Грант Стидмана вручается с 1926 года каждые два года. Средства выделяются для того, чтобы молодой архитектор – победитель конкурса - мог дополнить свое образование, путешествуя и обучаясь за пределами своей страны. В этом году на рассмотрение жюри необходимо представить исследование по теме «адаптация». Претенденты должны иметь возможность провести за рубежом до 18 месяцев после получения гранта для завершения своего исследования.
While past Steedman Fellows have been chosen based on a design competition, the 2016 call for proposals marks a shift to a new process. Applicants are now asked to develop research proposals that respond to a particular theme. The 2016 theme, developed by jury chair Mason White, is described below.
Adaptation
Our age is increasingly defined by unpredictability and a need for contingency in design. However, the life of a building or design cannot always keep pace with changes in culture, context, or climate. How is the rigidity of architecture slackened? Where does the ability to adjust, modify, or respond to factors exist? Can (and does) Architecture adapt?
This year, the theme of adaptation is offered as an area of enquiry. In biology, adaptation enhances the survival and fitness of organisms. Within design, demands for adaptive responses to climatic, cultural, or societal change have tested architecture’s transformative properties. More than ever, exciting new considerations of accessibility, sustainability, and flexibility are being incorporated earlier and earlier into design processes. It could be argued that an inability of architecture to adapt will be its demise.
The Steedman 2016 jury seeks forward-thinking research proposals on instances and ideas of adaptation in architecture.