AIM- Architects in Mission 2013

This competition invites entrants to deliver post-earthquake reconstruction proposal about village planning, ecological remediation, cultural restoration and architecture renovation.

Description
In the past 30 years, China has been marked by its rapid urbanization. Besides the great achievements in economy, as a side effect, there is also a phenomenon of losing the original character of the cities in different region, mainly due to the tendency of copying the Beijing or Shanghai’s urban style. But in rural areas, because of the lack of transportation infrastructure and slower pace of economic growth, many traditional cultural elements and historic building types were able to survive until today. However, with the growing pace of the economy, rising income of rural areas and further urbanization, more and more villages with long history have been wiped out. How to enhance the quality of village life to match current living standards, but at the same time, setup an effective programming plan and building upgrade strategy to save the traditional culture (both physical and intangible), is the challenge of this year’s AIM Competition.
We will use the Snow Mountain village as this year’s competition base model, and ask participants to pay close attention to the master planning of the village, and at the same time to develop new business models for local villagers for economic growth.
We are proposing 25 Out of the 100 families in Snow Village will be programmed into a family style hotel, which will be first managed by hotel professional, sales experts, then later run by the villages themselves. Each villa consists of two parts: house and hotel with separate entrance for privacy and a common space for interaction. Unlike traditional hotel, each family has their own unique story to share and visitors can have a chance to experience local culture and rural family tradition. The other 50 families will be programmed into food production model, which is responsible for agriculture and farming in order to support local food chain. In this model, visitor can experience local farming method and get to know the life of farmers. The rest of 25 families will be the support line for the service chain, such as laundry, maintenance, repair and light construction. Participants are also encouraged to propose new business models for villages but the proportion should remain as above: 25:50:25.
You may also find an empty lot next to the old village. This is intended to be left out for participants to give it a new function. It could be visitor center, club house…etc. Our AIM this year is to create a brand new programming concept to utilize the traditional format of the Snow Mountain Village and to design a new village that belongs to the local culture. We also encourage participants to contribute different ideas on programming and village layout to enhance the discussion of how to preserve and innovate at the same time!

Jury
ILHAN ZEYBEKOLU, President of Zeybekoglu and Associates,Inc, Professor of Harvard University
JUTTA KEHRER, Senior Associate and Landscape Director, AECOM
THOMAS SCHROEPFER, Professor, Architecture and Sustainable Design, Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD)
ZHUANG WEIMIN, Director of Architectural Design and Research Institute of Tsinghua University National Design Master
FENG LU, Deputy Dean of Chongqing University School of Aritecture & Urban Planning
WENKUI LIU, Secretary-general of China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation
JUN SUN, Founder of the Green Cross, a Commonweal Organization
BING HAN, Secretary of Baoxing County in Ya'an City, Sichuan Province
ZHUN JIN, Secretary-General of Research Center of Tourism, Chinese Academy of Social Science (CASS)
ZONGBIN CHEN, President of Legend Tourism Investment, Vice President of Beida Jade Bird Group

Prize
Scenic Village Planning Award: USD 5,000
Architecture Renovation Award: USD 5,000
Innovative Production Award: USD 3,000
Sustainable Development Award: USD 3,000

Entry Fee
None

Entries
4 boards in A1 format, a maximum 500-words written report

Timetable
Selecting winning entries: 16 January 2014 - February 2014
Award ceremony: February 2014

Links
Past winners

Organizer
AIM COMPETITION COMMITTEE

Official Website
http://www.aim-competition.com/en/