In an effort to introduce professional solutions to problems of public interest and concern, the Global Convention and Exposition on Architecture endeavors to engage the professional and public sectors through selected design challenges. These challenges will be submitted to industry professionals to promote innovative approaches in the public domain using architecture. Among the questions we seek to answer through this competitive event are: "How can we use design to bring to connect a community to positives of its past while bringing the all the benefits of today's technologies?" Also, "What are ways we can utilize form and function to instill worth, pride, and hope to regions of disenfranchisement and disillusionment? Finalists will be chosen from among the entrants which will then be made available to the public for voting to determine the most practical and pleasing interpretation of the given design project. The lead vote-recipient will be honored at a scheduled award ceremony. All finalists will be displayed at the university and possibly an additional public venue to be determined later.
DESIGN CHALLENGE 1:
Chicago has risen to become a world class city through its embrace of its history in addition to a visionary boldness which has placed it at the forefront of design innovations on into the 21st Century. This year, in the spirit of this dual perspective, the Global Convention and Exposition on Architecture focuses on the near Southside neighborhoods of the Back of the Yards and Canaryville once home to Chicago's famed Union Stockyards - the subject in Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle" which documented the notorious early 20th Century conditions of the country's meat packaging industry. Although many are more familiar with the Chicago's monikers the City of Big Shoulders and the Windy City, its was also known as Hog Butcher to the World encapsulating the extent to its ties to that particular industry. Although precious little remains today from such a rich and storied history, a couple of key structures yet stand as a faint echo to the significance of this legacy. In an effort to acknowledge and memorialize this history, a small park (Stockyards Industrial Park) has been created in the midst of an industrial park still serving this industry's needs albeit in contemporary fashion. The former entrance to the Union Stock Yards - the limestone Union Stock Yard Gate - has been preserved as a National Historic Landmark since 1981. The gate - located at Exchange and Peoria - was designed by noted Chicago architect John Wellborn Root of Burnham and Root around 1875.
DESIGN CHALLENGE 2:
With the ongoing influx of immigrants to western nations such as England, France, Denmark, etc., meaningful integration into the host country becomes critical. Often this integration begins with initial experiences in their new environment and this means transitional housing. The proposal here is provide residential spaces which encourage assimilation and foster dignity, community and opportunities for immediate vocational participation to immigrant communities.