CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY LANDSCAPE DESIGN COMPETITION
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ABOUT THE COMPETITION The University Cambridge Department of Architecture and the Cambridge University Library invites you to take part in an innovative design competition in Cambridge to elicit fresh and unexpected ideas for the environment, landscape and entrance sequence to the University Library. The competition aims actively to encourage creative and unconventional approaches to the challenging brief of responding to the imposing architecture of the Library in order to bring about a transformation of its external environment. This is a two stage, open ideas competition for a site that is integral to the life of the University. In order to realise this vision and foster cross community engagement, a panel of assessors from a range of disciplines, backgrounds, ages and sectors will organise workshops and events, and select prize winning ideas and designs, which will form the basis for a public exhibition, local schools campaign and publication to exemplify commitment to environmental design at Cambridge.
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THE LIBRARY Cambridge University Library is a core research environment for academics and students. It is one of six UK Legal Deposit Libraries and is also home to an extensive collection of unique and distinctive materials that make it a destination for local, national and international academics alike. However, the Library is more than its collections and research spaces, it is part of the daily life of the University, a gathering place for students and academics, and a social hub during the working day.
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The building is impressively austere and has a monumental presence within the City and the University. This competition prompts entrants to challenge the imposing nature of the Giles Gilbert Scott building, to stimulate new uses for the site surrounding it, and provide new visibility to the library’s public collections. We are seeking innovative strategies for an accessible and sustainable landscape and a new vision the institution’s engagement with its environment. This competition would like to encourage a broad range of approaches to the site at a range of scales and levels of complexity. Entries will be judged on their innovative interpretation of the site, its context, use, and history and their ability to apply this understanding to the design of an exceptional, forward-thinking landscape / building proposal. We also expect each submission to take full advantage of the contemporary ecological research to provide a responsive and technologically intelligent proposal for construction and subsequent use of their proposals.
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STAGE 1A - WORKSHOPS
STAGE 1B – IDEAS STAGE
(no formal registration or fee required) The first stage of the competition will consist of a series of events and workshops hosted by the Department of Architecture. This will bring together cross-disciplinary groups from within the University, other key stake-holders, and elicit ideas from primary, secondary and sixth-form colleges in Cambridge. A free downloadable DIY competition brief is also available on the competition website for schools, groups or organizations that would like to use the competition as part of their curriculum. The record of these events will be uploaded on the competition website. Twenty proposals resulting from these sessions will be selected for exhibition and publication along with the registered competition shortlist.
Fully registered participants will produce well resolved proposals for the development of the landscape surrounding the University Library, A shortlist of 10 will be selected according to how they respond to the criteria and ambitions of the brief. Winners will supply a clearly articulated description of the proposed intervention.
A supplementary design workshop programme has been devised as a platform for broader participation in the project. The programme is available for download on the competition website (URL). We will post the results of these workshops online during the course of the competition and would like to encourage a wide range of participants from all age-groups and backgrounds to take part. Ongoing design consultancy with stakeholders from a range of sources, (users and community members), to be broadcast via the website. Initially open to all, to be taken forward at a later stage should funding become available.
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STAGE 2 - DESIGN / COLLABORATION STAGE
In the second phase, ten designs will be selected from the entries received during the first phase. These designs will be taken forward with the support of a small honorarium and an academic consultant from a Cambridge Department (to be chosen by each designer from the short list appended). This will give designers the opportunity to advance the detail of their design and to refine the social, technical or cultural direction of the design in conversation with a relevant academic. The results of this collaboration will be exhibited and published as a book containing the final proposals and a critical academic response to each.
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REGISTRATION / HOW TO ENTER
ELIGIBILITY
Competition applicants must officially register through the competition website (TBA) and obtain a Registration Number that will be the source of identifying entries in the first stage of the judging. The competition requires a non-refundable registration and administration fee of £50.00 (+VAT) and the completion and upload of the ‘Release of Ordnance Survey Data to 3rd Parties form’ (available on the website). This fee is waived for those under 18 years of age and those with full-time student status.
This is an open competition eligible to all individuals or teams excluding employees and immediate family members of the competition team and the selected jurors. Entrants under the age of 18 should include at least one adult on their design team.
Please visit http://www.cambridge-design-research-studio.com and follow the link to ‘Live Competitions’ to make an on-line payment. For alternative payment options, please contact info@cambridge-design-research-studio. com. Once your payment has been processed you will be sent a Unique Registration Number and Password.
All queries and responses will be posted for the availability of all registered entrants on the competition website. In the interests of anonymity all queries should be made through the website rather than via direct email contact. No mention of individual or company names should be mentioned in the queries.
