A. D. A. P. T : Alternative Design After Pandemic Times
You all know what’s happening: a pandemic that temporarily upended global society and likely to permanently change the way we live and work. With every crisis comes revelation, and what is clear now is that public health is never simply a medical issue — it is the cause and consequence of socio-economical as well as physical infrastructures that shape our society. From roads to homes, billboards to phones — to think about health, we must think beyond health. What could have been different about our society that would have helped us prevent or recover from a global health crisis? What could a subway pass do — or toilet paper?
Similar to our #mOOO3 ISO[NATION] competition, we are donating everything we receive to the World Health Organization (WHO) COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund. This time, we invite you to cross-pollinate public health initiatives with physical infrastructures.
The Question
A collective crisis exposes us to deep interdependencies between social and physical systems. What does the exacerbating gap between mental and labour workers, for example, reflect about urbanisation, the nature of commute, and the definition of “essential work”? How does changing demographics affect the ecosystem of care homes for the elderly? What do we think about the public school system’s role and responsibility in caretaking beyond education? What happens to the future of social dining? How might the rising need for delivery change our cities? … All in all: what features of our society can we empower and reimagine to promote an infrastructure of health?
The Conversation
The site of design in response to systemic issues should be systemic in nature. We want to promote thoughts and conversation about health as an integrated medical and social infrastructure that manifests physically in the fabric of society – an architectural issue. This competition aims to encourage innovative design that grows out of a cross-pollination of features and ideas from various social and physical systems.
To aid in this process, we have created two lists of keywords: one representing physical systems, ranging in scale from objects to buildings and to urban features; and one representing non-physical infrastructures, in terms of activities that are central to maintaining wellness in the areas of mental, physical, as well as social health. Each participating team shall pick one keyword from each list, and create a proposal of how the two items might interact and come together to promote public health. You have absolute freedom in choosing the site/context of your design in relation to your chosen keywords.
The Pair
Each participating team shall pick one keyword from each column, and propose how they might cross-pollinate to advance public health initiatives. We encourage you to choose unusual and creative pairings that challenge the expected and push the limits of innovation. Try picking blindly!
Physical Infrastructure
wearables (clothes, hats, jewelry, etc.) •
electronic devices •
household objects (toilet paper, towels, etc.) •
furniture (home, workplace, public) •
vehicles (trains, cars, etc.) •
public restrooms/porta potties •
convenience store •
institutions (schools, libraries, museums, etc.) •
shopping malls •
amusement parks •
bridges •
beach •
public plazas •
surface / underground parking •
alleys/rooftops/hutong •
sidewalks •
greenspace (parks, trails, etc.) •
Health Activities
• counselling
• learning
• video-gaming
• cooking
• dining
• cleaning
• exercising
• massage
• sunbathing
• dancing
• pet-walking
• dating
• travelling
• blood donation
• medical examination (vaccination, blood test, radiology, etc.) quarantine
Design References
Submission Requirement
- 3 x Submission Boards (Images Only)
- 300 words of Project Description with Title (Text Only)
- A project title with your two chosen keywords
- Use entry numbers #m_ _ _ _ we provide instead of your real names in all submission files
There is no constraint with regard to the content or style of the
drawings; we encourage exploration and innovation in finding
the right expression to communicate a simple but powerful
idea. Please download and use our submission templates to avoid incorrect submission formats.
Jury Panel
Dr. Dina Battisto
Associate Professor at Clemson University
Coordinator of the Built Environment and Health concentration area in the interdisciplinary Planning, Design and Built Environment Ph.D. Program
Chair of the AIA’s Academy of Architecture for Health Foundation Grants Committee from 2006-2012
Emmett Zeifman
Adjunct Assistant Professor at the Columbia GSAPP
Principal of Medium Office
Founding editor of Project
Previously taught graduate and undergraduate design studios and visual studies seminars at SCI-Arc
Jaffer Kolb
Co-founder of the award-winning architectural practice New Affiliates based in New York
Teaches most recently at Parsons, the Copper Union, Princeton, and Columbia
Dr. Jesse Lecavalier
Associate Professor of architecture at the University of Toronto
Daniel Rose Visiting Assistant Professor at the Yale School of Architecture
Author of The Rule of Logistics: Walmart and the Architecture of Fulfillment
Dr. Roger Wong
Vice Dean (Education) UBC Faculty of Medicine
Clinical Professor of Geriatric Medicine
13th President of the Canadian Geriatrics Society
TEDx Speaker
Awards & Publications
3 x WINNER
[ PUBLICATION + SPEAKER SERIES + SPECIAL GIFTS ]
9 x FINALIST
[ PUBLICATION ]
3 x PEOPLE’S CHOICE
[ PUBLICATION + SPECIAL GIFTS ]
24 x HONOURABLE MENTION
[ PUBLICATION ]
Competition Schedule
Brief Launch – 7st AUG 2020Registration Deadline – 1st OCT 2020 – 11:59pm (GMT)Submission Deadline – 4th OCT 2020 – 11:59pm (GMT)
Extended Registration Deadline – 29th DEC 2020 – 11:59pm (GMT)
Extended Submission Deadline – 30th DEC 2020 – 11:59pm (GMT)
Public Vote (updated) – mid JAN 2021
Announcement of Winners (updated) – mid FEB 2021
Full Competition Brief
Competition Entry
Designers can choose to enter mOOO’s competition as an individual or a group of maximum 3 members.
In the spirit of our collective fight against COVID-19, A.D.A.P.T is operating on a nonprofit basis. As such, registration will be in the form of a flexible donation. All proceeds from this competition will be donated to the WHO COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund. However, we do ask for a minimum of 5 EURO due to handling fee incurred by our payment portal.
Discussion
Organised in partnership with
Baolin Shen, Yale SoA ‘20
Megan Tan, Yale SoA ‘20
Jiageng Guo, Columbia GSAPP ‘22
Media partners
@competitions.archi
@archdlofficial
@barchitecture.studio
@design.alters
@winnersdaily
@thearchitecturesarcasm
@av_platform
@go_architecture