Scarce Times: Alternative Futures

The Architecture Foundation and Scarcity and Creativity in the Built Environment (SCIBE London; University of Westminster) are issuing an open call for collaboration to strong groups of creative professionals capable of proposing innovative strategies and tools to address conditions of scarcity in the built environment.

SCIBE, a three-year collaborative project that explores how processes related to architecture and urban design can be improved through design-led innovation under conditions of scarcity, has teams in London, Oslo and Vienna. SCIBE London works primarily in Bromley-by-Bow – according to the Indices of Deprivation, the city’s most deprived ward in 2007 and number nine on the list in 2010. The contested urban territory, with many aspects of inequality manifested spatially and socially, is located in-between central London, the Canary Wharf Estate and the site of the forthcoming Olympics.

Teams are invited to propose the devices and approaches that would be needed to achieve their vision for the area in 2062, starting from now. The process is open to anyone, and we welcome proposals from beyond the fields of architecture and design, in particular those engaged with creative approaches to socio-economic scenarios.

The Architecture Foundation and SCIBE will be holding two events in June and July 2012, from which collaborating teams will emerge. During stage one participants will be issued with the briefing document and will prepare first responses to the issues raised. Prospective participants should register their interest by completing the registration form and returning it via email before the registration deadline on 14 June 2012. Further information regarding all remaining registration formalities will then follow.

A maximum of 50 individuals or teams will present their responses at Event One during the London Festival of Architecture on 2 July 2012. After the presentations, there will be a networking event, during which details can be clarified, names can be exchanged and teams of like-minded people can begin to form.

Teams will then prepare a more considered response to the briefing for Event Two presenting to both the floor and the selection panel consisting of representatives of The AF, SCIBE, The Young Foundation and the local community. Four teams will then be selected to work with the SCIBE team and will receive thorough feedback to help them develop their projects further. 

We hope the collaborative and research-based nature of the project will allow all teams and individuals to supplement their own working methods and learn new skills for their future practice.

For more information please download the brief from our resources tab.

Important Dates

14 June 2012 Registration deadline
2 July 2012 Event One
23 July 2012 Event Two
30 July 2012 Announcement of winning teams