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Design

New (Anti) Architecture Competition Invites You To Erase Buildings

The newest challenge from Think Space & Keller Easterling asks you to consider building subtraction.

From the good folks at Think Space, and architect/urbanist Keller Easterling, comes a new architecture competition designed to invite dreamers and draughtspeople alike to do what architects usually don't: subtract.

The Press Release for Environment / Subtraction, the latest cycle in Think Space's 2013|2014 MONEY competition series, invites participants to,"Consider the pleasures of building removal. Whatever the prodigious efforts associated with erecting architecture, the art of causing it to disappear can be equally violent, compelling or satisfying.

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Methods for demolishing, imploding or otherwise subtracting building material are not among the essential skills imparted to architects in training. Believing building to be the primary constructive activity, the discipline has not institutionalized special studies of subtraction. In fact, for architects, building envelope is almost always the answer to any problem, and subtraction is often understood to be the preparation of a tabula rasa."

The brief goes on to describe examples of subtraction in financial markets, heavy industries, and political spheres. Destruction, it seems, is as powerful a creative process as construction.

Participants, who may enter as either invididuals or as teams, are invited to present drawing panels, a representation board, and an overall report to Think Space to compete for the €1,000 first prize. The competition is open to, "Professionals and students in architecture and related fields," says Think Space, adding, "We are promoting and welcoming interdisciplinary approach, and whoever feels capable of submiting the entry that complies with the competition requirements is eligible to apply [sic]."

The competition is open from now until April 10, 2014. Results will be announced on May 6, so flip your pencils to erase ASAP!

Below, more photos from the Environment / Subtraction Press Release, hand-selected to get your subtractive juices flowin':

Images courtesy of Think Space. Stay tuned to the competition page for more architecture competitions and updates. h/t archdaily.com