QUERIES
This will allow you access to the following: CAD compatible version of Ordnance Survey extract. Site constraints drawing: Including access, property ownership, gradient, planning considerations. Environmental Report including: Climatic data, Soil data, Geological considerations, Ecological conditions. Historic map material and photographs. Plans and sections of University Library Building. Historic images of University Library Building. Declaration of Authorship form. Usage statistics of Library and site usage
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THE SITE HISTORY OF THE LIBRARY The current University Library building was completed in 1934 under architect Giles Gilbert Scott, who also designed the neighbouring Clare Memorial Court (part of Clare College). It bears a marked resemblance to Scott’s industrial architecture, a famous example of which is Bankside Power Station, the home of the Tate Modern. The University Library is the central research library and holds over 8 million items, and, in contrast with the Bodleian or the British Library, many of its books are available on open shelves. It is one of the six Legal Deposit Libraries in the UK entitled to request a free copy of every book published in the UK and Ireland.
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THE LIBRARY AND THE SITE The University Library is located just under a kilometre from the centre of Cambridge, its market square. Situated in West Cambridge, the Library today represents the heart of the expanded University that continues to grow outwards away from the city centre. While there are many libraries in Cambridge, the University Library, due to its size and importance of its collections, is heavily used by academics and students from Cambridge and the United Kingdom as well as international scholars. The University Library site is framed on all sides by significant institutions and features. South of the Library, King’s College School, Robinson College to the West, the Memorial Court expansion to Clare College in the East, and on the Northern Edge, Burrell’s Walk, a small yet heavily used pedestrian and cycle thoroughfare that leads directly into the city centre. Each of these contribute to foot traffic through the site, with students, local residents and school children making use of the natural ‘shortcut’ that the landscape surrounding the library affords. Furthermore, lying between Robinson College and the University Library site is Grange Road, a major arterial route for West Cambridge that links several of the University Colleges, namely: Clare Hall, Selywn, Girton, St. Edmunds, Wolfson, Newnham and Robinson. Also bordering the site is the Cambridge University Real Tennis building, adding to the foot traffic through the site. Approximately 25% of properties in the vicinity of the site are privately owned residences. 16
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At present, the site is predominately reserved for parking, with little provision for public use. As with most of Cambridge, the site has minimal gradient and is accessible from all sides. In contrast, the main entrance to the library itself is raised above grade by half a story, resulting in a vertical disconnect between the Library and its surroundings.
SITE VISIT : The areas of the library relating to the brief are open to the public. Mondays to Fridays 09.00 - 19.00 09.00 - 18.45 Saturdays 09.00 17:00
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VISION / PUBLIC SPACE The purpose of this competition in its first phase is to generate a broad spectrum of approaches to the surroundings of the University Library. We are looking forward to the work revealing potential new uses for the space surrounding the Library and radical means of exploiting the building’s history, location and use in this changing part of the city. We expect landscape proposals to consider the rich garden tradition in Cambridge but also to consider radical and sustainable solutions to expanding the Library’s threshold and to introduce new uses for this intermediary space. While alterations to the existing building are outside the scope of this competition, we look forward to projects that, through inventive programming, might mediate the scale of the Library itself, and test its public use with the confidence of the Tate Modern’s turbine hall or the extensive public foyer of the British Library. In this respects the formal requirements are to act as a very general guideline.
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PROJECT REQUIREMENTS 1. PUBLIC ROLE
5. ACCESS
Entrants should seek to promote the public use of the space surrounding the University Library and increase the accessibility of public exhibitions curated by the Library through the re-design of its landscape.
The Library site is not only accessed by a high volume of users from both the University and beyond, but it is a well used thoroughfare for cyclists and walkers travelling to and from the West of Cambridge. The site is bounded by several areas of College accommodation, a popular primary school and many University departments. The proposals should recognise the needs of all library users, including elderly or disabled readers as well as cyclists, commuters and young children passing through the site. Entries should be clear in their strategies for securing access for these different groups.
2. CLIMATE/ENVIRONMENT The proposals should demonstrate a clear understanding of the environmental and climatic factors affecting the site and show how these are affected by the new design.
3. SITE
6. PARKING
Designs should show a clear grasp of the site’s location a range of scales. Proposals should demonstrate a good understanding of the site, its use, character and access and seek to exploit these existing factors where advantageous.
While most Cambridge academics and students arrive to the Library by bicycle or on foot, the transport and car-parking needs of library users living outside of Cambridge and disabled library users should not be overlooked.
