Access for All - Schindler Award 2010
1. Competition
The Schindler Award is an architecture competition that challenges young architects to place "Access for All" at the center of their design philosophy. Open to students and schools of architecture in Europe, the Award recognizes urban designs that are characterized by inclusiveness and barrier-free mobility for people of all ages and capabilities. The competition is held under the patronage of the Schindler Group, and is an excellent opportunity for graduating architects to have their designs judged by a professional jury.
2. Philosophy
The Schindler Award has the goal of improving access and overall mobility for all city dwellers, irrespective of their age, status or physical capabilities. To that end, it challenges young architects to think beyond form, light and materials and to focus on the needs of the people who will eventually inhabit the structures and spaces that they design.
3. Schindler Award 2010
September 22, 2009 Opening of the competition. Students and schools can apply to compete for the Schindler Award 2010 by registering at: www.schindleraward.com
April 30, 2010 Closing date for applications
July 30, 2010 Deadline for projects to be submitted
September 21 - 25, 2010 Judging of projects by an international jury of experts
At the beginning of 2011 Prizes awarded at the Schindler Award 2010
ceremony
4. Access is an issue for everyone
Safe and reliable mobility is one of the primary challenges facing cities today. In industrialized countries, ageing societies mean that growing numbers of people are finding it more difficult to move around because of physical barriers, inadequate signposting and a general lack of attention to accessibility in planning and design. The obstacles once experienced by "disabled" people are now recognized as problems that will affect almost everyone at some point in their lifetime.
"Access for All" is a design philosophy that envisions a built environment designed with the specific and changing needs of all its inhabitants in mind, irrespective of their age, status and physical capabilities. It goes far beyond "bolt-on" measures such improvised ramps and parking spaces reserved for special-needs drivers, and instead recognizes the urban landscape as a diverse environment where everyone – children, young people, parents, workers, the elderly and people with special needs – is able to move around freely and to share and enjoy public spaces.
The Schindler Award emphasizes the special needs of disabled people because they reflect shortcomings in urban design and because an urban environment that answers the needs of the disabled will come closest to answering those of everyone else.
The vast majority of people spend years, if not lifetimes, in a single urban environment. This is especially the case for children, people with disabilities and the elderly, whose freedom of movement may be considerably restricted. For them "Access for All" means having immediate surroundings that are secure, aesthetically pleasing and stimulating to the senses, with essential amenities and facilities close by.
5. Task
Visions for an enhanced and accessible "Olympic Park Berlin"
The task is aimed at transforming this somewhat neglected area of the Olympic grounds into a pleasing, functional and fully accessible sport and leisure compound. To achieve this goal, the following tasks must be fulfilled:
On the urban scale:
- Create a master plan to reorganize existing and new functions inside a perimeter of approximately 750 by 850 meters;
- Devise a new access route from the urban transit station and the carpark to the sport facilities and the 'Waldbühne'.
On the project scale:
- Design a new sports and congress hotel for 150 guests;
- Upgrade the 'Waldbühne' to modern standards of ‘Access for All’
The jury felt it is especially fitting that the principles of 'Access for All' should be applied to a place used by the Nazis to symbolise their imagined superiority and policies of exclusion.
Please find here detailed information about the competition Task:
