Reshape the Tower of Memory — Jiaxing Nanhu Water Tower Design Competition

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Architecture is to be made historical and preserved as such. ——, John Ruskin

—    Proposition —

This competition is co-initiated by Jiaxing City Construction Investment Co., Ltd. and the international design competition platform – Young Bird Plan.

The built architecture of various times in cities represents the background at that time when the users of the land tried to create the blueprint for their cities’ development. The construction methods, the historical background and the urban construction in different times are all merged into architecture which is a metaphor of a frozen epic. Although the epic can be simplified, it shall not be deleted. How to critically and reasonably reshape these current unreadable lines of verse? That is the question we have to face in the course of city’s development.

“For, indeed, the greatest glory of a building is not in its stones, nor in its gold. Its glory is in its Age and in that deep sense of voice­fulness”

Two strong conquerors of the forgetfulness of men – the poetry and the architecture, the latter to some extent includes the former and is more powerful due to its reality.

Humans had better get all the thoughts and feelings of previous generations and have the things that they made by hands, labored for and gazed at throughout their lifetime.The water tower was a necessary infrastructure for water supply in cities before the Millennium. The special structure and function make it a milestone in the course of city’s development and construction in China.How to interpret the meaning of a milestone in a new way while respect the history? It is an open proposition. We need and shall think about the reasonable relationship between deletion and inheritance in the course of city’s development.Each scheme of all the entrants will be a possibility as a method of preserving memory for future city.And one of them will be retained permanently in the form of water tower. 

The jury of this competition will be comprised of experts invited by the host Jiaxing City Construction Investment Co., Ltd.

—— Site Description ——

Jiaxing city is located in the northeast of Zhejiang province, bordering Shanghai on the east, Suzhou on the north, Huzhou on the west, and Hangzhou on the south, with a total land area of 4,223 square kilometers and a total maritime area of 1,523 square kilometers. It has a registered population of 3.604 million and a permanent population of 4.726 million. Under its jurisdiction are two districts Nanhu and Xiuzhou, three county-level cities Pinghu, Haining and Tongxiang, and two counties Jiashan and Haiyan. Jiaxing city enjoys a flat terrain, balanced development and harmonious folk customs. Boasting a civilization history ofmore than 7,000 years, a written history of more than 2,500 years, and a city history of more than 1,700 years, it is the place where the "red boat" of Chinese revolution set sail, the national nuclear power industry started, and the Qiantangjiang tide surged.

The reconstruction and upgrading of Nanhu Lakeside Area, scope: the planed Nanhu Road to the east (including the road), Nanxi Road to the south, Nanhu Lake to the west, Pinghutang-current Nanhu Road-Wujing Hospital, site area is about 214726 square meters, built area is 226818 square meters.

The project is developed on the basis of “Two Belts Four Areas”- the red culture experience belt “Retake a big road”, the lakeside landscape belt; “Four Areas” are Yuanhuli Lane, Jiajuan Yinxiang, Nanhu Book Pavilion, Nanyan Xinjing. According to the current site and the need for culture exhibition, it shall combine the rich experience route themed with red culture with the lakeside landscape belt and related auxiliary facilities to provide the visitors and the citizens a place of meeting, entertainment, etc.

The water tower of this construction is originally the water tower for water supply of Jiaxing Woolen Mill and Woolen New Village. Woolen New Village, with complete supporting facilities, specially erected a mushroom shape water tower at a height of about 40 meters with a volume maximum of 150 tons. At that time, it was a rare new type of water tower in China and ranked No. 1 in Jiaxing. Water tower directly stored water from the deep well and dealt with the water supply problem of the whole Woolen Mill. Meanwhile, because the deep well water is cold in summer and hot in winter, and washing machines were hardly seen at that time, the staff’s hands would not be frozen when doing the laundry in winter.

—— Design Goals ——

This water tower architecture design competition hopes that the entrants (individuals/design teams) could fully consider the water tower itself and its surrounding conditions of architecture and historical culture, merely reconstruct the façade (including but not limit to art installation embedding or overlapping, micro renewal of façade, façade painting, new outer skin covering, etc.) to make it reborn in two layers – image and cultural context.

When considering the historical culture, consider the interactive relationship between the whole scheme and the lakeside area masterplan, through the basic design analysis and research on how to achieve an agreement among the design result of the project of this competition and the masterplan, play a role of pushing forward the landing of the masterplan. (For detailed materials, please see Information Kit) 

The design scheme shall meet the requirement stated above, meanwhile, it shall also consider the related needs of all the equipment for the current water tower.

And fully consider the original structure form of water tower to ensure its landing. (For detailed materials, please see Information Kit)

The signal equipment installation for the water tower in later period has been carried out. Hence, this fact shall be fully considered in the design scheme. And provide solution for equipment and the complete façade design. (For detailed materials, please see Information Kit) 

The holding poles (mobile signal poles) and the parts above cannot use metals in order to avoid the disturbance of signals to the equipment operation. The designers shall fully combine the condition of the signal poles, provide an overall design without bringing impacts on the whole landscape, integrate the signal poles and the outer equipment hidden or harmoniously with the result of this design. (For detailed materials, please see Information Kit)

—— Design Challenges ——

To reconstruct the water tower, fully consider the water tower itself and its surrounding conditions of architecture and historical culture, merely reconstruct the façade (including but not limit to art installation embedding or overlapping, micro renewal of façade, façade painting, new outer skin covering, etc.) to make it reborn in two layers – image and cultural context.

—— Competition Evaluation Principles——

According to the competition concept and design goals, the basic evaluation principles are set as follows:

1. Principle of culture protection: According to the design challenges stated above, design shall fully reveal the elements of respecting culture, and the cultural protection logic of the design result shall be fully narrated in the design analysis. 

