DuPont, in cooperation with PKO Bank Polski, the Union of Polish Architects (SARP), the Polish Green Building Council, and Architizer.com, has announced the seventh edition of “Changing the Face” international architectural competition, which will be focused on a architectural project in Poland, the Rotunda building in Warsaw.
The competition calls for innovative designs to revitalize Warsaw’s Rotunda building to provide a new and sustainable face for Central Europe’s largest bank (PKO Bank Polski). While previous editions of this competition were theoretical, the innovation of this year is that the winning design of the competition will actually be built.
The PKO Rotunda is the iconic focal point of Zbigniew Karpi?ski’s 1962-69 urban complex in central Warsaw. Located at the junction of two major streets, the Rotunda is a well-known city landmark and favorite local meeting place. The building is a historically significant part of the city’s 20th century urban fabric. The redesign of the highly symbolic structure is an unrivaled opportunity to bring a contemporary update to a major modern landmark.
The concept for the “Changing the Face” competitions was first proposed in 2008 within a workshop dedicated to the Colosseum in Rome and later developed in iconic buildings in the cities of Bucharest, Prague, Zagreb, Athens and Moscow. In every city, architects were asked to work on a challenging public building selected by DuPont in collaboration with local institutions.
Beyond maintaining the historic qualities of Rotunda building, the revitalization is planned to be certified with two out of three systems—LEED, BREAM or DGNB. An additional condition set by the organizers is the use of at least three DuPont materials, from DuPont Corian advanced surface for exterior cladding to DuPont SentryGlas and DuPont SentryGlas Expressions high-performance interlayers for structural and decorative laminated glass, from DuPont Tyvek advanced membranes for the building envelope to DuPont Teflon architectural fabrics and surface protections for decorative coatings and DuPont Plantex root barrier and plant protection solutions.
Timing:
- Registration opening: June 4, 2013
- Registration closing: July 15, 2013
- Project submission deadline: Aug. 19, 2013
- Results notification: Aug. 29, 2013
Phase II
- Project submission deadline: Nov. 7, 2013
- Results notification: Nov. 28, 2013
- Awarding ceremony: Nov. 28, 2013
Learn more information about the contest at www.ChangingTheFace.com and view the call-to-action video.