OPENGAP organized the second edition of this open ideas competition seeking for innovative, cutting-edge, contemporary, proposals, committed to a strategy of implementing architecture in a protected natural environment. Approaches should point to find synergies between nature and the building itself.
Participants were invited to find spaces that promote a deep understanding and assimilation of nature. Projects must lead through their architecture to sensitivity, awareness, understanding, enthusiasm and commitment to the natural environment around them.
Each participant or team defined the location of their Project; such as: natural parks, protected natural areas, forests, jungles, beaches, mountains, etc. However, the proposal had tojustify the choice of the location and the interaction reached between the project and the site’s environment.
The jury was comprised of architects: Luis Aldrete, Gabriela Etchegaray, Sergio Ortiz, and Mauricio Rocha.
Highlights of the jury:
FIRST PRIZE, IN21853
Authors: Mariana Santana, João Gama Varandas, Gonçalo Batista, Ana Sofía Amador. Country: Portugal.
"A clear and convincing proposal that, from a primitive, tectonic and compelling materiality; resolves rightly the program praising the poetry of each space. The honesty of the project is remarkable; the piece does not deny what it is. There is a consistency, a clear correspondence between the interior and exterior, between what it appears to be and what it is. It is a project with memory. It is a piece with an evocative capacity and nostalgia. It invites to reflection on the passage of time on the site. It is a project that is closely linked to its environment, linking city and nature, with an almost anonymous presence, not intending to have excessive role."
SECOND PRIZE, IN22067
Author: Gabriel Wulf. Country:Switzerland.
"A project with a conception deeply linked to the landscape that generates spaces from subtraction. Its paths invite to "go into the earth to reach an empty space." The act of traversing the land with potent deliberated gestures has great conceptual strength,. The idea of playing with the empty space conceived from "the negative" recalls the work of artists like Michael Heizer or Chillida. It subtly transforms the preexistence, inciting that, during the visit to the project, the users have an experience far beyond the mere contemplation. The raw material of the project is stone, light and movement.... nothing else."
THIRD PRIZE, IN22061
Authors: Jose Fernando Gomez, Felipe Bustamante. Country: Ecuador.
"This is a sensitive, risky and very poetic proposal that explores the boundaries of architecture and conceptual art. It is a fine line, a horizon that splits the landscape and speaks about infinity in nature. The piece allows an experience that immerses visitors in a contemplative mood of reflective natural context. It is a tool that helps to discover "what is already there" and helps us to see it from another perspective."
MENTION to the proposal, IN21875
Authors: Ornchuma Saraya, Silasalin Krisanarungkhun. Country: Thailand.
