International young architects Meeting

Description

“Void” is a concept with historical significance from the perspectives of architectural design, which enables the definition and interrelation of multifunctional spaces. Besides many other positive features, the common point of the important examples of architectural history is that they define meaningful voids at the interior and exterior spaces by loading them with appropriate functions.  In contrast with the distinguished examples of architectural literature and a limited number of architectural solutions guided by these examples, the majority of the buildings constituting the contemporary urban environment consider the quantitative objectives as criterion more important than qualitative concerns. The urban consequence of the attempt for satisfying the quantitative requirements such as the number of spatial units, area, height and etc. is the urge for “filling” the cities in maximum extent rather than producing voids of high quality.   What exists between these masses trying to “fill” the urban space can be defined as “leftover” rather than designed voids.

Is it possible to maintain a balance of spatial quality concerning the solid-void relations, which is a universal problem of architectural design at the context of rapid urbanization throughout the globe?  How does the concentration on closed spaces and masses affect the idea of “void” in the historical memory of architecture? In an age of urban congestion, is it possible to propose alternative strategies considering the “voids”? Trying to answer these questions, the goal is to put forward critical thoughts regarding the relations between solids and voids. The conceptual dualities such as solid-void, quantity-quality and etc. should be interpreted.

Its expected from participants to select a particular context for developing design ideas concerning “the interpretation of the urban void for street library”. By considering the urban “void” within the above-mentioned framework, the participants should interpret the contemporary evolutions of the function of “library.”  Is the traditional building type called “library” still effectual in our age where the ways of reading and acquiring knowledge are transforming rapidly? By thinking on “library”, is it possible to transform the “leftover” voids into meaningful voids enabling socialization and sharing of knowledge? In this framework, the objective of the competition is to discuss the constructive ideas of library along with the interpretation of urban void.