LA+ Imagination
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LA+ (Landscape Architecture Plus) from the University of Pennsylvania School of Design explores landscape architecture's interdisciplinary potential, bringing readers a rich collection of contemporary thinkers and designers in two lavishly illustrated issues annually. Within our pages you will hear not only from designers, but also from historians, artists, geographers, psychologists, ecologists, planners, scientists, philosophers, and many more. Our aim is to reveal connections and build collaborations between landscape architecture and other disciplines by exploring each issue’s theme from multiple relevant perspectives.
Description
Paradisiacal, utopian, dystopian, heterotopian – islands hold an especially enigmatic and beguiling place in our geographical imagination. Existing in juxtaposition to what’s around them, islands are figures of otherness and difference. Differentiated from their contexts and as much myth as reality, islands have their own rules, their own stories, their own characters, their own ecologies, their own functions, and their own forms.The LA+ IMAGINATION open international design ideas competition asks you to design a new island. You can locate it anywhere in the world, program it any way you want, and give it any form and purpose you can imagine.
Submissions
LA+ IMAGINATION asks you to design a new island. You can locate it anywhere in the world, program it any way you want, and give it any form and purpose you can imagine.
There are two overarching rules for all competitors.
The first is the island cannot use greater than 1 km2 (10,763,910 square feet) of surface area.
The second is that submissions must conform to the layout dimensions and instructions provided in the LA+ IMAGINATION competition template. The competition template is available for download in .pdf, .indd, and .idml formats here.
The submission must include:
Image Requirements
SHEET 1 (8.75 x 10.5 inches) featuring the island's name and a location map showing where the island is in the world. If relevant, you can include a second location map showing the island’s local context.
SHEET 2 (8.75 x 10.5 inches) showing a plan and section of the designed island (each with graphic scale).
SHEET 3 (17.5 x 10.5 inches) showing supporting imagery, the content and layout of which is at entrants’ discretion.
Text Requirements
1) The island’s name.
2) The island’s location coordinates.
3) A statement** under 300 words supporting the design (e.g., the text could include explanation of location, form, function/purpose, materiality, narrative, users, rationale/meaning, inspiration, etc.).
**Do not put the statement on the image sheets. You will be asked to input all text requirements online during the submission process.
Jury
Richard Weller
Richard Weller (jury chair) is Professor and Chair of Landscape Architecture at the University of Pennsylvania where he also holds the Martin and Margy Meyerson Chair of Urbanism. Over a 30-year career combining academia, research, and practice, he has received a consistent stream of international design competition awards at all scales of landscape architecture and urban design. Weller's design work has been exhibited at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney, Australia, and is collected in Room 4.1.3: Innovations in Landscape Architecture (2005). His best-known built work is the Garden of Australian Dreams at the National Museum of Australia. Weller’s research work on scenario planning for cities and megaregions is found in the books Boomtown 2050: Scenarios for a Rapidly Growing City (2009) and Made in Australia: The Future of Australian Cities (2014). His most recent publication, Atlas for the End of the World (2017), documents global flashpoints between urbanization and biodiversity.
Richard Weller (jury chair) is Professor and Chair of Landscape Architecture at the University of Pennsylvania where he also holds the Martin and Margy Meyerson Chair of Urbanism. Over a 30-year career combining academia, research, and practice, he has received a consistent stream of international design competition awards at all scales of landscape architecture and urban design. Weller's design work has been exhibited at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney, Australia, and is collected in Room 4.1.3: Innovations in Landscape Architecture (2005). His best-known built work is the Garden of Australian Dreams at the National Museum of Australia. Weller’s research work on scenario planning for cities and megaregions is found in the books Boomtown 2050: Scenarios for a Rapidly Growing City (2009) and Made in Australia: The Future of Australian Cities (2014). His most recent publication, Atlas for the End of the World (2017), documents global flashpoints between urbanization and biodiversity.
