Yarışmalar-Competitions

Yarışma Özeti(Summary):
The town of Pescara has 20.000 inhabitants; it is the confluence of very important flows of national traffic and presents great phenomena of tertiarization.

The urban area near Pescara (in the triangle of Chieti, Città S. Angelo and Ortona) is representative of the process of breaking of the central places and of their indifference of localization, which describes the actual identity of the Adriatic city and forestalls the themes of its modification. In this part of the coast the development of different settlements, such as tourism, trade, the university and so on, has greatly contributed to the peculiar urban program with very little institutional knowledge and has determined the development of a "small metroarea".

Tip (Type): 

Kimler katılabilir (Open to):

Katılım ücreti (Entry Fee):

Ödüller (Awards):
The winner/winners will be awarded with a  Euro 8.000 prize (Euro 8.000 per group, if any).
The designers invited to the 2nd phase who will have delivered the projects following the provided instructions will be awarded with Euro 4.000 each (Euro 4.000 per group, if any).

Juri (Jury):
The jury of the competition is formed by:
Major of Pescara or his delegate, President
Director of the Urban Area - City of Pescara
Two European experts
Head of the Port Authority or his delegate
President of the Tourist Committee - City of Pescara
A representative of the Scientific-Technical Committee

İletişim Bilgileri (Contact): 
Press and PR Office
Università "G. D'Annunzio" Facoltà di Architettura
Dott.ssa Roberta Zimei
Dart, Viale Pindaro n. 42
PESCARA (ITALY) c.a.p. 65127
Tel. +39 085 4537307
Fax +39 085 63879

Web: http://www.unich.it/

Under 40 european ideas competition for the pescara water-front master plan promoting body: City of Pescara

1 - Preliminary statement to the Competition Brief:
The town of Pescara has 20.000 inhabitants; it is the confluence of very important flows of national traffic and presents great phenomena of tertiarization.

The urban area near Pescara (in the triangle of Chieti, Città S. Angelo and Ortona) is representative of the process of breaking of the central places and of their indifference of localization, which describes the actual identity of the Adriatic city and forestalls the themes of its modification. In this part of the coast the development of different settlements, such as tourism, trade, the university and so on, has greatly contributed to the peculiar urban program with very little institutional knowledge and has determined the development of a "small metroarea".

The first amalgamation of the urbanized space took place in the post-war period until the 1980s, along the coastline. In that part of the city between the railway and the sea, there is a residential with many houses for summer holidays, in many cases meant to be rented. Later, all the houses in the valley were built. As a result, we have had the development of a typical Adriatic town, with a marina and residential settlements in the valleys, perpendicular to the coast.

This trans-communal city has absorbed the extra-urban industries and their arteries of traffic, which are now the most important carriers of the metropolitan mobility. We see an urban landscape, unedited in form, connoted by the small dimension, the heterogeneity and the apparent absence of order and hierarchy, whose progressive transformation seems to be governed by the continuous and casual superposition of the initiatives and by the ability of self-organization of the local actors.

But Pescara is not a mere geographical place; it is also a way of living and producing in the middle Adriatic territory. In the area, many central places have moved to the suburbs of the city. The new lifestyles have given urban centrality to places never thought of before, i.e. the Malls, the great chains of Hotels, the sport facilities and so on.

Since 1995 Pescara has constantly been at the top ten according to the following specific indicators (Sole 24 Ore, Italia Oggi) of the quality of living in the Italian provinces. For example, it is among the leaders in Italy for new companies enrolled at the Commercial Chamber; and for the number of crashed companies, too. Pescara is also in the front-line in the field of the spare-time activities: number of gyms and of Nights Clubs per person, number of book-shops every 100.000 inhabitants, average purchase per inhabitant for cinemas, sport, theaters, and the number of sport or cultural associations. This underlines how much Pescara is involved in the development of new areas of production and commerce, and also shows the great development of the hyperplaces of social aggregation and of free-time. These numbers attest to innovative aspect of the transformation processes under way and anticipate the tendency to the loisir economy, and to the adhesion to the north-Adriatic district recently described by Aldo Bonomi.

