Landscape Design Competitions
The Landscape Institute Competitions Office organises international landscape architecture and urban design competitions for a variety of clients and project types. This list covers current competitions, all of which have now reached their closing date. For more information on upcoming competitions contact: Sabina Mohideen.
Here are examples of recently-completed competitions.
Southend Pier Head
The Southend Pier Head competition was won by White arkitekter with a design called ‘Sculpted by Wind and Wave.’
This contest aimed to encourage ways to revitalise the Pier Head environment and devise innovative designs, enabling established leisure, recreation and tourism uses, to continue in an attractive, high quality and appealing setting.
White arkitekter clearly demonstrated the theme of ‘maritime, environmental and relaxed recreation’ which was chosen by the public after a major consultation with residents and visitors.
White arkitekter said they imagined the Pier Head as 'a public space functioning like a modern agora, part theatre, part art space, acting as a vibrant meeting place for both the people of Southend-on-Sea and visitors.'
The main feature of the new Pier Head design will be an open air theatre with a terraced platform that will create lee, view point and seating for the audience. The outdoor theatre, with the Southend coastline as backdrop, has the capacity of 500 spectators. New buildings - a Culture Centre and a Restaurant - will be built offshore next to the existing Pier Head, creating a balanced enclosure and populated edges around the theatre space.
This winning firm will work in conjunction with British-based engineers, Price and Myers, to produce the scheme.
This winning scheme was chosen from among 73 international and local entries. The other shortlisted teams were:
- Wilkinson Eyre Architects with Schonherr Landscape and Conisbee
- Hugh Broughton Architects with Land Use Consultants, SKM and Spiers and Major Associates
- HOK
- LandLab with Ushida Findlay Architects, Atkins Bennett and United Creatives.
Worthing Splash Point
The Splash Point competition was won by craft:pegg.
The desire is to adapt Worthing to changing market trends, encourage investment and redevelopment of several large sites within the town centre, and provide a range of facilities and cultural experiences, throughout the town and on the seafront, that will meet modern user and visitor requirements.
The winning design will create a magical, unostentatious, focal point at a critical point on Worthing’s sea front promenade. The scheme draws from, and enhances, the strong existing context of the views, the beach and the promenade.
The focal point is a simple water feature; a circular array of fifty spray jets will be mounted in the pavement, their fine mist will create a cushion of water droplets which will scatter light to create a subtle real rainbow suspended at the heart of the scheme. This low key, but beautiful, feature will create a visual focus, a cooling micro climate and a play feature in hot weather.
In addition to the central feature a grove of tamarisk trees provide shelter and seasonal colour with seating for all ages to enjoy the views within the site and to the distant views beyond. An informal path on the seaward side of the wall will link two timber boardwalks for accessible seating and uninterrupted views out to sea. The new scatter of boulders and the inside face of the sea wall will be etched with texts and images provided by local artists and the community. Speakers Corner will provide a stage for orators but also a horizontal black board for text and image statements and a night time screen for projected art work by the community and local artists.
The shortlisted teams for this competition were:
BDP
Camlin Lonsdale and
Scott Wilson
Dover Esplanade Competition
The Dover Esplanade competition was won by Tonkin Liu with remapp. The team’s track record is notable for projects such as ‘The singing ringing tree’ in Lancashire and London’s Promenade of Light.
Dover Esplanade is part of Sea Change, a scheme designed to regenerate the port of Dover. Sea Change’s two main priorities are to connect the historic and modern parts of Dover and to promote culture and new cultural symbols, education and the arts.
A key element is the regeneration of the Esplanade, which formed the basis of the competition. It is a prime amenity for Dover residents as well as being the first experience of the town for ferry and cruise passengers. The aim was to provide a stimulating and high quality ‘connection’.
The shortlisted teams for this competition were:
Allen Scott
craft:pegg
LDA Design
Land Use Consultants
The Landscape Partnership and
Rummey Design
Pennine Lancashire Squared Competition
The Pennine Lancashire Squared competition was a multi-site international design competition which aims to develop six unique, high profile public spaces in the towns of Pennine Lancashire. These new additions or improvements to the public realm will create an inspirational environment for people to use and enjoy every day, and will also provide examples of world class landscape design.
