Field Constructs Design Competition
Opening reception is on Friday, November 13, 2015 from 5:00pm to 7:00pm, with introductory remarks by the curators at 5:15pm.
The University of Texas at Austin is pleased to present the exhibition documenting Field Constructs Design Competition (FCDC). In November of 2014, FCDC invited emerging designers, architects, landscape architects, and artists to participate in an international juried competition to design, fabricate, and install a site-specific intervention at the Circle Acres Nature Preserve in Austin’s Montopolis neighborhood. FCDC attracted submissions from four continents, nine countries, 14 states, and 35 cities.
Many captured the program’s mission of marrying experimentation with design innovation while uniquely addressing the history and ecology of the competition site — a former quarry and remediated brownfield.
Represented in the exhibition is a collection of the four winning projects, 14 jury-selected finalists, and 12 curators’ choices. The exhibition, designed by UTSOA Associate Professor Igor Siddiqui, presents images from the selected projects as an immersive field organized within the scaled footprint of the Circle Acres site. Presented are also details about the winning proposals and expanded information about the Montopolis site.
Parallel to the exhibition in Mebane Gallery, the four winning projects will be installed for public viewing at the site from November 14 to 22. The winning projects — a buoyant chain of balloons wired with sensors floating above the landscape; a camouflaged canopy laser-cut from polished steel; a brightly-colored egg overgrown with grass; and a patterned root system fabricated on a digital lathe — represent a diverse group of architects, landscape architects, and designers, focusing on digital fabrication, material innovation, and interactive design. Themes of camouflage; waste cycles in a landfill; dynamic, repetitive, growth in nature; and interactivity unite the four projects — which will all generate, apply, and test innovative thinking with regard to site specificity, environmental impact, and the use of new technological advancements in design.
The 2015 FCDC jury included: Virginia San Fratello of Rael San Fratello in Oakland, Calif.; Benjamin Ball of Ball-Nogues Studio in Los Angeles; Ingrid Spencer, executive director of AIA Austin; Jason Sowell, associate professor and program director of landscape architecture at The University of Texas at Austin School of Architecture; and Seattle-based artist John Grade.
Field Constructs Design Competition is co-founded and co-directed by Rachel Adams, Catherine Gavin, and Igor Siddiqui. Graphic design and identity are by Pentagram. Circle Acres Nature Preserve is owned and operated by Ecology Action of Texas.
For more information, please visit www.fieldconstructs.org.
2015 FCDC Winners
99 WHITE BALLOONS
INVIVIA
Cambridge, Mass. USA
BLURRED BODIES
Studio Roland Snooks
Melbourne, Australia
DUCK BLIND IN PLAIN SITE
OP.AL + And-Either-Or
New York, NY USA
HYBROOT
OTA+
Austin, Texas USA
2015 Jury Selection Finalists
CLOUDFILL
Blake Smith, John Cunningham, Seth Brunner
New York, NY USA
COMMPOST
Daniel Gillen, Colby Suter, Gustav Fagerstrom
Beijing, China
DIS-FIGURE
Aptum Architecture (Julie Larsen, Roger Hubeli, Sean Morgan, Nathaniel Banks, Sai Lv)
Syracuse, NY USA
ENTOURAGE
HA Architecture (Jamie Crawley, Dharmesh Patel, Charles Meyer), Manuel Gonzales
Austin, Texas / Lexington, Ky. USA
FRINGE
emerymcclure architecture (Michael A. McClure, Ursula Emery McClure), Kristi Cheramie, Sarah Young
Lafayette, La. / Columbus, Ohio USA
GLAM CAMO
Studio Modo
Austin, Texas USA
LAS PIÑATAS
Goujon Design
Austin, Texas USA
MEAT CHURCH FIELD KITCHEN
Jordan Bartelt, Scrap Marshall
Los Angeles, Calif. USA
REPLACEMENT
Abe Drechsler, Allison Hale, Amanda Maderic, Claire Eddleman, Kristina Olivent
Austin, Texas USA
S(P)OIL CORES
The OAK CLIFF Dirty 4 (Isaac Cohen, Chris Kiahtipes, Gwen McGinn, Maggie Winter)
Dallas, Texas USA
TEXTEX
Banned Practice (Sarah Cowles, Maritt Vaessin)
Columbus, Ohio USA
TRANSECTUAL HEALING
Lauren Fasic, Clayton Holmes, James Morgan, Brendan Wittstruck
Austin, Texas USA
WASTE CRACK
Ludovico Centis, Nerea Feliz, Logan Wagner
Milan, Italy / Austin, Texas USA
YELLOWFIELDS
Cruz Mendez
Austin, Texas USA
2015 Curators’ Choices
BLIND SP T
Hannah Ahlblad
Austin, Texas USA
CAMPFIRE TALKS UNDER STARRY SKIES
Shuai Feng
London, United Kingdom
EANIVOB
Nikole Bouchard
Milwaukee, Wis. USA
GREEN FURY THING CALLED MOSS
Soft Things Collaborative (Yereem Park, Brian Grieb, Dooee Kim)
Seoul, Korea
INTERSTITIAL NATURES
EASTON+COMBS
NY and Mass. USA
LISTENING IS FOR THE BIRDS
mEmE
Drew Merkle, Jorge Mendez
London, United Kingdom
RENEWAL LINE
Kendall Claus, Haley Fitzpatrick
Austin, Texas USA
SCAR TISSUE
Charles Beckendorf, Joyce Hanlon
Austin, Texas USA
SUSPENDED CONSTELLATIONS
Laura Bryant, Mary Morton, Ben Nissley
Philadelphia, Pa. USA
THE EDGE EFFECT
Sean O’Brien, Donesh Ferdowsi
Austin, Texas USA
TEMPORARY ARCHIPELAGO
Sean Burkholder, Karen Lutsky
Buffalo, NY USA
THE WEB
studio.bad architects
Collinsville, Conn. USA