Call for Entries: 2019 AIA and BAF Lecture Series and Design Competition – Edge: Harbor and City

Introduction

T3XTURE Journal and the AIA Baltimore and BAF Lecture Series Committee announce a design competition in conjunction with the 2019 Lecture Series.

Waterfront Partnership’s Healthy Harbor Initiative has set a goal of a swimmable and fishable Inner Harbor. What could this look like? In addition to the spring lectures, a design competition related to the theme of the fourth issue of T3XTURE, Edge, invites architects and practitioners in related fields to submit design concepts that address the edge of the harbor and city.

The goals of the 2019 Lecture Series and parallel design competition are to stimulate a robust discourse among the design professions and the public, promote new and forward thinking design ideas and highlight work by local designers, and encourage allied organizations and diverse disciplines to participate and create a cross-disciplinary dialogue focusing on significant issues and solutions specific to Baltimore’s harbor and city edge.

The 2019 AIA Baltimore & BAF Lecture Series and Design Competition will culminate with an exhibition of selected submissions, and publication of exhibited work in T3XTURE Issue 4.

Challenge

“What kind of built structure can be created that would figure into the complexion of the Baltimore harbor in an unprecedented way, at once constructive and imaginative? It would at once reflect the unique texture of the harbor and its history and contribute to its evolution in times to come. Such a structure would stand, or float, somewhere between land and sea, perhaps at their very edge or maybe in the midst of the harbor waters. Wherever it is located, and however it is constructed, it will enter into engagement with Land, Sea, and Edge: it will exist as a fourth member of this fateful triad, one that is designed for the very place in which it is set. It will itself be an edge, not of a solid and stolid thing, but of a uniquely configured edge-world…”

– Edward S. Casey

Teams are asked to propose a design solution to enhance the harbor and city edge in Baltimore. Designs will reflect on, illustrate, define, and/or re-define Edges. Teams are encouraged to consider the following prompts:

(1) If the harbor becomes swimmable and fishable, what could the harbor edge look like?

(2) How can design enhance the connection between the city and harbor?

(3) What responsibility do we have to the harbor edge?

(4) How can we address social equity and create a harbor accessible to all residents of Baltimore?

(5) How can design solutions address resiliency in Baltimore, considering expanding flood plains and rising sea levels?

(6) What is the harbor edge in Baltimore? Should it be hard? Soft? Permeable?

(7) How can design address community engagement and education with harbor clean-up and pollution prevention?

(8) How can design at the harbor and city edge engage the public while respecting the natural environment?

One team member must be a Maryland Resident.

Competition Website