Think Space: Urban Borders

The Zagreb Society of Architects is launching the first of four architectural competitions for this year’s Think Space cycle. For this year’s annual cycle, the main theme connecting all four competitions is Borders.

Devised by OMA New York Director, Shohei Shigematsu, the first competition challenges architects and designers to rethink one of the most fundamental borders - the ground plane.

Traditional notions of above and below ground are changing.

Issues of sustainability, preservation, urbanization and infrastructure are all shaping the ground plane today.
For example,

• Green roofs activate a sustainable, rooftop urbanism.
• Excavated volumes provide access and preserve historic sites.
• Detail plinths and sky lobbies multiply the urban ground within mixed-use developments.
• Transportation platforms are elevated and excavated to create highway and subway systems.
• Climate-controlled underground corridors and sky bridges provide shelter from extreme weather.

How can we further manipulate and multiply the ground plane to develop the masterplan into the mastersection?

In the past, sci-fi films have imagined the future of the ground plane through floating cities and subterranean civilizations. This competition is an open call for entries that similarly redefine this flexible border with program above and below. Intentionally undefined, the scale and typology of entries may range from high rises to vertical masterplanning.

Think Space | Competitions