FUTURE MONUMENTS

What is the role of the Monument in 2020? As part of our research themes for 2019/2020 the school has launched an international architecture competition entitled ‘Future Monuments'.

Description
Porte Saint-Denis is located at the border of Paris 2nd and 10th arrondissements, at the crossing of boulevard Saint Denis and rue du faubourg Saint Denis. The gate is an historical icon located on the former boundary between the city of Paris and its hinterland. Built in the XVII century during the reign of Louis XIV, the gate was conceived to control and tax the incoming goods from the area surround Paris as well forming a critical part of the defensive architecture of the French capital.
The gate’s architecture was designed to symbolise and glorify the victories of the French Armies, in addition to its mercantile functions. The gate additionally functioned as a form of control on the flows of people into and out of Paris.
The area of the Porte Saint Denis happens to be an unconscious marker of Paris various nearby cultural districts such as Faubourg Saint Denis (nightlife), Saint Martin (théâtres), Grands Boulevards (tourists and / or flâneurs), passage Brady (Little India), North Marais (trendy and expensive), Silicon Sentier (self-promoted start-up area of Paris)... A mix of new unofficialactivities and gentrifying real estate are occurring in the same neighborhood, creating an fascinating mix of usages and new city life. The Porte Saint Denis project can be in this aspect of the project the vehicle of a more urban / behavioral study of this area of Paris, questioning the role and the position of the gate itself and the ‘place’ surrounding it. The brief is to invent a usage / architecture / urban activator that places emphasis on an existing activity picked from the site. This aspect of the project should provide (the beginning of) an answer to the question of the potential for a new or revised ‘social contact’ in our times of hostility and uncertainty, a conversion that architects, artists, designers or associated disciplines must interrogate and respond to.
The jury will be seeking new ideas, programmes, and concepts for the area that respond to one or both aspects of the brief, as well as judging the quality of the architectural and visual proposal, the principal aim being to question the meaning of a monument nowadays and its function, interaction and responsibility towards its neighbours / users / visitors.

Jury
A jury composed of staff at the Paris School of Architecture and external visiting critics invited for this specific competition

Prize
Exhibition and publication
The winning entry will receive an honorarium of €500 which may be used towards their travel and accommodation during their stay in Paris for the exhibition.

Entry Fee
€28.50

Timetable
The shortlisted entries will be exhibited in Paris from 6th December - 10th December and will be open to members of the public.

Organizer
Paris School of Architecture

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