Introduction: The LAGI 2022 Mannheim design competition—Beautiful Forms of Energy—is an opportunity to weave renewable energy into the city in ways that improve human thriving. As a part of the 2023 German Bundesgartenschau (BUGA 23), the design challenge includes a number of themes and ideas for inspiration aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Summary: Just as a garden is a productive landscape for nourishment that also brings us joy and pleasure, how can we re-imagine our energy landscapes so that they bring joy and pleasure to our communities? How can renewable energy be integrated in beautiful ways into everyday life so that it is not some cold and utilitarian technology, but is instead an artful accessory that we all desire to have?
LAGI 2022 Mannheim offers the opportunity for creatives to tell a new and inspiring climate story—a narrative that moves beyond the doom and gloom of what will happen to our planet if we don’t act. Instead, we can paint a detailed picture of the wonderful, equitable, and thriving world we will create through our collective action. This story is about the incredible quality of life and the wonderful experiences of those who will live in a world beyond carbon. Desire is the motivation that will drive massive change and artists and designers hold the magic key to unlock that desire.
Results of the open-call international design competition will be on display at BUGA 23 from April – October 2023. A beautiful hardcover book with 70 of the best submissions will be published by Hirmer Publishing.
The LAGI 2022 Mannheim design competition is an opportunity to propose solutions that can weave renewable energy into our lives in ways that improve human thriving. As a part of the German Bundesgartenschau that will open in Mannheim in April of 2023, the design challenge includes a number of themes and ideas for inspiration.
How can renewable energy be integrated in beautiful ways into everyday life so that it is not some cold and utilitarian technology, but is instead an indispensable accessory that we all desire to have?
SITE
The LAGI 2022 Mannheim design site boundary invites you to imagine your renewable energy design across multiple scales. At the civic park scale is the vast landscape recently made available in the city of Mannheim following the closing of the U.S. Military’s Spinelli Barracks. The land has been remediated and the space will open to the public during BUGA 23. Following the Bundesgartenschau, the site will become primarily a public park—a gateway to the Rhein-Neckar Green Corridor—and may incorporate a productive energy landscape that can significantly contribute to Mannheim’s renewable energy generation capacity. We invite you to design that energy landscape as a public park. On the other end of the scale spectrum we ask that some element of your design proposal fit beautifully to power a private garden. The German Schrebergarten is a small plot of land that provides opportunity for urban dwellers to engage with nature and grow ornamental or edible gardens. Visitors to BUGA 23 will want to see how your energy landscape design can translate to the scale of their own Schrebergarten.
SUBMISSION
Submissions will be accepted until September 4, 2022 at 23:59 (11:59 pm) anywhere on Earth (AOE). This means that the deadline has not passed if, anywhere on Earth, the deadline date and time has not yet passed. Submissions received after the deadline will be deemed non-compliant.
PRIZES
1st Place $30,000 USD
2nd Place $10,000 USD
One representative of each winning team will be flown to Mannheim in April 2023 for the award ceremony.
JURY
Dr. Peter Kurz Lord Mayor of Mannheim
Michael Schnellbach CEO, BUGA 23
Dr. Heinz Ossenbrink Former European Commission Joint Research Centre
Dr. Alessandra Scognamiglio Architect, Senior Researcher at ENEA
Helen Turner Artistic Director and Chief Curator, E-WERK Luckenwalde
Dr. Clark Miller Professor; Director, Center for Energy & Society, School for the Future of Innovation in Society, Arizona State University
Marjan van Aubel Solar Designer
Asha Singhal Regenerative Designer, Hybrid Futures
Andreas Kipar Landscape Architect Co-Founder, CEO, and Creative Director LAND
Peter Slavenburg Co-founder, NorthernLight
Karin Heyl VP Social Engagement, BASF SE
Read in detail about this competition here!
