The need for your input to reimagine the way we perceive and construct our world. The 10th International Architecture Biennial Rotterdam (IABR), entitled IT’S ABOUT TIME, will reflect the idea of time and design. Time, we claim, is an essential but neglected criterion in designing a sustainable future. Therefore, the world seems to be the only antidote to short-term interests.
In 1972, the seminal book The Limits to Growth warned that accelerated economic growth would lead to environmental disasters within a century unless society made fundamental changes. Our current economic system met the worst of expectations 50 years ago. Each of us now needs to answer the question: How can we – personally and as a society as a whole – fundamentally change the perspective of growth, development and urbanization? Historically, prevalent architecture has facilitated and stimulated economic growth while contributing to an ever-increasing human footprint, rising carbon emissions, resource extraction, and biodiversity loss. It is time for the power of design to contribute to an environmentally and socially conscious future, and to develop alternative visions.
The International Architecture Biennial Rotterdam (IABR) is launching an open call for realized projects, research projects or conceptual proposals that can lead to new visions for development in architectural design. We welcome contributions at all levels. You can also submit projects that you’ve noticed have a critical impact, and act as a supporter. We will highlight all the practices that influence through their interventions in the present. At the same time, we will highlight proposals that give a better understanding of neglected lessons from the past and projects that will inspire us with visions for the future.
IABR 2022 has identified three basic, complementary, but intertwined attitudes toward stress transmission. Time can play three critical roles in the broader processes of social change by engaging architects, landscape architects, designers and urban thinkers, as well as public authorities, private stakeholders, pioneering community projects and initiatives coming from civil society as a whole. The ACCELERATOR program explores the role that time pressure and/or technologies can play in enhancing operations using intelligent system, scalable solutions, and digital tools to identify fundamental changes toward a sustainable future. ACTIVIST takes immediate action, is rooted in the present, and uses intuition and collaboration to foster dialogue with local communities while stimulating empowerment strategies. ANCESTOR researches through time and combines disciplinary lenses to create long-term models for development. Grandfather reveals visions that inspire change, while considering historically evolving injustices and the well-being of future generations.
These three approaches can inspire us to deeply engage in the processes of social transformation of our environment. Only by understanding our responsibility as design professionals and individuals can we make the transformations necessary to rebalance our existence on this planet and the other natural forces that sustain our lives. It is time to get involved in a world that is sustainable, practical, equitable and also desirable.
The selected entries will be shown at the 10th International Architecture Biennale in Rotterdam: the time has come, in one of three ways: 1) on display in the public exhibition, 2) selected for transformation into a large-scale installation, funded by IABR, or 3) engaging in the rhetorical parallel program of IT’S ABOUT TIME.
The 10th International Architecture Biennial Rotterdam (IABR) will take place from 22 September to 27 November 2022. The International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam is a hub for thought and action and a biennial platform for architecture, urban design, spatial planning and landscape architecture. IABR enables research as well as tangible (cultural) contributions to the changes needed for a sustainable and equitable future for humanity and the planet.
Application requirements
Submit your project using the online form on the IABR website.
1 to 6 high-resolution images (.jpg, .tif, or .pdf; max. 10MB per image)
– 1 caption per image, including potential contributions (maximum 300 characters per caption)
– A short description of the project(s) you are submitting (maximum 1000 characters)
– Brief explanation of the current context and the impact that your project, practice or perspective could have (maximum 1000 characters)
– Brief explanation of your project in relation to the above text and/or (one of) the three design directions, accelerator/activator/ancestor (max 1000 characters)
– Optional: Clipboard (.pdf, max. 20MB)
Cut off deadline
May 15, 2022 at 12 noon CET
Reply date
All candidates will receive a response to their applications by May 31, 2022.
The selected entries will be shown at the 10th International Architecture Biennale in Rotterdam: the time has come, in one of three ways: 1) on display in the public exhibition, 2) selected for transformation into a large-scale installation, funded by IABR, or 3) engaging in the rhetorical parallel program of IT’S ABOUT TIME.
For more information, please contact: [email protected]
Download information about this contest here.
This invitation was submitted by an ArchDaily user. If you would like to submit a competition, call for applications or other architectural “opportunity”, please use the “Submit a Call for Applications” form. The opinions expressed in advertisements submitted by ArchDaily users do not necessarily reflect those of ArchDaily.