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"cantilever" - " porte-à-faux"

The Challenge
Perhaps the most organic of all structural forms, examples of cantilevers surround us in a myriad of structural wonders as exemplified in the diversity of trees and plant life that inhabit our planet. The range of solutions that have been incorporated by nature to solve the requirements for plants to sustain life have provided inspiration for architectural solutions to as applied to a range of purposes throughout the millennia. Ranging from utilitarian to exquisite in their execution, the range of responses have all, nonetheless, had to come to terms with one simple problem: the reduction of a load path to a single pathway through the application of tension and balance to achieve a harmonious solution. The cantilever cannot hide its structural requirement; it must, instead, be celebrated and exploited, both architecturally and structurally.

Students are challenged to design a cantilever structure on a site of the designers’ choosing. While the purpose, span and scale of the cantilever are left to the discretion of the designer, it is important to focus on what it means for us to engage and experience structure as ‘cantilever.’ The structure must be primarily steel, but otherwise, the material palette is open.

Competition Statement
The intention of this design competition is primarily to provide students of architecture in Canada with a unique opportunity: to enter into a design process that brings together, of necessity, concept and reality. It is important for students of architecture to grasp the fact that structural design lies not just in the realm of the engineer, but can be a means for architects of arriving at a meaningful realization of architectural ideas. It is when theory meets physical necessity that architecture can become really interesting. To that end, this competition calls upon students to conceptualize, and realize in detail, a cantilever structure of simple program. The exploration will, of course, include issues related to program and site, but the emphasis in this competition is upon the architectural exploration through form and material, on the essential relationship between architecture and structure.

The reality of this competition comes in two forms: through the requirement for buildable details, primarily utilizing structural steel; and through the collaboration with the steel fabrication industry on those details. This collaboration is an important component of this competition, as a secondary objective is to expose students to both the opportunities and restraints inherent in realizing conceptual design.

The conceptual component of this competition will come through the recommendation that this competition be run through either a studio, or a lecture based course, most probably within a structures course. Under the guidance of faculty sponsors, students will conduct the design process as an academic exercise, within the guidelines set out in this brief. As an academic project, the design process will adhere to the standards set forth by the students’ school of architecture.

Schedule

September 2007 Competition announced
January 31, 2008 Deadline for registration
May 1, 2008 Deadline for receipt of entries
May 2008 Adjudication and announcement of winners
June 2008 Awards presented at SSEF Annual General Meeting
Exhibition of winning entries
October 2008 Publication of winning entries

English Guidelines
French Guidelines

Participants

University of Waterloo : Award of Excellence
Matin Moghaddam and Mathew Winter

University of Waterloo : Award of Merit
Andrew Dadds and David Domanski