.

The architectures towering over Allihies mines are machine-buildings that used to move miners underground. Today, they appear as gutted stone engines that seem to defy gravity with their huge cracks. Nevertheless, for centuries they have been guarding natural paradises that had been abandoned or visited by a few passionate hikers. Today, though, the common perception is changing, and new scenarios are being set for these architectures too.

Indeed, there is a growing need to escape from the urban environment, from an everyday life that is often too suffocating and alienating. There is an increasingly common need for solitude, silence, return to vast natural spaces. It is the need to reconnect with one’s intimacy to be met by visiting places with supernatural fascination. Notoriously, Ireland is studded with the most intriguing scenarios.

Ancient mines were built to mine minerals from the mountain. However, in their ruins, maybe contemporary humanity can mine something that is even more valuable than metals and find that sense of peace and harmony contemporary society has somehow jeopardized.

This is the goal of the competition Ireland Meditation Mine, aiming at turning Irish industrial archeology masterpieces into a retreat and meditation destination for people who look for meaningful experiences away from contemporaneity and immersed in the mystic beauty of a timeless nature.

Surrounded by stones tormented by the wind and uninterrupted silence, humanity can undertake the escape from civilization that urged the first wise men to retire to their caves in pursuit of a solitary life that has always been considered the most effective recipe for human happiness.

YAC thanks all designers who will accept this challenge.

Site

Allihies is a former village of miners. It is situated among the hills where the ruins of ancient copper mines stand. 

Jury

Each jury is nominated with utmost care and is composed by professionals of the highest repute whose activity is consistent with the theme of the competition.

Gong Dong, VECTOR ARCHITECTS

Danny Collins, COUNTY COUNCILLOR WEST CORK

Edoardo Currà, LA SAPIENZA UNIVERSITY

Valerie Mulvin, MCCULLOUGH MULVIN

Federico Pompignoli, FORMER OMA

Neil Hubbard, HEATHERWICK STUDIO

Rossana Hu, NERI&HU

Tadhg O’Sullivan, ALLIHIES COPPER MINE MUSEUM

Prizes

All awarded projects will be sent to websites, magazines and architectural platforms. Furthermore, they can be displayed in national and international architectural events.

1st prize: €8,000

2nd prize: €4,000

3rd prize: €2,000

2 X GOLD MENTIONS: €500

Honorable Mentions: 10

Finalists: 30

Calendar

MAY 2, 2022 – JUN 5, 2022: Early Bird Registration / 65€ / team*

JUN 6, 2022 – JUL 3, 2022: Standard Registration / 85€ / team*

JUL 4, 2022 – JUL 31, 2022: Late Registration / 115€ / team*

AUG 3, 2022: Material Submission Deadline

AUG 9, 2022: Jury Summoning

OCT 10, 2022: Results Announcement

Download the full competition brief from here. 

Download photos, documents from here. 

Download the competition brief: IMM_en_.pdf. 

Top image courtesy of YAC.

> via YAC