Vancouver is known for its proliferation of point towers: the highrises with podiums that characterize most of the growth on the downtown peninsula and, increasingly, in suburban town centres.
Too many? Too boring? Another name for vertical sprawl?
Potogroup is the name of those launching an architectural competition to come up with alternatives.
The winner gets $2,500, recognition and the imprimatur of an impressive jury:
James Cheng MAIBC
Patricia Patkau MAIBC
Brent Toderian Director of Planning, City of Vancouver
Dr. Rhodri Windsor-Liscombe Head of Art History, University of British Columbia
George Yu AIA
Here’s the idea:
Potogroup presents an open architectural ideas competition: poto:type. This competition will question the emerging typology originating in Vancouver’s downtown area: podium/tower typology.
The podium/tower typology evolved as a response to the cities’ desire to intensify its downtown area by increasing the number of residential units while maintaining pedestrian-friendly streetscapes. Proliferation of this architectural mono-type could potentially create social and economic disparateness while weakening neighborhood identities.
Potogroup makes an invitation to the participants to explore, rethink, question and experiment with new ideas that will challenge the concept of the podium/tower. This investigation should encompass formal, programmatic, social and cultural aspects of this specific type. The projects should challenge the logic of the present, formulate new questions, and facilitate variations that will allow new potentials for living and existing in the city.
Poto:type should investigate both macro and micro scale as well as examine the notion of ‘vertical sprawl’.
Get the details on how to enter here. (Actually, they might start with a better design for their web site. Pdf files do not a web site make.)