4. USEAGE
7. SAFETY
Submissions will show how they affect the usage of the site for a range of types of visitor, and demonstrate an understanding of how this use shifts through the day, the week and in and out of University term.
The site is open to cyclists and pedestrians 24 hours a day and is an important thru-fare. It will be important to maintain a sense of safety in these areas, particularly in the winter months.
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8. BUILT STRUCTURES This competition does not require a building proposal but we also welcome entries that include a building component if appropriate.
9. CONSTRUCTION All proposals should demonstrate a strong understanding of the processes and materials required for their realisation.
10. MAINTENANCE / ADAPTABILITY
SUPPLEMENTARY CONSIDERATIONS This second stage of the competition gives the shortlisted contributors the opportunity of refining their position in consultation with a leading University academic and to consider the historical, economic and or biological significance of their proposals and its effect on the surrounding context. In this respect the second stage of this competition uses each shortlisted entry as a springboard for further discussion and potential research innovation. With the help of a selected expert, the short-listed entrants will be asked to push their ideas further to identify areas of research innovation, to examine the role of Library within the evolution of the city and the University, and to explore new models for public engagement.
The work proposed should consider the long term maintenance and adaptability of the site over time.
11. LEGACY We would like entrants to also consider the wider implications of their proposal and to use their work to explore new, unexpected uses for the site and to question what this might mean for the future that the Library has within the life of an expanding city.
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JURY Mary Beard (University of Cambridge) Liza Fior (MUF) Nichola Harrison (Cambridge Councillor) Anne Jarvis (University Librarian) Tom Stuart-Smith (Landscape Architect)
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TO ENTER REGISTRATION/SUBMISSION PROCESS
ANONYMITY
All individuals or teams submitting an entry must register and submit digitally
All entries will be reviewed by the jury anonymously. Thus, all submitted text and
through the competition website. On this website, you will be guided through the
images must be free from any marks,logos or writing that identifies authorship. The
registration process, including the creation of a unique account and registration
presence of any such insignia will result in disqualification.
ID number/s. Following registration, you will be guided through the submission
AWARDS
process (see below for submission requirements).
SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS
Professional category: 10 shortlisted entrants to receive a £2000 honorarium to proceed to Stage 2 and funding and publicity for subsequent publication and
All submissions must be submitted digitally through the competition website.
exhibition. There will be three final prizes: 1st Prize £1000, 2nd Prize £750, 3rd
After being guided through the creation of a unique, anonymous registration ID,
prize £500
competition entrants will be prompted to submit required items. Submission of entries must be in A3 format with all images at 300dpi and a maximum of ten pages
Student category: 10 entries will be selected form the workshop stage (1A) and be
to be uploaded on the competition website (1 A3 board = 420 x 297 mm / 16.5 x
awarded £200 each, further printing, exhibition or publication of the work will be
11.7 in). All panels should include you Unique Registration Number and no other
funded.
forms of identification. The panels can run together or stand alone as separate sheets. The zipped image file name must correspond to your unique registration number.
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OVERVIEW OF THE COMPETITION KEY DATES 8 July 2013 Competition officially announced / workshop sessions introduced 1 September - 30 November 2013 Sponsored workshops 30th September 2013 Final date for registration and fee payment
DEADLINES All entry submissions must be uploaded by 30th November 2013 at midnight (11:59 pm.GMT). Competitors will be responsible for the arrival of their proposals within the corresponding deadlines and no proposal will be received one day after the date previously stated. This competition has been made possible by Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin.
DISCLAIMER
30st November 2013 Closing date for submissions
Cambridge Design Research Studio reserve the right to refuse any entry. The organization is
1st- 31th December 2013 Jury evaluation
not liable for lost or misdirected, late or substantially incomplete entrees, as well as entries containing text/images that identify the Competitors to the Jurors. The decisions and opinions of the Jurors represent their professional view points, not the opinion of the organizers.
15th January 2014 Announcement of Winners to be posted on competition website-
All prises will be awarded at the discretion of the organizers and all decisions are final. All materials for this competition must be submitted in digital format, via the competition website. Competitors retain standard ownership of their intellectual property. Upon registering
January 2014 Design stage 2 / academic collaboration launched
for this competition, all Competitors agree to waive any and all claims against CDRS and any affiliated organisation as a result of the competition. Also, by registering, the competitors transfer unlimited use for publication, exhibition and electronic posting of all entries and
1 June 2014 Final submissions submitted for publication.
right to release any of the submitted materials to the media for public use and will credit the Competitors responsible for author the work. All images must either be created by Competitor or Competitors or sufficiently cited. This competition, has no intention to award or grant any
End September 2014 Book Launch / Exhibition
building contracts for the designs submitted in this competition.