2. Principle of aesthetics and compliance with the masterplan: According to the design challenges stated above, the design result shall ensure the aesthetics and meet the basic requirements of the masterplan for the reconstruction of the water tower. 

3. Principle of landing performance: According to the design challenges stated above, fully consider the current structure and frame to ensure the landing performance.

4. Principle of equipment feasibility: According to the proposition concept stated above, the water tower will be installed with specific equipment in later period, so consider the condition of the specific equipment installation and construction.

5. Principle of cost control: Based on the principle of solid, pragmatic, beauty, the cost control is adopted as one of the evaluation criteria.

6. Principle of environmental protection and sustainability: After the consideration of all the principles stated above, the principle of environmental protection and sustainability will be deemed as one of the evaluation criteria.

—— Submission Materials ——

1. A scheme shall be presented in three A2 sheets in a clear, vertical way and in readable format (with a 8mm page margin) and include following parts:

-Descriptive text on concept within 1200 words, economic and technical indicators;

-Registration No. shall be put in the upper right corner of the sheets, in Arial 20pt font;

-The drawings should be with caption in English and Chinese, and include site plan, master plan with function analysis, circulation organization relation drawing, function details and evolution diagram, other diagrams, plan, elevation, section, perspective drawing, scene details, details, etc.

Through diagrams and text, the scheme shall be narrated in details and be sure of its clarity and readability.

2. Sheets in JPG format (no larger than 10MB for each) can be submitted;

3. The scheme title shall be named as simple as possible; the scheme shall be saved in the "registration No. – scheme title – sheet No.1/No.2/No.3" format;

4. A scheme shall be submitted in bilingual (English and Chinese) or English;

5. When submitting all drawings and text online, work shall be placed within the frame provided by the host;

6. It is best to submit three drawings according to the order of general plan – diagrams – partial– structure details. It can be adjusted under certain circumstance；

7. The cover must be submitted online which is the key visual of your design work; it must be uploaded in the size of 1045×654 pixels, 72 dpi, less than 2MB.

—— Eligibility ——

1. This competition is open to professionals and students of all background including but not limit to design and art (architecture, planning, landscape, interior, art, installation, etc.).

2. This competition is open to practitioners of related fields and enthusiasts.

3. All individuals and groups can participate this competition under the circumstance of the completeness of the entry. Each group (four members at most) shall submit a maximum of two entries;

4. Each participant has to register on our website; for any question, please visit our website.

—— Timeline ——

2020/12/31 Release of the Proposition (Call for entries)

2021/01/27 Submission deadline

2021/02/02 Release of shortlisted winners

2021/02/05 Release of Top 30

2021/02/09 Release of the Champion and Top 3

Submission deadline: 2021/01/27 23:59（GMT+8）

All contents are subject to designverse official website

—— Awards ——

★ First Prize

1 winner; 80,000 RMB (pre-tax); Certificate of Honor

★ Second Prize

2 winners; 10,000 RMB each (pre-tax); Certificate of Honor

★ Top 30

27 winners; Certificate of Top 30 Honor

★ Shortlists

Certificate of Shortlist Honor

—— Registration ——

①Please register by logging into our website: www.designverse.com.cn

②For the latest information about this competition, please follow our official WeChat account: designverse设计宇宙 or our official Weibo account: @designverse设计宇宙;

③You can directly contact the competition team by adding YoungBirdPlan as one of your Wechat friends. We remain at your service here for any further questions you may have. 

—— Documents ——

1. Jiaxing Nanhu Lakeside Area Masterplan 

2. Jiaxing Lakeside Area renderings 

3. Related files of water tower

4. Surveying and mapping of water tower

5. Story of water tower material link

6. Sketch of work submission

—— Copyright —— 

In accordance with applicable laws and regulations, by participating in this competition, each Entrant irrevocably agrees to abide by the below statements about the copyrights for all submissions.  

1. Statement of Originality

All submissions must be original, and each Entrant shall ensure that his/her entry does not infringe any third party’s rights, including patents, copyrights, trademarks, and so on. Otherwise, the Entrant will be disqualified from the competition, and the organizer will withdraw all the sponsorship money and materials and reserve the right to investigate and affix legal liability of infringement. All damages and losses arising therefrom shall be borne by the Entrant; and all the direct and indirect damages (including but not limited to attorney fees, legal fees, costs of preservation, appraisal costs, notarial fees, and so on) suffered by the organizer shall be compensated by the Entrant.

2. Statement of Consent

By submitting an entry, each entrant agrees to publicly display the works, and accepts the online selection process. And before uploading a submission, each Entrant must confirm that he/she has read and fully understands all of the clauses, and accepts them. The judging panel reserves the right to make a final decision on entry assessment and award list.  

The detailed Official Rules of this competition will be published on the designverse website soon. Please read them carefully.

—— Organizers ——

Jiaxing City Construction Investment Co., Ltd.

Young Bird Plan

Founded in 2013 by Isa Ye, Young Bird Plan, is an international competition platform for global design talents. With three key elements, viz. fabrication, mentor’s guidance and interdisciplinary jury, it is fast becoming a leading voice in global design fields like urban design, architecture design, landscaping design, interior design, product design, logo design and fashion design.

On the one hand, the platform constantly connects and meets various demands from political, business, and academic circles and actively fill supply and demand gaps among designers, manufacturers, developers, urban operators and users. We are committed to design and innovation, and offering opportunities for creative minds around the world to participate in creation process, so as to propel the implementation of design projects and products focusing on urban spaces and life aesthetics. Besides, Young Bird Plan is devoted to pushing the urban development and offering high-quality solutions to product updates. On the other hand, as one of the most influential design competition platforms around the world, we make every effort to create opportunities for young designers. Read the full post on Bustler