Non Architecture Competition: ’REVIVING: MINES’ PARK Shandong

Non Architecture Competition: ’REVIVING: MINES’ PARK Shandong now is over!

Non Architecture Competition: ’REVIVING: MINES’ PARK Shandong: Non Architecture (NonA) recently has announced ’Social Distancing’ - Housing Block, looking for creative proposals that would go beyond standardized models for development, informing local authorities with new ways to approach such a project.

➜ Short description

The ’REVIVING: MINES’ PARK Shandong organized by Non Architecture Competitions in collaboration with ARQ, now is calling for entries! Non Architecture (NonA) is looking for creative proposals that would go beyond standardized models for development, informing local authorities with new ways to approach such a project. Particular emphasis is posed on the issue of the dismissed mines, which constitute a unique feature but also a great challenge.

The city district of Zibo, the third largest by population within the Shandong province, has been a key stone mining location till recent years. The excavation activities, particularly focused on the Zichuan subdistrict, marked the rural areas of the province with invasive interventions and disruptions of the local ecosystem. The mountainous area is today characterized by woodlands, villages, mine pits in quarries and terraces built with stone. The extraction activities have been terminated, generating the need for new purpose and value in a location with unique cultural, ecological and social conditions. The local government and investors aim to develop a strategic vision that would reinforce local communities and bring new life to the site. They aim to achieve this purpose by turning the area into a cultural and creative park. The project should attract tourists and creatives around a protected and restored ecological zone, while generating a new economy for local artisans and rural entrepreneurs. In which form this will happen, it is still to be defined.

Participants to the competition are asked to thinking out of the box solutions and to come up with creative proposals that would go beyond standardized models for development, informing local authorities with new ways to approach such a project. Particular emphasis is posed on the issue of the dismissed mines, which constitute a unique feature but also a great challenge. How can the ecological and spatial damage be mitigated and transformed into new value?

Using only 3 drawings and absolute freedom in program, participants are asked to present ideas to revive the Shandong Mines Park by capitalizing on the characteristic features of the site. Proposals can be pavilions, buildings, landscape design, urban plans, strategic visions or any other creative form of spatial design. The scale of the projects can range from furniture design up to master-planning. Each project can focus on one detailed feature of the park, or it can provide a comprehensive strategy.

Consequentially, the context area is approximately specified within the east side of the Zichuan district boundaries, but there is no given intervention location. Projects can focus on the site as a whole, or only relate to the context of the Mines Park in an abstract way. They can define basic principles, or they can directly address selected spots and zones within the given area. This includes rural villages as much as mine quarries or natural zones.

It is up to the participants to decide which specific conditions to address in their proposals.

Winners will be announced on 22 November, 2020.

There is no entry fee to participate!

➜ Who may enter?

Non Architecture Competitions are open to all human beings, from every age and cultural background, working in groups or individually. Teams can be formed by a maximum number of 5 people. Personal information of all the team members can be uploaded during the submission procedure of the final drawing. Participating to this competition is totally for free.

➜ Prize:

➜ 1st prize winner - 7.000 euros + publication in the Non Architecture website
➜ 2nd prize winner - 2.000 euros + publication in the Non Architecture website
➜ 3rd prize winner - 1.000 euros + publication in the Non Architecture website