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SCHEDULE STAGE 1: Detailed Competition Preparation
schedule, the names of the Library Liaison, Expert Workshop Members and the Jur y, the contractual relationship with the winner(s), and registration forms. This document must be ready to send to all designers who inquire about the competition as a result of the announcement.
Date: May/June 2013 All the key decisions regarding the design program are made. The Library is fully briefed and authorization to proceed is granted. Liaison and concurrence with the various parties are completed. The various working groups are c o n st i t u t e d a n d t h e i r a d v i c e solicited. The individual members of the Jury are selected. A competition web site is established. The key documents are prepared, starting with an announcement to all the media to announce the competition. The purpose of the announcement is to inform potential competitors and solicit inquiries. At the same time a competition information document is prepared. This describes the sponsor, the project, and the site. It contains the rules for the competition, the
STAGE 2: Competition Launch Date: July 1st 2013 The competition is launched by the end of the second month. An online press release is planned, and carefully scripted. There are graphic displays—site maps, site photos. Website is launched. A press kit has been prepared for distribution to all. It contains full but concise information for the competition, including graphics. The same material is also distributed via the Internet to these same organizations. The competition is launched.
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STAGE 3: Registration & Documentation Distribution
all disciplines. At the same time this document, like all documents issued, should be “design neutral” – elegant but not suggestive of a particular design direction.
Date: July/August 2013 Workshops are prepared, liaisons with local schools, stakeholders and University departments are established. Participating designers, schools and practices register for the Ideas Competition. Upon payment of registration fees, individual ID numbers are distributed, facilitating access to all detailed brief information and site documentation. Interested parties who visit the web site requesting information are immediately sent the Competition Information document. To repeat, this describes the competition, the sponsor, and the subject. It further presents the rules, the prizes, the professional advisor and the jury, the schedule, and the anticipated contractual negotiations with the winner(s). It must be concise, easy to read, easy to get the essential information. Its purpose is to attract a wide field of designers of
STAGE 4: Ideas Competition Date: September/November 2013 Participants produce design schemes for the first stage of the competition. These consist of no more than: 10 x A3 Panels
STAGE 5: Ideas Exhibition & Selection of Shortlisted Finalists Date: January 2014 10 Shortlisted designs will be exhibited along with 20 ideas competition entries from schools and other parties.
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STAGE 6: Expert Workshop Design Consultations
STAGE 8: Exhibition & Announcement of Winners
Date: January-April 2014
Date: September 2014
The final design stage commences. In consultation with academic experts, finalists build upon their proposals, taking into consideration one of a number of particular design routes. These workshops/debates are conducted in collaboration with the Department of Architecture and University Faculty members. Discussions to be uploaded on competition website. Academic papers prepared.
Book Launch and exhibition planned for end of September to coincide with the beginning of the academic term.
STAGE 7: Design Competition Date: May/June 2014 Shortlisted entrys are prepared for publication. Book template will be issued to all participants. This is to include a section for open workshop results (20 winning entries). Book to go to press at beginning of July.
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WEBSITE CONTENT – LINKED THROUGH CDRS PRELOGIN 1. HOMEPAGE + LOGIN LINK 2. ABOUT THE COMPETITION 3. ELIGIBILITY + TIME TABLE 4. REGISTRATION Link to payment, proof of student status or parental consent for under 18s Payment portal through PayPal Registration checklist OS release form upload 5. PARALLEL WORKSHOP BRIEFS - DOWNLOADABLE BY SCHOOLS. Content to be designed 6. SUBMISSION DETAILS 7. SHORTLIST ANNOUNCEMENT 8. WINNING ENTRIES EXHIBITION 9. NEWS PAGE EVENTS HAPPENING AT LIBRARY RELEVANT TALKS IN THE UNIVERSITY 10. CONTACTS PAGE + LINK TO CDRS/CAMBRDIGE LIBRARY 11. JURY PAGE 12. COMPETITION STAFF + TEAM 13. FAQ
Including access, Property ownership, Gradient, Planning considerations. Environmental Report including: Climactic data, Soil data, Geological considerations, Ecological conditions. Historic map material and photographs. Historic images of University Library Building. Declaration of Authorship form. Usage statistics of Library and site usage. 3. QUERIES PAGE 4. BLOG • Comments • Questions and News for Competitors
POST-LOGIN 1. SUBMISSION LINK + DATES 2. RESOURCES ACCESS Site plans and constraints (subject to OS licence) locking mechanism on this Site constraints drawing:
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