The innovation doesn't only regard the suburbs of the city. Shattering of the central places, new commercial areas and theme parks contaminate the actual urban fabric with shapes that take root to the crisis of the estate and tourist economy. The middle-Adriatic town is getting organized and the inland settlements are changing.

In Pescara the sector of the landlords has always used the soil as a resource and exploited the social situation of the town (tourism, University), to double the built-up volume with temporary residents' houses. This policy of the building trade has used urban soil and has had the dimension of the town developed. The houses along the coastline have set in a compact area of houses and flats, mostly to be rented to tourists in summer and to university students in winter. And, in the meantime, it has created the premise for the development of new economies which provides for a different quality of the tourist proposal with the improvement and the innovative use of the landscape resources.

2 - Themes and aims of the competition
In Pescara the beach and the river, with the hills and the mountains in the background, arrange the landscape reading of the town, impose the rules and the limits to the organization of the urban space and draw its identity. Pescara's coastline has got a central position compared with the Abruzzi coast. Its morphology is uniform: Long, sandy, straight and low, interrupted only by the mouth of the River Pescara, with the tourist and commercial port.

The seashore is skirted by a promenade, recently restored, with a large seafront fringed with palms and a cycling track. The seaside resorts are different according to their building time. The oldest were built in masonry, sometimes of two floors, while those in more suburban areas, built more recently, are usually made of concrete. They have usually got bathing facilities and a common area with bar, restaurants and so on.

The river divides the coast into three different systems:
the north coastline, facing the commercial centre of the town between the mouth of the river Pescara and the Montesilvano border the south coastline, between the river and the Francavilla al mare border the central basin, on the mouth of the river Pescara, the port and the unused urban areas.

The fundamental objectives of the workshop are various:
To requalify Pescara's seafront.
To develop new integration strategies between the town and the sea. To use the public area on the beach all year round, not only in summer. To face the problem related to the new organization of the beach as a part of the city. To propose new central places for the local society and support the development of the economy related to the utilization of this part of the town.

To identify a comprehensive strategy and a spatial vision for the new landsce and environmental, social and economical politics related to Pescara beachfront.
To promote the use of low impact technologies and increase the environmental and landscapie sustainability of the development of the urban seafront.
To design the draft of the new waterfront master plan as mean of urban transformation of the public space and of the public use of the seafront.

The projects can:
consider the reorganization of the seaside resorts.
put forward proposals for a new organization of the public and private areas. prepare rules and reference projects to stimulate actions of regeneration of the coastline and of the existing buildings, also through their variation in shape and destination (e. g. from concrete to wood, from tourist service to bungalows).

The aim of the competition is meant to define the new "backbone" of the tourist city, with greatly technical actions through which start a process of participation of the sector operators to the re-desiìgn and to the different integrated actions of transformation of the Pescara waterfront.

The different proposals will have to contain both a overall view and a specific close examination with details to establish the identity of the urban public space, the building techniques and the feasibility of the projects.

3 - Competition brief
The competition is open to qualified under 40 aged (on the deadline of the first phase of the competition itself) Architects and Engineers in any country of the European Union. The competition can be joined singularly or in group. In the latter case, we need a group leader designation, and each member, consultant or collaborator of the group, must be under 40. 

The Architects and Engineers who want to apply for the competition are requested to send by authorized courier a.r. or to register at the Comune of Pescara by 12 o'clock - 14 Jan 2003 the following material: A CD containing a maximum of three digital images 21x29,7 cm /300 dpi/ JPG or GIF format, representative of their/his/her own planning research or of realised projects, with relation with the themes of the present competition. The images, created with any technique, can't have elements of animation.

The "curriculum vitae" (a maximum of one page in word format) An self-certification containing the particulars and fiscal data, the registration to the roll of those taking part in the competition, the group leader designation - if any - as the unique representative of the group for all the relationships with the Administration.

