International Student Competition Triennale Lisbon

Excerpt from the design brief:

"The Lisbon Triennale Millennium bcp Universities Award Competition, part of the 5th edition of the Lisbon Architecture Triennale program, invites architecture students to engage in deep thought, in an exercise of collective research on constructive rationality. This competition for ideas is open to master degree students, from worldwide architecture schools. A selection of proposals will be part of the exhibition “Natural Beauty”, curated by Tristan Chadney and Laurent Esmilaire, alongside a genealogy of works, from the 16th century to the present, that relate to constructive rationality. The award consists of one (1) first prize and, up to, two (2) honourable mentions. 

Constructive Rationality 
Architectural form is reasoned by the logics of construction. At the same time, it reflects reality by condensing time and space. Construction engages directly the spatiality and expression of the architectural object. It also illustrates an answer to a necessity in the contemporary condition in which it takes place. The aim of the competition is to explore, through the proposals of student projects, how the rational nature of construction can embody a form of natural beauty. An intelligible beauty where constructive rationality links each part to each other, as a system to create an organic architecture. This allows architecture to be understandable and shareable by all, while staying relevant as a discipline established on a historical and theoretical basis. Constructive rationality, therefore, is the hypothesis of research for a contemporary beauty.

Cultural Approach
Constructive rationality must be considered from a cultural point of view and not only technical. As part of the competition, constructive rationality is explored through different approaches. Structure, ornament, materiality and cladding. These must not be considered independently one from another but as different possibilities to design and to read through the projects. 



The expression of a constructive rationality exists when the project gives to the materials that constitute it a way to express themselves as meaningful entities. The constructive approach of the project must also be considered through a sense of economy of means. The project must be able to demonstrate the capacity of the structure to function as the load-bearing system of the building, to generate its spatiality, and to be the medium of its architectural expressivity all at once.

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Editors:
Markus Plank
Felix Bulka

Supervisors:
Prof. José Luis Moro, IEK Uni Stuttgart
M.Sc. Franz Arlart, IEK Uni Stuttgart