Architectural League Prize 2018: Objective

Architectural League Prize 2018: Objective

DEADLINE: Friday, February 9, 2018 5:00 p.m. EST

JURY 

Claire Weisz

Georgeen Theodore

Jorge Otero-Pailos 

Tatiana Bilbao

THE YOUNG ARCHITECTS + DESIGNERS COMMITTEE 

Molly Hunker 

Neeraj Bhatia 

William O’Brien Jr.

For more information and submission requirements, visit archleague.org/lp18

CALL FOR ENTRIES Young architects and designers are invited to submit work to the annual Architectural League Prize Competition. Projects of all types, either theoretical or real, and executed in any medium, are welcome. The jury will select work for presentation in lectures, digital media, and an exhibition in June 2018. Winners will receive a cash prize of $2,000.

Established in 1981 to recognize visionary work by young practitioners, the Architectural League Prize is an annual competition, lecture series, and exhibition organized by The Architectural League and its Young Architects + Designers Committee. Learn more about The Architectural League Prize’s past winners here.

THEME: Objective Architecture is shaped by myriad influences, invariably engaging in an oscillation between objective and subjective motivations. As a creative act, architecture’s role and impact shifts with the benefits and limitations of attempts to establish objectivity: an objective, agreed-upon set of values by which to evaluate its production. The idea of the objective has been an important tool for architects to attempt to go beyond personal preferences and in doing so create a value set of “truths”— from aesthetics, to program, to function. Today, architecture finds itself more visibly embroiled in a plurality of objectives—from social, economic, political agendas to experimentation with materiality, structure, and perception, amongst others. If an objective implies an action, then how we act, what our actions achieve, and how we argue for a design speaks to our values as a discipline and as a society.

Objectivity today has been simultaneously elevated and undermined in a climate characterized by alternative facts and fake news. How might we determine the facts and values that motivate the production of architecture in a post-truth era? Given the diversity of objectives that comprise the discipline of architecture today, how might we understand facts and fictions as different truths?

Objectivity, objectives, and objects collide in a world grappling with truth, agency, and the role of form. This year’s Architectural League Prize competition asks entrants to consider how objectives and objectivity inform and create values in their work and through doing so, reconsiders the criteria for judgement within architecture.

ELIGIBILITY
The competition is open only to current, full-time residents, who need not be citizens, of the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Entrants must be ten years or less out of a bachelor or masters program. Current students are ineligible. Entrants may submit individually or as a group. If the individual(s) is/are the sole principal(s) of a firm, the winning firm name will be listed as well. Entrants must submit work done independently; no work done as an employee of a firm, where the entrant is not a principal or partner, is eligible for submission. No student work completed for any academic program or degree is eligible for submission. Educators may not include work done in their studios or for their teaching. Past League Prize winners are ineligible. If only one partner of a firm is eligible, he or she can enter as a single entrant. He or she must include a signed document from all other partners describing the collaborative nature of the work and the firm will not be listed as a recipient of the Prize. Collaborative work between unrelated firms or individuals is eligible if the partnership is equal; any project with collaborators must include a signed document from the other collaborator(s) describing the collaborative nature of the work. Collaborative work will be considered within the context of an individual’s complete portfolio.

For more information and submission requirements, visit archleague.org/lp18