All the material previously described must be presented also in w/b or colour print A4, on 1 cm forex board.

By 28th Jan 2003 the Scientific-Technical Committee will select and inform via e-mail the names of the five designers, or groups of designers, invited to entry the 2nd phase and will send the leaning with the related cartographic and normative material for the compiling of the design proposals.

The selected designers are invited to represent their ideas through a project detailing the draft of the plan of the beach, following the actual regional and communal laws and the indication of the competition, sent together with the invitation.

The 5 selected designers or groups of designers are due to register the following material at the Comune di Pescara by 12 a.m. o'clock 15th Jan 2003:
Project drawings for the beach area re-design, in four UNI A0 boards, on 1 cm forex panels. The first board must contain an overall urban scheme drawn to scale and the other a close examination for each of the three areas in which the coast of Pescara can be divided (see point 3). The material will have to be supplied also on informatic stand (CD) and photographic base (slides), JPG or GIF format (300 dpi) realized with every technique. They must be anonymous and can be identified only by the slogan of the project (max. three words).

A report of max. 5 pages A4 word/Arial format 10 pt., anonymous and identified only by the slogan of the project, aiming at illustrating the spirit of the proposal, its prize and its feasibility, especially related to the length off time of execution.

A brief report of the fulfilment of the plan and of the essential contents for the drafting of the town-planning regulation (max 5 pages A4 word/Arial 10 pt format).

The City Authority reserves the right to use the projects as a reference point for the definitive planning of the seafront.

4 - Formalities and phases of the contest:
by 12th Dec 2002:
presentation of the competition (notice of competition published in internet)

by 14th Jan 2003:
time limit to apply for the competition

by 1st Feb 2003:
invitation to the 2nd phase

by 1st April 2003:
time limit to deliver the competition projects

by 18th April 2003:
announcement of the winners of the competition.

5 - Prizes
The winner/winners will be awarded with a  Euro 8.000 prize (Euro 8.000 per group, if any).
The designers invited to the 2nd phase who will have delivered the projects following the provided instructions will be awarded with Euro 4.000 each (?4.000 per group, if any).

6 - Documents
The general graphic documents for the second phase are available on the internet site http://www.unich.it/

7 - Jury
The jury of the competition is formed by:
Major of Pescara or his delegate, President
Director of the Urban Area - City of Pescara
Two European experts
Head of the Port Authority or his delegate
President of the Tourist Committee - City of Pescara
A representative of the Scientific-Technical Committee

8 - Copyright
The authors of the plans will be the sole owners of the copyright: 
The authors taking part in the Competition authorize the Comune of Pescara -free of charge- to show their works during exhibitions and manifestations related to the Competition and to use all the works the Organizing Committee may consider suitable for advertising and/or on the internet.

9- Returns of the plans
The winning plans will not be returned, while the ones presented in the 1st phase will be returned within 12 months after the conclusion of the Competition, at the Authors' own charge. A written request must be forwarded for the return of the plans.

10 - Scientific-Technical Committee, Organizing Secretary and Information
of the Competition
The Scientific-Technical Committee is composed by Proff. Archh. Mosè Ricci, member of DART (Urban Networks and Environment Department) of the University of Architecture - Pescara, Miki Lepore and Alessandro Sonsini members of DITAC (Buildings Technologies Department) of the University of Architecture - Pescara; Arch. Sabatino Di Giovanni, Director of the Urban Area -City of Pescara; Dott. Germano Marone Manager of the Tourist Area -City of Pescara; Paolo Di Cesare free lance Engineer.

11 - Notice
The official text is in Italian.

For further information, please contact:
Press and PR Office
Università "G. D'Annunzio" Facoltà di Architettura
Dott.ssa Roberta Zimei
Dart, Viale Pindaro n. 42
PESCARA (Italy) c.a.p. 65127
Tel. +39 085 4537307
Fax +39 085 63879

Ing. Paolo Di Cesare con
Arch. Michele de Lisi
Arch. Alfredo Fusco
e Valeria Fumo