Pamphlet Architecture contest
Posted in Discourse on Tue Sep 19, 06 by Kyle under Architecture and Books.
If you’ve not heard about it I’d like to take a moment to introduce you to the Princeton Architectural Press’s Pamphlet Architecture contest. This contest is a chance for emerging architects or architectural scholars to have their visionary and innovative ideas published by a well regarded architectural press. The contest website sums it up best:
Founded in 1977 as an alternative to mainstream architectural publishing, Pamphlet Architecture encourages architects and writers to put forth their ideas, theories, and designs in modest, affordable booklets. Its success is legendary: Pamphlet Architecture helped launch the careers of architects from Steven Holl and Lebbeus Woods to Zaha Hadid, and has influenced far exceeding the ad-hoc nature of these humble books.
As a little personal disclaimer, I am good friends with one of the people who runs the contest so forgive the shameless plug on my part. I think this project is worthy of more attention. (It’s one of the small joys of being you own editor.) That aside, I’ve read and looked through many of the projects that have been published as a result of this contest. The pieces written by Steven Holl are my favorites. They are about the development of building types, both large civic edifices and rural vernacular buildings. Building typology fascinates me and Holl’s works are great little introductions to the topic.
Getting back to the contest itself, you can find all of the details here. The big thing to keep in mind is that entries are due by November 15, 2006, so if you have a visionary idea for the next big thing in architecture then you better jump on it and get started on your way to being the next Zaha Hadid.