The competition, launched in August 2008, aimed to find the best landscape architects and public realm designers in the world to create outstanding high profile spaces at the heart of Burnley, Accrington, Blackburn, Bacup, Clitheroe and Nelson.
The competition was the brainchild of Yvette Livesey and her late partner, music mogul Anthony H Wilson, who proposed the competition as a means of attracting talent to the area, raising its profile and creating outstanding public spaces in each town. Their report, Dreaming of Pennine Lancashire, coined the term Pennine Lancashire for the former mills towns of East Lancashire, which are now undergoing a physical and cultural renaissance. Yvette was engaged by Elevate, a regeneration agency, which works with partners from the public and private sectors to improve the housing market in Pennine Lancashire.
The Landscape Institute ran the competition with the endorsement of RIBA. The competition received funding from the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA) and is was implemented by the Boroughs of Blackburn with Darwen, Burnley, Hyndburn, Pendle, Ribble Valley and Rossendale with support from Lancashire County Council. CABE Space is providing ongoing support.
Chair of the judging panel is award-winning architect Stephen Hodder MBE, who said at the launch: “This is the launch of probably the most ambitious and aspirational competition for the design of new public squares that this country has witnessed. The competition is unique in bringing together a strong partnership of local authorities and has attracted tremendous interest from all over the globe.”
Winckley Square Competition
The Winckley Square competition was won by The Cooper Partnership.
The winning scheme will realise the aims of the competition - to see the regeneration of Preston’s Winckley Square, as part of a programme of city-wide initiatives. The city proposes to transform itself into a place which is famous for the quality of its public spaces, with a centre which is uniquely based around high quality landscapes and water spaces.
The square lies at the heart of one of City Centre Conservation Areas in close proximity to the City’s commercial and retail core.
The proposed centre piece is a new fountain and the design also includes granite walkways, fibre optic lights as well as the creative use of sculpture and metal art work. The winning design by Bristol based design consultancy Cooper Partnership beat off stiff competition in a national bid to breathe new life into the city’s Victorian square. The area of the square is approximately 16,000 sq metres and is sufficiently large to accommodate performance, relaxation and eating space.
The teams participating in this competition were:
Capita Symonds
Golder Associates
Lloyd Bore and
TEP
Flag Market, Preston competition
The Flag Market competition was won by Landscape Projects Ltd.
The Flag Market is the oldest public space in Preston and provides the setting for the majority of the city’s major civic buildings, including the landmark neo-classical Harris Museum and Art Gallery which is Grade I listed. Situated at the meeting-point of three of Preston’s major historic streets this competition aims to inject new life and activity to the city centre and create a public space worthy of an ambitious and expanding city.
The Landscape Projects design does three things: simplify and organise the space while celebrating Preston and its people.
The shortlisted teams for this competition were:
BDP
Camlin Lonsdale
LAND
Land Use Consultants and
Patel Taylor LLP
The British Homes Awards Sustainable Landscape Architecture Competition
This competition was won by PRP Landscape.
This competition was run in partnership with the Landscape Institute and the British Research Establishment (BRE) and provided a unique opportunity for entrants to become an exemplar in sustainable landscape architecture. The competition was to design the landscape for the next phase of the BRE Innovation Park at Garston, Watford.
The winning scheme is being showcased in the park amongst a grouping of some of the world’s most sustainable buildings and demonstrates the importance of landscape architecture in achieving low carbon and sustainable developments and cohesive community space.
PRP Landscape's design was commissioned by BRE for delivery in partnership with the practice’s nominated contractor and completed in time for the opening of the BRE exhibition, INSITE in June 2009.
The winning landscape design was unveiled alongside the ‘Natural House’ – a sustainable home built from natural materials to the latest sustainability standards and the ‘Hemp House’ which will demonstrate the benefits of renewable fuels and materials.
The shortlisted teams for this competition were:
Hyder Consulting and
Illman Young
