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 object of art we all desire to have?
The detailed design brief is available from March 14, 2022 and submissions are due by September 4, 2022.
*Registration is free.
Results of the open-call international design competition will be on display at BUGA 23 from April – October 2023 where an award ceremony and public events will celebrate the ideas and the creative teams behind them. A beautiful hardcover book with 70 of the best submissions will be published by Hirmer Publishing.
LAGI 2022 will expand the public imagination of what is possible using existing clean energy technologies to propose beautiful, sculptural modules that can plug into the smart postcarbon city. We are seeking designs that can exist simultaneously across a variety of scales—variations for a residential garden or for a large civic space using modular components or scalable solutions that are consistent in concept and form, and that give back regeneratively by making and storing energy to support a thriving community.
The design competition offers the opportunity for creatives to tell a new and inspiring climate story—a narrative that moves beyond the fear 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 new climate 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. As artists and designers you hold the magic key to unlock that desire.
Prizes
1st Place: $30,000 USD 2nd Place: $10,000 USD
One representative of the first and second place winning teams will be flown to Mannheim for the award ceremony and exhibition opening at BUGA 23.
More about the Land Art Generator Initiative and details for how to participate: https://landartgenerator.org
Jurors
- Dr. Peter Kurz
Lord Mayor of Mannheim - Michael Schnellbach
CEO, BUGA 23 - Dr. Heinz Ossenbrink
Former European Commission Joint Research Centre - Marjan van Aubel
Solar Designer (Netherlands) - Dr. Alessandra Scognamiglio
Architect, Senior Researcher at ENEA - Helen Turner
E-WERK, Artistic Director and Curator - Dr. Clark Miller
Professor; Director, Center for Energy & Society, School for the Future of Innovation in Society, Arizona State University - Asha Singhal
Regenerative Designer, Hybrid Futures - Andreas Kipar
Landscape Architect BDLA – AIAPP – IFLA Co-Founder, CEO, and Creative Director LAND - Peter Slavenburg
Co-founder, NorthernLight - Karin Heyl
VP Social Engagement, BASF SE
