A Memorial to a Memorable Event

Making Manifest the Memory

Supported by

Memorial: ‘serving to preserve the memory of the dead or a past event; serving as a remembrance’. (Collins)

Preamble
Memories are not shackles Franklin, they are garlands’. Alan Bennett, Forty Years On (1969)
‘And some there be, which have no memorial… and are become as though they had never been born……’ Ecclesiasticus ch. 44, v. 9
‘Et tout d’un coup le souvenir m’est apparu’. (And suddenly the memory revealed itself). Marcel Proust, Du côté de chez Swann (Swann’s Way, 1913)

Introduction
Competitors are invited to make proposals for a memorial commemorating a significant past event in their own country, or the country in which they are studying. The event should be real and worthy of remembrance. It could be a political, sporting, cultural or historical event such as a famous speech, a battle, a protest march, sporting success, disaster, human migration, musical performance, act of bravery, revolution, strike……
Certain events in history help to shape a society’s identity. Significant events, like warsand revolutions are frequently marked with memorials and monuments, which can become cultural points of reference for that society. But many past events go unmarked and unremembered, and lose their significance. Competitors are asked to identify such an event in their own country, for which a worthy memorial does not already exist and to submit designs for a building that will make manifest the memory. The competition jury will be interested in ideas that explore the nature of a memorial in contemporary society and how current concerns such as environmental, social and economic sustainability, might be accommodated in its design.
The memorial should be placed on a real site appropriate to the memorable event. It will serve two purposes:

• to provide a physical point of reference with visual significance that keeps alive the memory of the event;
• to provide accommodation to house and display relevant memorabilia/interpretive material for public access and information.

The memorial might be designed as a single artefact, being a building that acts as both memorial and visitor centre; or it could be designed as a free-standing memorial set adjacent to a building accommodating material relevant to the memorable event.
Solutions relying heavily on landscape would also be welcome.
Competitors are asked to consider:

• an appropriate way to commemorate an event that is perhaps strong in the memory or significant in the history of a region, but for which there may little or no evidence in the location in which it took place;
• an approach to designing with reference to a past event, which contemporary and long-lasting relevance.

Design Brief
Competitors are free to develop their own briefs to suit local circumstances and the event being remembered, but the jury will want to see proposals that accommodate visitors in such a way as to add to the experience of visiting the memorial. Visitors should be inspired and informed in ways that somehow express the spirit of the event being commemorated. The size of the memorial is not important in itself, but the design should be distinctive and compelling, with cultural value, designed to last for the benefit of future generations.
Accommodation is left to competitors but might include, for instance, display space, a small archive and study area, a bookshop and sales area, somewhere to eat/drink, toilets and storage.
The jury will be particularly interested in each competitor’s approach to the sustainability of the memorial, in terms of the materials used, maintenance, its long-term use, employment potential, energy use, water and waste management, etc. An appropriate use of natural lighting and ventilation should be considered. Strategies should be developed that reflect the climate, culture and context of the building.
Competitors are encouraged to contemplate the use of recycled or locally found materials; if an urban location is chosen, re-use and remodelling of an existing building would be acceptable.

Eligibility
The competition is open to all students, worldwide, who at the time of preparing their submission are registered at a Higher Education Institution. It is not limited to those studying in Commonwealth Countries. Individual and group entries are acceptable.
Entries from multi-disciplinary groups are welcome. Post graduate research students and higher degree students are not eligible to take part.

Prizes

First Prize: £2500 Second Prize: £1000 Third Prize: £600

A bonus of £250 will be awarded to the best prize-winning, multi-disciplinary group entry (i.e. a submission from a team comprising two or more people from different disciplines (recorded on the registration form) that is placed first, second or third). All students are eligible for first, second and third prizes. An additional £250 has been reserved for the best submission from a student (or team of students) in the first or second year of academic study at the time of the entry being made, where the entry has not been awarded one of the principal prizes. Any prize awarded for a group submission will be shared equally by members of the group.

Presentation
Drawings should be on a maximum of two A1 sheets (841 x 594mm), sent rolled or mounted on two A1 lightweight boards. A brief written explanation, in English, explaining the context and thinking behind the scheme should be included on the sheet(s).
Photographs (of the site, 3D model, etc) may be mounted or scanned onto the drawings.
No specific drawings or scales are prescribed, but the presentation must convey the ideas underlying the design of the memorial, its overall form and spaces, and its character and intended atmosphere. The following aspects should be explained:

• the site and its context (built and natural)
• indicative construction, materials, textures and colours
• the strategy for achieving sustainability
• the surrounding landscape/external spaces
• the intended activities, in and around the memorial, including the qualities of enclosed space showing furniture, fittings and finishes.

Drawings should be suitable for photographic reproduction for the purpose of publication.
It is intended to publish a selection of winning and other entries in The Architectural
Review.
Entrants are encouraged to send a digital copy of their entry on a CD. This is optional but is intended to help the organisers with the process of publishing selected entries including winners, following the announcement of the results. If a CD is submitted, it should contain key images of the design.

Entry Rules and Procedures
Each entry must be accompanied by a registration form, endorsed by the entrant’s head of school/department. Additional copies of the registration form and this brief are available from the CAA (contact details below). The brief and registration form are also available here for downloading.
The name of the entrant(s) and school should appear only on the registration form and not on the drawing sheets. Registration forms should accompany the entries, in a sealed envelope clearly marked ‘CAA Design Competition 2010’. For identification, entrants should devise a name and/or symbol, and that name and/or symbol followed by, in brackets, their year(s) of academic study should appear both on the drawing sheets and on the registration form.
Drawings with a registration form must arrive in Colombo, Sri Lanka, by midday on 29th January 2010, addressed to CAA Design Competition 2010, at the following address:

C/o Sri Lankan Institute of Architects
120/7 Vidyamawatha
Columbo 7
Sri Lanka

Entrants must ensure that all costs relating to the carriage of their entry, including any customs duties or taxes that may be due, have been paid for in full at the point of dispatch. Declare packages as ‘Drawings. No commercial value’ in the required or equivalent format as advised by the courier or post office.
Late entries will not be considered.

Queries
Any questions concerning the brief and arrangements for the competition may, until 30 June 2009, be addressed to the Commonwealth Association of Architects, PO Box 508, Edgware, HA8 9XZ, United Kingdom Tel/Fax: +44 (0) 20 8951 0550 Email: admin@comarchitect.org. FAQs will be published on the CAA’s website at: www.comarchitect.org.

Jury
The competition will be judged by an international jury including CAA President Professor Gordon Holden of New Zealand, and Paul Finch, Editor of The Architectural Review. The results will be announced on the occasion of the 19th
CAA General Assembly and Conference scheduled to take place in Colombo, Sri Lanka, in February 2010. The organisers propose displaying the winning entries at the Conference. The jury’s decision will be final.

Copyright
The copyright of a submission will remain with the author(s), but the CAA reserves the right to keep entries for exhibition, and to publish them. Note that entries will not be returned. Schools/authors are advised to keep copies of drawings submitted for the competition.