Generally speaking, while there were many proposals full of poetic sentiment, there were only a small number of proposals that are realistic concerning new knowledge and new use of the scientific and technological nature of membranes.1st Prize: Proposal by Modrcin
This proposal is superb. It has sharp social sensitivity, abundant poetic sentiment and excellent technical intuitive power. This proposal is to replace an old stone-built arch bridge in Mostar, which is a historical town in Bosnia ¥ Herzegovina which was blown up by the Croatia forces in the midst of a civil war in 1993. To express the foolishness of destruction by war and the retrospective affection for the lost cultural inheritance architecturally, the proposal aims at realizing a close resemblance with the illusion of the arch bridge of the past by stretching two cables between solid abutments on both banks where the lost arch bridge was. It uses an electric light membrane fabricated by knitting together an optical fiber in it. In addition, not to bring the proposal itself to an end as an illusion, the proposal devised to stretch a projected girder on the top of the arch 20m from the water surface so as to allow for the revival of the traditional event of diving that has been held by youths of courage.
2nd Prize: Proposal by Yamanaka
This proposal attempts to create a balloon ceiling over a baseball field. It plans to change the layout of balloon with a sense of "Shoji screen" rather than function as a roof. It is a naive proposal.
3rd Prize: Proposal by van der Linden
It is a proposal, which attempts afforestation by creating a "Cloud" of double membrane called a super membrane in a desert. This concept is stereotypical, and the prize awarded in recognition of the person's efforts.
The proposal by Modrcin that won the 1st Prize is superb in the sharpness of idea and the beauty of it. Above all, the point that it is committed to the new confrontation and tragedy of the international world after a cold war, an expanse and strength of concept was felt. The points of weakness include, that it reminds us strongly of technique (although the objective is different) of Crist and is that the proposal is unsatisfactory from a technical point of view. In other words, as it simply stretches a membrane between the remaining bridge piers, the bridge plane becomes one and weak at the out-of-plane force and swells like a sail or becomes fluttering when it is subjected to wind.
One good quality of the proposal by Yamanaka may be that it poetically creates architecture featuring the lightness of the membrane structure. Particularly, the configuration that looks as if it has caught the moment when bubbles grow in water, is charming. However, the idea is somewhat old-fashioned and is considered naive on the point of how the suspended body is to be anchored.
A good point of the proposal by van der Linden is that it captures the global environment problems of the present. I have no idea if a desert can be reforested in fact with such a contrivance, but it makes me feel that it can be done thanks to the presentation in a warm tone. However, the membrane part does not attract us.
Among the fine pieces of work, I was attracted to the proposal by Watanabe. The point that it visualizes the activities of people in the space of an underground shopping center by converting them to the movement of ventilating air was interesting.
By looking over all of winning proposals, there were many attractive proposals for the use of membrane, but the technical conception to support it was considered low-keyed. Although the Examination Committee spent considerable time coming to an understanding of the possibility of the proposal by Danziger, I think the result was due the dissatisfaction of the Examination Committee members toward the low interest of the applicants in the technology.
The topic of this report is the proposal by Modrcin, which won 1st Prize. I will not go into detail, as I am sure Mr. Kawaguchi, the Chairman and Mr. Ishiyama, a member of the committee will explain in detail. However, I do not think this proposal would have won 1st Prize if it had not been that the proposal had in its background racial disputes that have been occurring in many places in the world (in this case at Bosnia ¥ Herzegovina). There may be those who do not necessarily approve of the fact that the force of political correctness works on the examination of a competition of this sort. It was Mr. Ishiyama who picked this proposal first, saying that the 1st Prize should be awarded to it but no other. It was not decided from a judgment due to political correctness but was an utterance of an architect who was moved by the possibility how this imaginative power can be specifically directed toward society. Throughout the examination session I could not stop considering this proposal, but the words of Mr. Ishiyama made me understand that my judgment was correct.
For the proposal by Tsunoda, to which an excellent work Prize was awarded, I have a good feeling for its absurdity. However, a membrane that drifts in the cosmos space may be far more real than the membrane that is stretched on the ground spending massive energy against gravity and wind force.
The proposal by Yamanaka, which won the 2nd Prize, can make us imagine the state of clouds of membrane that float in the air and freely move gathering and separating, and membranes in small units that are different from a huge membrane covering a large space which gives a fresh image.
Labored works that subscribed to the theme of a membrane dome of the third generation accounted for approximately half the number from domestic source and from abroad, respectively. From this I, as an examination committee member, had to renew my recognition of the international nature of this Competition. I was surprised at the fact that the capability of the work from abroad was overwhelming.
My first evaluation criteria was whether the idea was inventive. Since the material using membrane is a premise, I believe that the work should be one in which a new use is proposed, giving thought to the future of membrane structures and submits a new idea for the development of membrane structures.
I strongly recommended the proposal by Yamanaka of AA School, to which the 2nd Prize was awarded. I believed in its inventive idea. The proposal is quite interesting in that it connects balloon units filled with helium by wires and partially covers a large plane. Also, I wish to place high value on the proposal by Nishizaki of the membrane structure housing used as a "perceived play tool", to which the excellent work Prize was awarded. In reality, although further development from the viewpoint of structure or material is called for, I was attracted to its new concept. The proposal by Chong and two others from Canada entitled "Urban Reanimation" is the one in which new scenery is evolved along a freeway, which shows freshness as a civil engineering proposal. It is a matter of course that the proposal by Modrcin, which won the 1st Prize, is prominent above the rest both in thinking and the times. There were many other good works. Generally, we can conclude that the competition was at a high level.
One of the special features of modern times is that there is a reversal of meanings of fiction and nonfiction. A decade ago art apparently had some thing that surpassed reality. Because of that, an ism, such as "Surrealism" came into existence and was declared.
Nowadays, however, nonfiction expresses the state of art more overwhelmingly than fiction. The meaning of scenes that are created by war, great disasters and events emerge from the state of overwhelming nothingness, far surpassing the frame of imagination of individuals. The proposal by Leo Modrein, which won the 1st Prize, also expresses such an implication of modern times, and its realism is deep.
Firstly, the epic style scenery that was brought forth by the war and which originated from a racial dispute was chosen. The establishment of place and time is beautifully done. There, the proposal attempts to create another scene using a technological method. Another unreal scene is created using real technology in the scene of an actually destroyed bridge. The concept is beautiful and I think the concept belongs to the best class, as an architect should be present in the current times, more directly speaking, today, now and at this moment. In a sense it even shows that the journalistic meaning can even shoulder the meaning of art.
I even hope that the proposer should act to realize this plan, because action (fiction) is another reality that surpasses a proposal (plan).
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