by Natalia Echeverri
CityLAB, an urban think tank at UCLA’s Department of Architecture and Urban Design, is searching for the next generation of the Works Projects Administration. Evoking the New Deal W.P.A. which constructed renowned infrastructure projects, public buildings and parks all around the county, the WPA 2.0: Working Public Architecture promotes “projects that explore the value of infrastructure not only as an engineering endeavor, but as a robust design opportunity to strengthen communities and revitalize cities. Unlike the previous era, the next generation of such projects will require surgical integration into the existing urban fabric, and will work by intentionally linking systems of points, lines and landscapes; hybridizing economies with ecologies; and overlapping architecture with planning.”
A very prestigious jury composed of Stan Allen, Cecil Balmond, Elizabeth Diller, Walter Hood, Thom Mayne, and Marilyn Taylor will select the winning projects on November 16th, 2009, during a Symposium at the National Building Museum in Washington DC.
The Works Progress Administration, launched in 1935, was the largest job initiative in the history of the US. Millions of people were employed, including artists, actors, writers, musicians and teachers. The projects created during this era were not only large infrastructures such as Hoover Dam and the Golden Gate Bridge but also cultural and recreational endeavors. Today we find thousands of murals all over the country, travel guides of 48 states, mathematical tables, etcetera. Architecture and landscape marvels such as the Red Rocks amphitheater and the beautiful Greco Deco or “WPA Modern” architecture remain as a lasting legacy.
Red Rock Amphitheater, Denver, CO.
The Aquatic Park (1939) in San Francisco exemplifies the "WPA Modern" style.
With the Obama administration, the ideas of the WPA have re-emerged with the current stimulus package, which plans to modernize the countries infrastructure, increase alternative energy production, lower health costs, and improve education. Today’s WPA projects will take advantage of these spending lines. Examples of these new projects can be seen in the first stage of the WPA 2.0 competition, which has shortlisted the following six projects that can be found online:
The six participants will present their final designs on November 16th at the National Building Museum in Washington DC to an audience of policymakers, practitioners, critics and scholars. Parallel to this, there will be a student competition which is open to registration until October 16th. Six student entries will be selected and exhibited at the National Building Museum on the same date.
Credits: Infrastructure matrix from the WPA 2.0 website. Photo of Red Rocks from redbubble.com. Photo of Aquatic Park from the United States Library of Congress.
CityLAB, an urban think tank at UCLA’s Department of Architecture and Urban Design, is searching for the next generation of the Works Projects Administration. Evoking the New Deal W.P.A. which constructed renowned infrastructure projects, public buildings and parks all around the county, the WPA 2.0: Working Public Architecture promotes “projects that explore the value of infrastructure not only as an engineering endeavor, but as a robust design opportunity to strengthen communities and revitalize cities. Unlike the previous era, the next generation of such projects will require surgical integration into the existing urban fabric, and will work by intentionally linking systems of points, lines and landscapes; hybridizing economies with ecologies; and overlapping architecture with planning.”
A very prestigious jury composed of Stan Allen, Cecil Balmond, Elizabeth Diller, Walter Hood, Thom Mayne, and Marilyn Taylor will select the winning projects on November 16th, 2009, during a Symposium at the National Building Museum in Washington DC.
The Works Progress Administration, launched in 1935, was the largest job initiative in the history of the US. Millions of people were employed, including artists, actors, writers, musicians and teachers. The projects created during this era were not only large infrastructures such as Hoover Dam and the Golden Gate Bridge but also cultural and recreational endeavors. Today we find thousands of murals all over the country, travel guides of 48 states, mathematical tables, etcetera. Architecture and landscape marvels such as the Red Rocks amphitheater and the beautiful Greco Deco or “WPA Modern” architecture remain as a lasting legacy.
Red Rock Amphitheater, Denver, CO.
The Aquatic Park (1939) in San Francisco exemplifies the "WPA Modern" style.
With the Obama administration, the ideas of the WPA have re-emerged with the current stimulus package, which plans to modernize the countries infrastructure, increase alternative energy production, lower health costs, and improve education. Today’s WPA projects will take advantage of these spending lines. Examples of these new projects can be seen in the first stage of the WPA 2.0 competition, which has shortlisted the following six projects that can be found online:
- Border Wall as Infrastructure
- Coupling Infrastructures: Water Economies/Ecologies
- Hydro-Genetic City, 2020 >Local Code: Healing the Interstitial Landscape
- 1,000,000,000 Global Water Refugees
- Carbon T.A.P. // Tunnel Algae Park
The six participants will present their final designs on November 16th at the National Building Museum in Washington DC to an audience of policymakers, practitioners, critics and scholars. Parallel to this, there will be a student competition which is open to registration until October 16th. Six student entries will be selected and exhibited at the National Building Museum on the same date.
Credits: Infrastructure matrix from the WPA 2.0 website. Photo of Red Rocks from redbubble.com. Photo of Aquatic Park from the United States Library of Congress.
