THE HOUSE OF PEACE - RED SQUARE - MOSCOW

  

Dear reader,

On February 24th there will be two years since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Since then hundreds of thousands of people died, and many others were injured. Countless buildings were destroyed. Unending suffering occurred and occurs.

For how long will this happen ? For how long humanity is far from being humane ? Do we deserve at all to be called "human ?" Isn't it a terrible shame that we are unable to make peace on this ravished earth ?!

We invite you to protest, as architects, through architecture.

And to promote peace as ardently and as urgently as possible.

We invite you to imagine A HOUSE OF PEACE to be built in The Red Square in Moscow. Yes, in the Red Square.

Even if your proposal will remain unbuilt, we feel it is very, very important to have your voice heard. And to have your imaginative proposal known.

We do not have money, so we cannot, at this point, offer prizes... but if we receive significant works, maybe afterwards we could kick-start some kind of a rewarding process. But we will create a portfolio with all the works received and we will send it to the major architectural magazines and e-zines, to consider the publication of the best works.

LET'S FIGHT. LET'S FIGHT FOR PEACE.

Picasso painted Guernica and Goya created his incredible Disasters of War series, in order to protest war. We could too, as architects, do something similar: to promote peace, through architecture, and to do so with the same intensity and creativity as the two great artists (and countless others).

Let's not be complacent. Let's not think of prizes and recognition. Let's suffer together with those who suffer, let's do everything we can TO PROTEST WAR.

Design a HOUSE OF PEACE, for The Red Square, in Moscow.

Please read the initial invitational text below.

Thank you,

I C A R C H

THE HOUSE OF PEACE - RED SQUARE - MOSCOW

Hello.

We invite you to an ideas competition: to imagine A HOUSE OF PEACE in the Red Square, in Moscow.

You can place your HOUSE OF PEACE anywhere in the square. It can have any dimensions, any architectural configuration.

You have complete freedom.

What is important is to propose a HOUSE OF PEACE so intensely creative, so evocative and provocative that the "residents" of the Kremlin, seeing this HOUSE OF PEACE every day, would radically change their "vision" about the "special mission" in Ukraine.

That is, propose a HOUSE OF PEACE that will force them to see, as in a faithful , unforgiving mirror, their huge mistakes, and to finally realize the dimensions of the tragedy they have caused.

HAVE THE COURAGE OF A MILITANT ARCHITECTURE!

DON'T LET YOUR IMAGINATION SLEEP, NOR YOUR SENSE OF JUSTICE!

FIGHT, THROUGH ARCHITECTURE!

The deadline to receive your works is February 24th, at 12 o'clock midnight  (UTC time). Please present your ideas on an A1 board, oriented vertically, or horizontally. The mode of presentation is entirely up to you and it could be as minimal and poetic as Maya Lin's winning entry for the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, US.  Please send your work digitally to [email protected]. We will publish all the works received on our website.

If we receive enough good works, we could make a portfolio and send it to important architecture magazines and e-zines, for publication. We do believe it is architecture's role to try to better the world, especially under such grave circumstances as those of the present.

LET'S FIGHT FOR PEACE, AS CREATIVELY AND ARDENTLY AS POSSIBLE!

ARCHITECTS OF THE WORLD, UNITE!

If you have any questions, please contact us.

Thank you.

I C A R C H

www.icarch.us