Field Constructs Design Competition

Field Constructs Design Competition (FCDC) invites emerging designers, architects, landscape architects, and artists to submit proposals for temporary installations to be sited at the Circle Acres Nature Preserve in Austin, Texas. The international competition will result in the realization of five to eight submitted entries, selected by a jury of leading figures in architecture, design, and art. The completed installations will open to the public in November of 2015 as part of a week-long event series, which will promote design and community programming at the site.

The competition seeks to foster cutting-edge innovation through works that actively engage with natural and cultural factors specific to Austin and its surrounding region. As one of the fastest-growing American cities, Austin’s character is continually evolving, as is the relationship between its urban fabric and the natural landscape. The competition’s site, the Circle Acres Nature Preserve in the Montopolis neighborhood, showcases the embedding of a natural landscape within the city, to the benefit of both community and environment. The specific site allows the participants to critically and creatively explore two sets of issues: (1) the capacity for public art and design to attract interest and attention to a part of the city that may otherwise be perceived as peripheral, remote, or underutilized; and (2) the potential for temporary, small-scale installations to serve as opportunities to generate, apply, and test innovative thinking with regard to site-specificity, env
 ironmental impact, and the use of new technological advancements in design.

Five to eight projects will be chosen. Recipients will receive a $5,000 reimbursable budget to be used toward the realization of the project. Projects must be substantially prefabricated off-site and installed at the site with minimal long-term impact. Authors of the completed projects will be honored at a public reception.

Jurors
Benjamin Ball, Ball-Nogues Studio, Los Angeles
Eva Franch i Gilabert, Storefront for Art and Architecture, New York
John Grade, Artist, Seattle
Virginia San Fratello, Rael San Fratello, Oakland
Jason Sowell, University of Texas at Austin School of Architecture, Austin
Ingrid Spencer, Contributing Editor, Architectural Record, Austin

Early Bird Registration Ends
February 15, 2015

Final Registration & Entries Due
April 1, 2015

fieldconstructs.org