James Corner
James Corner is the founding partner of James Corner Field Operations in New York and emeritus Professor of Landscape Architecture and Urbanism at the University of Pennsylvania School of Design. His work is renowned for innovative and bold contemporary design across a variety of project types and scales, with a special commitment to the design of a vibrant and dynamic public realm in cities, informed and inspired by the ecologies of place, people, and nature. Corner’s public realm design projects include New York’s highly acclaimed High Line; London’s South Park Plaza at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park; Santa Monica’s Tongva Park; Chicago’s Navy Pier; Cleveland’s Public Square; Philadelphia’s Race Street Pier; Hong Kong’s Salisbury Gardens and Tsim Tsa Tsui Waterfront; and Shenzhen’s new city of Qianhai, a new coastal city for three million people. His work has been published broadly and exhibited at the New York Museum of Modern Art; the Cooper-Hewitt Design Museum; the National Building Museum; the Royal Academy of Art in London; and the Venice Biennale. His books include The High Line (2015); The Landscape Imagination (2014), and Taking Measures Across the American Landscape (1996). In 2007, Corner was named by TIME Magazine as one of “Ten Most Influential Designers.”
James Corner is the founding partner of James Corner Field Operations in New York and emeritus Professor of Landscape Architecture and Urbanism at the University of Pennsylvania School of Design. His work is renowned for innovative and bold contemporary design across a variety of project types and scales, with a special commitment to the design of a vibrant and dynamic public realm in cities, informed and inspired by the ecologies of place, people, and nature. Corner’s public realm design projects include New York’s highly acclaimed High Line; London’s South Park Plaza at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park; Santa Monica’s Tongva Park; Chicago’s Navy Pier; Cleveland’s Public Square; Philadelphia’s Race Street Pier; Hong Kong’s Salisbury Gardens and Tsim Tsa Tsui Waterfront; and Shenzhen’s new city of Qianhai, a new coastal city for three million people. His work has been published broadly and exhibited at the New York Museum of Modern Art; the Cooper-Hewitt Design Museum; the National Building Museum; the Royal Academy of Art in London; and the Venice Biennale. His books include The High Line (2015); The Landscape Imagination (2014), and Taking Measures Across the American Landscape (1996). In 2007, Corner was named by TIME Magazine as one of “Ten Most Influential Designers.”
Marion Weiss
Marion Weiss is co-founder of WEISS/MANFREDI, and the Graham Chair Professor of Architecture at the University of Pennsylvania. Her New York City-based multidisciplinary design practice is known for the dynamic integration of architecture, art, infrastructure, and landscape. Notable projects include the Seattle Art Museum: Olympic Sculpture Park, recognized by TIME Magazine as one of the “top ten architectural marvels” and by Architectural Record as one of “the most significant works that defined architecture in our era.” Her firm’s hybrid architecture and landscape projects include the Brooklyn Botanic Garden Visitor Center, Hunter’s Point South Waterfront Park in New York City, and the Sylvan Theater in Washington DC. WEISS/MANFREDI’s distinct vision has been recognized by numerous awards including an Academy Award in Architecture from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Architectural League of New York’s “Emerging Voices Award,” the New York AIA Gold Medal, and Weiss was recently inducted into the National Academy of Design. Her work has been exhibited internationally at the Venice Biennale, the Sao Paulo Biennale, the Guggenheim Museum, the Cooper-Hewitt Museum’s National Design Triennial, the National Building Museum, Harvard University, and the Museum of Modern Art.
Marion Weiss is co-founder of WEISS/MANFREDI, and the Graham Chair Professor of Architecture at the University of Pennsylvania. Her New York City-based multidisciplinary design practice is known for the dynamic integration of architecture, art, infrastructure, and landscape. Notable projects include the Seattle Art Museum: Olympic Sculpture Park, recognized by TIME Magazine as one of the “top ten architectural marvels” and by Architectural Record as one of “the most significant works that defined architecture in our era.” Her firm’s hybrid architecture and landscape projects include the Brooklyn Botanic Garden Visitor Center, Hunter’s Point South Waterfront Park in New York City, and the Sylvan Theater in Washington DC. WEISS/MANFREDI’s distinct vision has been recognized by numerous awards including an Academy Award in Architecture from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Architectural League of New York’s “Emerging Voices Award,” the New York AIA Gold Medal, and Weiss was recently inducted into the National Academy of Design. Her work has been exhibited internationally at the Venice Biennale, the Sao Paulo Biennale, the Guggenheim Museum, the Cooper-Hewitt Museum’s National Design Triennial, the National Building Museum, Harvard University, and the Museum of Modern Art.
