Background

The “RUINS•REBIRTH” Dongjingyu Village Regeneration International Landscape Design Competitionis co-organized by China Building Centre (CBC), Yuyang Township Government and Tianjin Urban Planning and Design Institute. As a point of departure for Dongjingyu Village’s regeneration masterplan, this competition seeks to respond to the rural revival movement across China and explore the local culture and charm of the Village. Professionals in landscape, planning, architecture and art as well as individuals of cross-disciplinary thinking from all parts of the world are invited to delve into the rustic wisdom and human relationship with nature embodied in the place.It is hoped that with sustained efforts of landscape and cultural intervention, the village will be transformed into a picturesque locus engaging a vibrant and diverse community, which will also contribute to the country’s rural revival endeavors and development of a new rural society.

Introduction

The Dongjing Valley Village is at the Ji County, the only mountainous area in the Tianjin municipality and an hour’s drive from Beijing Capital International Airport .It is home to a cluster of vernacular stone dwellings of extraordinary design and layout, interspersed among grotesque rocks, primeval trees and rare plants. Not only is the village acclaimed for its primordial landscape and the stunning beauty of nature, It marks the beginning of the stratotype section of the Middle and Upper proterozoic Erathem some 800 to 1800 million years ago, a virtual topographical chronicle for us to minutely pore over. The Dongjingyu Village boasts locational advantages and idiosyncratic landscape. As habitat for a traditional Chinese rural community it witnessed farmers’ simple way of making a living from the land. Decades of abandonment further turned it into captivating ruins and now, it seems to make perfect sense to reclaim this unique place through the power of design.

Topic Analysis

With galvanizing Tianjin tourism and improving the ‘rural quality of life in mind, the “RUINS•REBIRTH”Dongjingyu Village Regeneration International Landscape Design Competition is developed on the greatest respect for the status quo and historical resonance of the abandoned village. The idea is to undercut its functional and professional aspects while underscoring the phenomenon of the place per se by conceiving an “open exhibition” on it. Reflections on the sense of place is highly regarded, and participants are encouraged to reactivate the reciprocal relationship and mutual influence between design and the site, and to generate a synergy that recreates the Dongjingyu Village,in the philosophical sense and in a human scale, as an extension of men’s will and the genius loci.

The Future Dongjingyu Village

The abandoned situation of the village itself is considered worthy of preservation. It is expected that gradually Nature will take over the place again. There is going to be annual art activities that turns the cherished ruins into a site of open exhibition, to celebrate the intervention through art and design. Those winning entries that are actually built will be cautiously introduced to the site until the arrival of new built proposals in the next year. The Dongjingyu Village will be transformed into an urban public exhibition space, a large-scale exhibit in its own right to boost the quality of life and urban vitality.

Requirements

This competition opens to young designers and design teams from all over the world.All the design firms,designers and students in architecture, landscape, urban planning, design and art are invited.

1.Design principles:
1) Preservation-mindedness: To respect and protect the site as much as possible.
2) Symbiosis: To fully demonstrate the idea of “vernacular symbiosis”; the project must be harmony with surroundings.
3) Feasibility: The proposal should have in mind the actual construction and keep the project feasible and cost-effective in terms of both construction and maintenance. The total cost is preferably kept low, though state-of-the-art technologies like VR are encouraged.
4) Ecology: The proposed project should reflect environmental awareness and a genuine understanding of the organic, low-carbon and sustainable construction. Application of eco-friendly materials and practices of construction is expected.

2.Judgement Criteria：
a) Design & aesthetic value
b) Relation between project and current conditions as well as the level of respect to the site
c) Feasibility of construction
d) The cultural, tourist and economic benefits that it could bring to Dongjingyu


3. Formats:
The design could take various forms:it could be art installations, public art, land art, or any genres of creative space.

Procedures

1. Registration
1) This is a fair competition to all the design companies, individual designers and students in architecture, landscape,urban planning, design and art.
2) Deadline for Registration: September 30, 2016
Deadline for Submission: October 20, 2016
Entry Review: November, 2016
Result Announcement: November, 2016

2. Site Information
(For more information please download the competition files from the official site.)
Scope of the competition site: Near the entrance of Xijingyu Village in the west and within the ridgelines of mountains around the Dongjingyu Village in all the other directions, which is approx. 60.3 ha. The relic areas of the Dongjingyu Village covers around 7 ha. The Organizer recommends three sites while participants are free to choose one or more places for their intervention within or outside the three options. Participants are encouraged to visit the village and choose the site(s) by themselves.

3. Submission
All participants are required to submit digital files, including drawing and other information to djycompetition@163.com before Oct 20,2016.The competition committee does not accept any hardcopy.

4. Selection
The juries will review the entries with the help of competition committee. The juries will be composed of representatives of hosting organizations and renowned designers from around the world. Winners will be announced in Nov, 2016.

5. Q&A
Please do not hesitate to email your questions to djycompetition@163.com.