ANNOUNCED: WINNERS OF THE FAIRY TALES ARCHITECTURE COMPETITION HOSTED BY BLANK SPACE

As mediapartner Cityvision is happy to announce the winners of ‘Fairy Tales,’ the world’s first architecture storytelling competition organized by Blank Space.

The results of the first ever architecture storytelling competition are in. The response to Fairy Tales was “overwhelming and astonishing,” say the founders of Blank Space, with over 300 entries from 50 countries. The competition marks the first contest organized by the New York City based “office for thought provocation.”

The all-star jury selected 3 winning entries and 10 honorable mentions:

First Place goes to Kevin (Pang-Hsin) Wang and Nicholas O’Leary for their entry “Chapter Thirteen”. Mesmerizing, powerful images depict a bucolic yet futuristic world where a damsel in distress, Alice as a grown-up, is planning her escape from a setting that is no longer a wonderland, but a city that architecture has rendered unwelcoming and suffocating. Penning the 13th chapter to Carroll’s book, this submission actualizes a profoundly familiar fairy tale setting infused with new architectural forms, while elaborating on architecture’s failures and weaknesses.

Second Place: “Man and Ground” by Anna Pietrzak. Minimalistic, evocative black and white images accompany a poetic analysis on the role of the ground as an architectural element, and as the co-protagonist of the architect’s life, as a man and as creator.
Third Place: “Oscar Upon A Time” by Joseph Altshuler, Mari Altshuler & Zachary Morrison. In this collaborative effort between two architects and an elementary schoolteacher, architecture is portrayed as a lifelong companion, changing shapes and growing alongside the protagonist of the story.
“We are glad that when asked to think differently about architecture, so many people were up for the challenge,” the founders say. “Blank Space started exactly for this purpose: to uncover better means to communicate architecture, and in turn, to change the way the world perceives architecture. The response is a testament to the power of these ideas.”

With Fairy Tales, Blank Space received more attention in its first year of activity than most established competitions, and was able to captivate a young audience with a thirst for new creative stimuli. The majority of the participants are aged 18-34: “there is a whole new generation of designers and enthusiasts seeking ideas and opportunities from a variety of creative fields,” the founders add.

“The need and will to communicate universal messages resonates with every entry to the competition,” says Will Alsop, Director at All Design and Fairy Tales jury member. “Each entry is infused with topics and themes both inspired by the participants’ extremely diverse cultural backgrounds and from commonly shared thoughts and preoccupations about architecture’s role in today’s world.”

“I feel like this was the most important aspect this competition brought to light: the fact that architects, designers and creatives from all over the world, while bringing their unique perspective to the challenge, also share some fundamental enthusiasms and preoccupations. Expressing these feelings in the form of a fairy tale, these creatives took it upon themselves to initiate a more inclusive conversation about these issues, which is up to all of us to keep developing,” says Jack Zipes, Professor Emeritus of German and Comparative Literature at the University of Minnesota, and Fairy Tales jury member.

The winning entries, along with the honorable mentions and other notable submissions, will be featured in Fairy Tales: When Architecture Tells a Story, Blank Space’s first publication. The compendium will give readers the opportunity to experience first hand what happens when creatives are encouraged to think in terms of narrative. The book is designed by Spanish designer Vicente Garcia-Morillo, who also designed Blank Space’s identity. Pre-ordering is available for a discounted price of $10 on Blank Space’s website: www.blankspaceproject.com

For high-res images and info on winners please email us at office@blankspaceproject.com

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HONORABLE MENTIONS

The jury chose 10 honorable mentions for the competition:

• Detroit S.A.R. by and Ya Suo Rania Ghosn

• The Secret Life of New World Towers by Berenika Boberska

• Hypnagogic set of events experienced by 132x12866y78z by Zygmunt Maniaczyk and Marcin Kitala

• Exordium by Posin Wang

• Endeavourism by Mark Rukamathu and Yarinda Bunnag

• Andy’s Window by JooYoung Ham and YooJin Lee

• Untitled by Irena Gajic, Tea Belicev, and Marta Gajic

• Ocularcentrism by Gianna Papapavlou

• The Metamorphosis of a Giraffe by Hannah Cook

• A “Flying” Fortress by Artur Dabrowski

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ABOUT BLANK SPACE

Blank Space is an online platform for architecture founded in New York City in 2013. We believe architecture can be more interesting, more fun and more social. We also believe communication is omnipresent, and good communication helps great ideas change the world.

Early on we recognized a split between architecture and the rest of the world by observing how architects only talk to each other, and we set out to change that. Every endeavor that we initiate takes fun very seriously and strives to be audacious enough to ignite imaginations. Through competitions, publications, and projects, we uncover the true power of architecture by creating new opportunities for design to engage the public.

We like to think of Blank Space as an office for thought provocation, challenging architecture to rethink its role in society by speaking about things everybody can relate to, in a language understandable to all.

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THE JURY

PAULA SCHER

Partner at Pentagram

New York, NY

WILL ALSOP

Director at All Design

London, UK

KLAUS

Architectural Cartoonist

MITCHELL JOACHIM

Co-President of Terreform ONE

New York, NY

JACK ZIPES

Professor Emeritus of U. Minnesota

NIGEL COATES

Founder of Nigel Coates Studio

London, UK

FRANCESCO LIPARI

Cofounder of CityVision

Rome, IT

Additional information about the jury can be found here: http://blankspaceproject.com/jury

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AWARDS

1ST PLACE: 1,250 USD

2ND PLACE: 600 USD

3RD PLACE: 400 USD

HONORABLE MENTIONS: The jury selected 10 honorable mentions.

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