Matthew Gandy
Matthew Gandy is Professor of Cultural and Historical Geography at Cambridge University, UK. He is a cultural, urban, and environmental geographer with particular interests in landscape, infrastructure, and biodiversity. His book Concrete and Clay: Reworking Nature in New York City (2002) won the 2003 Spiro Kostof award for the book within the previous two years "that has made the greatest contribution to our understanding of urbanism and its relationship with architecture." The Fabric of Space: Water, Modernity, and the Urban Imagination (2014) was awarded the 2014 AAG Meridian Award for Outstanding Scholarly Work in Geography and the 2016 award for the most innovative book in planning history from the International Planning History Society. Gandy has written for the New Left Review, The International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, and Society and Space among many others. His work also features in LA+ Journal’s TYRANNY issue. He is currently researching the interface between cultural and scientific aspects to urban biodiversity.
Matthew Gandy is Professor of Cultural and Historical Geography at Cambridge University, UK. He is a cultural, urban, and environmental geographer with particular interests in landscape, infrastructure, and biodiversity. His book Concrete and Clay: Reworking Nature in New York City (2002) won the 2003 Spiro Kostof award for the book within the previous two years "that has made the greatest contribution to our understanding of urbanism and its relationship with architecture." The Fabric of Space: Water, Modernity, and the Urban Imagination (2014) was awarded the 2014 AAG Meridian Award for Outstanding Scholarly Work in Geography and the 2016 award for the most innovative book in planning history from the International Planning History Society. Gandy has written for the New Left Review, The International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, and Society and Space among many others. His work also features in LA+ Journal’s TYRANNY issue. He is currently researching the interface between cultural and scientific aspects to urban biodiversity.
Mark Kingwell
Mark Kingwell is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Toronto and a contributing editor of Harper’s Magazine in New York. He is the author or co-author of 18 books of political, cultural, and aesthetic theory including the national bestsellers Better Living (1998), The World We Want (2000), Concrete Reveries (2008), and Glenn Gould (2009). In addition to many scholarly articles, his writing has appeared in more than 40 mainstream magazines and newspapers. His most recent books are the essay collections Unruly Voices (2012) and Measure Yourself Against the Earth (2015). Kingwell has been a regular contributor to LA+ Journal since 2015 and appears in the journal's current issue, LA+ IDENTITY.
Mark Kingwell is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Toronto and a contributing editor of Harper’s Magazine in New York. He is the author or co-author of 18 books of political, cultural, and aesthetic theory including the national bestsellers Better Living (1998), The World We Want (2000), Concrete Reveries (2008), and Glenn Gould (2009). In addition to many scholarly articles, his writing has appeared in more than 40 mainstream magazines and newspapers. His most recent books are the essay collections Unruly Voices (2012) and Measure Yourself Against the Earth (2015). Kingwell has been a regular contributor to LA+ Journal since 2015 and appears in the journal's current issue, LA+ IDENTITY.
Javier Arpa
Javier Arpa is the Research and Education Coordinator of The Why Factory – a global think-tank and research institute run by MVRDV and Delft University of Technology and led by Winy Maas. He was curator of Paris Habitat and Paysages Habités, held in 2015 at the Pavillon de l’Arsenal in Paris, is author of the monograph Paris Habitat: One Hundred Years of City, One Hundred Years of Life (2015), and co-author of a+t’s Density series, among others. Arpa has practiced architecture and urban design in Argentina, The Netherlands, Spain, China, and France and has taught at Harvard University, The University of Pennsylvania, Columbia University, ENSA Versailles and ENSA Belleville.
Javier Arpa is the Research and Education Coordinator of The Why Factory – a global think-tank and research institute run by MVRDV and Delft University of Technology and led by Winy Maas. He was curator of Paris Habitat and Paysages Habités, held in 2015 at the Pavillon de l’Arsenal in Paris, is author of the monograph Paris Habitat: One Hundred Years of City, One Hundred Years of Life (2015), and co-author of a+t’s Density series, among others. Arpa has practiced architecture and urban design in Argentina, The Netherlands, Spain, China, and France and has taught at Harvard University, The University of Pennsylvania, Columbia University, ENSA Versailles and ENSA Belleville.
Community (1)
Rewards
5 Winners
$2 000 + Publication in LA+ Journal’s LA+ IMAGINATION issue10 Honorable mentions
Publication in LA+ Journal’s LA+ IMAGINATION issueTimeline
Europe/Paris
Submission ends
Results
No publication yet
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