Bending the Rules:
How to win an Architectural Competition
Competitions are at the very base of the architecture profession; yet, winning competitions is one of the hardest tasks for an architect today. This workshop offers a methodology for interpreting the brief and expanding upon it.
Through a series of lectures, hands-on activities, and close collaboration with Generative AI Tools, participants will learn how to explore new dimensions of the creative process and design groundbreaking architecture.
Over the 8-hour workshop, participants will simulate a competition to design the next Serpentine Pavilion. Students will be given a project brief to challenge their creativity, a template to guide their designs, and specific submission details to follow. This practical exercise is designed to mirror real-world competition scenarios, providing participants with an understanding of how to critically engage with and challenge the brief.
The workshop is aimed at students and professionals who wish to broaden their expertise, enhance their critical thinking skills, and are eager to engage with the latest disruptive technologies.
What you will learn
1. Programme Reading and Objective Definition
Learn how to interpret the brief and define the best objectives for your project. The key to a successful proposal lies in the initial analysis.
2. AI-Driven Concept Development and Reverse Engineering
Learn how to leverage AI during the initial phases of architectural sketching to craft innovative proposals. Starting with a bold approach can set a promising foundation.
3. How to Master Architecture Competitions
Learn how to produce a stunning proposal and deliver your vision like a star architect.
Course Highlights
- Master the art of architectural competition. Equip yourself with the necessary skills to win an architectural competition! Learn how to effectively advocate for your decisions and convince a jury.
- Collaborate with AI. Learn how to think outside the box with AI and maximize the potential of your competition entry.
Mentors
Cosimo Scotucci
Cosimo Scotucci is an architect and innovator. Through his works, he reflects an ideology that focuses on people, envisioning the world of tomorrow. He defines himself as an optimistic idealist.
Cosimo studied in Rome, where he graduated with a master’s degree in architecture. He first founded Rublic, a startup with the aim of upgrading urban furniture into infrastructural pieces capable of helping mitigate the urban heat island effect. In 2016, he joined MVRDV Architects in Rotterdam, where he is currently a senior project leader. Within MVRDV, Cosimo oversees projects in the Asia Studio, with a specific focus on people-centered design, sustainability, and circular design. Since he joined MVRDV in late 2016, he has successfully contributed to realizing projects in mainland China and Taiwan. He always strives for the most visionary and sustainable solutions; his work is an investigation into radical design.
In 2019, he founded Cosimo Scotucci Studio, where he works together with a multidisciplinary team on speculative design, tackling the biggest issues in society.
The office is conceived as a design laboratory where they experiment with pioneering ideas to create a more democratic and resilient future. Through functional scientific fictional stories, the office aims to create a better tomorrow, triggering the imagination of a new world. At the lab, Cosimo and his team collaborate with scientists, engineers, and specialists from every field to outsmart the threats to humankind. Cosimo believes that sustainability can be beautiful, entertaining, and engaging, and that, with his science-based art, he can contribute to creating awareness, mitigating, and resolving the most pressing issues for contemporary society: from climate change to social justice, from technological developments to human well-being.
His work has been widely published and awarded across the world.
Programme
Day 1
- Course Intro, overview, learning goals
- Lecture 1: “Bending the rules”. Lecture on successful (and not) competitions in MVRDV and Cosimo Scotucci
- Presentation of the workshop theme.
- Lecture 2: The use of Midjourney and reverse-engineering architecture.
- Activity: Metaprogram and AI generated sketches
- Outlining the objectives, transforming brief loopholes into design possibilities.
- AI generated sketches
- Q&A
Day 2
- Lecture 1: How to present your project
- Activity: Reverse engineering the AI generated images (from image to 3d)
- Activity: Storyboard your design argument & present
- Feedback on presentations
Important info
- Rhinoceros: Notions of 3d modeling
- Visualization: Notions of any visualization software
- Midjourney: No prior experience needed. Subscription required.
- Adobe suite: Basic notions of Indesign. Photoshop and Illustrator knowledge is an asset.
Important Info:
- It is advisable to have active plans for the following tools: Midjourney, Prome AI, Krea AI and Runway. This tools covered have free versions, except for Midjourney.
- Basic knowledge of interior design and architecture is recommended.