WorkPlay Overview
Introduction
"Work and play are words used to describe the same thing under differing conditions." —Mark Twain
As Twain's quote suggests, learning the appropriate balance between work and play is part of the educational experience. The competition is predicated on the idea that a well-rounded campus, just like a well-rounded student, needs to have a balanced mix of work and play. A well-designed campus should provide everyone the opportunity to pursue intellectual growth and also to interact informally with fellow students, faculty and staff. The design of North Campus does not yet sufficiently engender a healthy balance of work and play, supporting the former more effectively than the latter.
The WorkPlay competition is an open, interdisciplinary challenge aimed at improving the physical, cultural and social environment of North Campus. The competition organizers seek proposals for a destination, attraction, structure, or armature that will help enliven North Campus and provide a broader range of activities for students, faculty and staff. The sponsors hope to realize a new, inventive and compelling destination at the heart of the campus, resulting in a better equilibrium between work and play.
In the late 1940's and early 1950's when the Board of Regents began acquiring the land that ultimately would become the new campus, Central Campus was bursting at the seams. Landlocked and facing seemingly unbounded enrollment in the decades ahead, there was limited opportunity for expansion. North Campus provided a new venue for growth, and a new frontier for the University. The design of the campus began in earnest when the world-famous architect Eero Saarinen of Michigan was selected to master plan the satellite campus. While Saarinen envisioned an open, walkable campus comprising a series of interconnected outdoor spaces, the scale of the buildings he proposed and the broad expanses between them resulted in a physical plan that is geared more toward the scale of the automobile than that of the pedestrian.
Challenge
The competition is sponsored by the North Campus deans and Arts on Earth who seek some form of a public, interactive, educational and/or creative element that will help bring the campus to life. The desired outcome is a project that is simultaneously didactic, social, aerobic, fun, and imaginative.
It is hard to predict exactly what form this project might take, or what sort of activities it might engender—that is up to you. One group might envision an open or partially enclosed superstructure with various levels of interaction and congregation: from participating in an inter-school tug of war to riding a stationary bike that charges a community battery that runs a giant video screen or pumps a fountain geyser. Another might propose a stage (or cage) for music, dance or other performances and activities, complete with a sound system for live or recorded concerts, lectures, and raves. Yet another might posit multiple venues distributed across the Diag that animate different quadrants in different ways rather than a single structure. Still others might envision it as the start and finish line for possible x-country ski or bicycle races or the staging area for rockets, hot air balloons or a fog screen. Perhaps it is a high-tech miniature golf course. The list of possible scenarios goes on, limited only by your team's imagination, the concept's viability, and the budget.
Proposals should aim for a project budget of up to $500,000, underwritten by the College of Engineering. Depending on how it is conceived, the proposal may be something that is best realized in phases, with the structure being added to, modified, or complemented in subsequent years.
Projects should also strive to be sensitive to the environment and to incorporate, promote and/or celebrate sustainable design principles.
The proposed site for this object is the core of North Campus—within the block bounded by Bonisteel to the south, Beal to the east, Hayward to the north, and Murfin to the west. (See the attached map.) While teams may consider any site within those parameters, the competition sponsors are particularly interested in proposals that are centered around the open space to the west of the Duderstadt Center (between the Pierpont Commons and the new Walgreen Drama Center/Stamps Auditorium building and/or the North Campus Diag, north of the Duderstadt Center. Other sites within the blue area of the map also will be considered if there is a compelling reason.
Teams are encouraged to be as inventive, transformative, imaginative and resourceful within these constraints as possible.
Process
As stated, WorkPlay is an open, interdisciplinary ideas competition. Its goal is to generate a gene pool of good ideas and designs that can be developed in a second phase by the winning team(s) in collaboration with the North Campus deans, University staff and, if necessary, professional consultants.
Once the entries have been received and catalogued, the jury will meet to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of each submission. Following a thorough critique of the projects, the jury intends to identify schemes they feel provide the best vision for the future of the North Campus.
The team(s) that submit(s) the winning entry will be tasked with developing their proposal further, with an appropriate budget for the scope of work plus expenses. They may be asked to work with other winners and/or with entrants who submitted interesting ideas but were not chosen as winners. Ultimately, the sponsors plan to see one of the competition entries (or combination of entries) completed, although there is no guarantee that the project will go forward.
Eligibility
Competition entries authored by a single individual are not permitted. Teams submitting proposals for consideration must:
- be composed entirely of University of Michigan Ann Arbor campus students, faculty and/or staff who are enrolled/employed on campus during the Spring 08 semester, or who graduated at the end of the previous semester (i.e., in December 2007); and
- have at least 2 student members who are enrolled and taking classes in two different North Campus units in the spring term, or who graduated from two different units in December 2007. Units are defined as the College of Engineering; the School of Music, Theater, and Dance; the Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning; the School of Art and Design; and the School of Information. A minimum of two units must be represented on every team, although more are encouraged.
Schedule
| Competition Brief Announced | December 3, 2007 |
| Public Information Session | December 10, 2007 (5 – 7 p.m., Room 1200, EECS, 1301 Beal Av.) |
| Deadline for Questions | February 1, 2008 |
| Competition Submissions Due | February 12, 2008 |
| Jury Deliberations | Late February |
| Winner Announced | March |