A landscaped echo metaphor is the winning design of the 2022 Ragdale Ring competition

The latest Ragdale Ring competition has revealed the winning design of its 2022 edition: "Echo," the entry by the design team [Sic.] + fieldtrip, comprised of Syracuse University architecture alumni Ahnaf Chowdhury, Amelia Gan, and Marda Zenawi, was selected by the jury for the newest interpretation of the temporary outdoor theater at the Ragdale Foundation's Lake Forrest, Illinois campus. 

The design team will now get the chance to build their concept as part of the annual design-build residency program. 

“Our roots are the place we depart from and the ground we negotiate on. They are an enduring echo, ringing in and through us," the designers explain their proposal. 

"The First Ragdale Ring, which has inspired so many echos since, was above all a proposition of nature. Howard Van Doren Shaw’s keen pursuit of landscaping created his garden into an enduring forum for the arts, itself the echo of the outdoor theatre at the Villa Ginanneschi-Gori. This typology is perhaps at its most primordial the echo of a meadow. We propose to explore the layering of these echos and their underlying sensibilities.” 

Once completed, the restyled Ragdale Ring theater will host summer concerts, performances, and events.