Tianjin University’s School of Architecture and Chinese media company Urban Environmental Design (UED) have announced the launch of the UIA - HYP Cup 2016, an international student architecture competition with more than US$40k in prize money up for grabs.

Organized with the support of the Union Internationale des Architectes (UIA), the competition is being led by French architect and influential urban theorist Bernard Tschumi. Tschumi has themed the competition around the notion of “Concept and Notation.” As Tschumi explains:

“Architecture almost exclusively uses visual means to outline what it does: Plans, Sections, Elevations, Perspectives, Axonometrics. But what about movement – the movement of bodies in space? Are there modes of notation applicable to what has been excluded from architectural discourse? What about the other four senses – touch, sound, smell, and why not taste? In this competition, you will invent new modes of notation that not only include the proposed movement of bodies in space, but also lead to an architectural concept, namely an overriding idea that directs the development of your scheme. The program is act as an urban generator. By this, we mean a place that can foster and encourage new modes of living unknown until today.”

Competition documents include statements such as “Architecture is the discourse of events as much as the discourse of spaces,” “Concept, not form, is what distinguishes architecture from mere building,” and “A bicycle shed with a concept is architecture; a cathedral without one is not.”

The competition requirements, however, preclude either proposals for cathedrals or bicycle sheds, but instead give entrants the option of designing a library, museum, clinic, cemetery or, curiously, a love hotel.  

Tschumi will lead the jury alongside Chinese architect Cui Kai, who will represent the UIA.

More than US$40k will be awarded across twelve prizes: a first prize of around US$15,000; three second prizes of around US$5000; and eight third prizes of around US$1700. Twenty honourable mentions will also be awarded. The winners will also have the opportunity of working in a leading architectural firm, yet to be announced.

The competition is open to students enrolled in a recognized school of architecture and the language of the competition is English.

The competition’s registration deadline is 31 July 2016. There is no registration fee.

For more information, see http://hypcup2016.uedmagazine.net