Tag: pavilion

ARX 2025: LIMINAL TERMINAL: TRANSITIONING SOMETHING TO ANYTHING

ARX: ARCHITECTURE REALITY XPERIMENTAL

(For Thai, press here)

ARX: ARCHITECTURE ‧ REALITY ‧ XPERIMENTAL invites high school and university students up to undergraduate level to submit design proposals for a multi-purpose pavilion under the theme ‘Liminal Terminal: Transition something to anything.’ This open call challenges young designers to explore the concept of a space of transformation and reinterpretation, while granting full creative freedom to define the functions of their design.

Concept

At its core, Liminal Terminal is an exploration of points or moments of transition—those in-between spaces that shape our daily lives. Whether stepping onto a train platform, exiting a department store, or pausing quietly before opening the door to one’s home, these subtle shifts mark our continuous movement between spaces, states of mind, and experiences.

But the notion of transition extends far beyond physical. It hints at the abstract shifts that occur from one point to another, one moment to the next. This conceptual openness offers fertile ground for creative exploration. Participants are encouraged to explore transitions through the lens of technology, culture, and other dimensions,

In this sense, Liminal Terminal becomes more than just a point of passage – it is a realm of possibility. ARX seeks proposals that transcend conventional architectural thinking—designs that are not merely physical structures, but metaphorical liminal terminals: spaces where diverse individuals interact, and where reflection is sparked on themes of transformation, connection, temporality, and the ongoing evolution of life and the city.

Design Brief

1. Propose a design for a multi-purpose space measuring no larger than 10 x 10 meters, based on the theme ‘Liminal Terminal: Transition something to anything.’ The design must be situated within a public context.

2. Participants are expected to clearly define the intended use, site context, construction or installation method, and material specifications. These elements may be determined freely; however, they must comply with all applicable laws, regulations, or public space policies relevant to the proposed location for construction or display.

3. The competition is open to high school and university students, who may apply individually or in teams of up to three members. Teams may consist of students from different disciplines, departments, academic years, or university. Each participant or team may submit only one entry.

4. The winning proposal will be constructed and installed in a public space in early 2026. The project must adhere to a total implementation budget of no more than 15,000 THB per square meter, covering construction, installation, dismantling, and transportation. All costs within this scope will be fully covered by ARX.

Construction Requirements

1. The total budget for construction, installation, dismantling, and transportation must not exceed 15,000 THB per square meter.
2. The footprint of the design must not exceed 10 x 10 meters.
3. The maximum height of the structure is 7 meters.
4. The design must be relocatable to allow for future display or installation at other locations.
5. The entire installation must be completed within five days.

Awards

First Prize Winner: Cash prize of 150,000 THB, a trophy, a special edition Fandeck, and a certificate..

First Runner-Up: Cash prize of 60,000 THB, a trophy, a special edition Fandeck, and a certificate.

Second Runner-Up: Cash prize of 40,000 THB, a trophy, a special edition Fandeck, and a certificate.

20 Finalists: Certificate of recognition.

*Note: All intellectual property rights and related entitlements for the awarded entries, including original design files, shall remain with the creators. However, ARX reserves the right to use, reproduce, adapt, publish, and display the submitted works across all media platforms, both domestic and international, without limitation of time, exclusivity, prior notice, or compensation.

Submission Guidelines

1. Submissions must include design plates in digital format (PDF), limited to a maximum of three A2 pages at 200 dpi resolution. The combined file size must not exceed 200 MB.

2. Each set of design plates must include the project title, a concept statement, site plan, elevations with dimensions, and a perspective rendering.

3. Please submit a download link to your design plates via the following form:  https://forms.gle/5KyQNgMXzFeoT1WZ7. The link must be accessible to the organizing team for file download, and all required form fields must be completed in full.

4. All submissions must be original works that have not been previously submitted to or received awards in any other competition.

5. Designs must not be copied or plagiarized from existing works.

6. The organizers reserve the right to disqualify any entry that violates the rules, without prior notice.

Timeline

Submission Deadline: August 31, 2025.

Announcement of 20 Finalists: September 20, 2025

Final Presentation and Award Ceremony: September 27, 2025

*Note: The details will be announced later

Judging Criteria

1. Feasibility – Practicality and potential for actual implementation: 25 points

2. Functionality – Effective use of space: 25 points

3. Aesthetic – Visual appeal: 25 points

4. Creativity & Design Concept – Originality of ideas and conceptual strength: 25 points

Judges

1.  Sanitas Pradittasnee, a co-founder of Sanitas Studio

2. Angkrit Ajchariyasophon, an independent  curator and artist

3. Pratarn Teeratada, Editor in Chief of art4d magazine

If you want to learn more about ARX 2025, visit

THEMATIC PAVILION: S-ONE X HAS DESIGN AND RESEARCH

S-ONE x HAS
S-ONE x HAS

Photo courtesy HAS design and research

ONE OF THE THEMATIC PAVILIONS IN ARCHITECT’ 24 BY HAS DESIGN AND RESEARCH REPRESENTS THE NEXT STEP OF S-ONE, A MANUFACTURER AND DISTRIBUTOR OF ALUMINUM PROFILES, AND A SMART IDEA OF MATERIALS ADAPTATION FOR CREATING SPACE

Read More

PLERN-PHLIO-TIL-CHAN

Volunteer camp by Silpakorn, Plern-Phlio-Til-Chan

WITH A LIMITED BUDGET, TIME, AND NUMBERS OF LABOR, EXPLORE HOW THE DESIGN FROM THE VOLUNTEER CAMP PROJECT ORGANIZED BY SILPAKORN UNIVERSITY ‘PLERN-PHLIO-TIL-CHAN’ HAS BEEN DEVELOPED THROUGH THE YEARS

Read More

PHOTO ESSAY : EXPO DISMANTLING

TEXT & PHOTO: FILIPPO POLI

(For Thai, press here

I started attending Expo Milano in February 2015, less than 3 months before the opening date.. The site looked like an anthill amidst traffic jams of trucks and thousands of workers; I had never seen such a large and complex construction site due to the number of projects being carried out simultaneously. 

The big canopies of the Decumano were already there, the pavilions were starting to grow, almost all of them built in dry construction to speed up the assembly process; some countries were erecting their structure very quickly and for others it seemed that only a miracle would help them to finish on time. 

The entire site was under police control because of threats of demonstrations and riots by the notorious black blocs, but walking towards the control turnstiles there were “zones of condescension”: a queue of immigrants who every morning waited outside the fences to be hired by the day. The organisational system had collapsed and the informal economy was the only option for getting the work done. In the last phase before the opening, make-up professionals – trade fair and TV set installation companies – joined the construction companies to disguise what was unfinished and make it ready for the official opening on 1 May 2015. 

Twenty-one million visitors followed, and the press celebrated this success with triumphant articles about the rebirth of Milan and Italy.  

The rules of the BIE stipulated that fourteen months after the end of the exhibition, the participating countries should return the apple as they received it and try to reuse the pavilion elsewhere. Not many virtuous ones managed to find a second location; unfortunately, the list of destructions is longer than the list of those pavilions dismantled and reused. However, Expo is slowly adapting to the times: the waste of an event of this scale is unacceptable and a strategy to avoid it is being considered. 

Expo Milano ended in October 2015 and later this year its gates reopened to trucks and workers to dismantle the pavilions like a big jigsaw puzzle. I was able to access the site on two further occasions since it was closed to the public. After having seen the entire construction process and accompanied the months of the event’s development, a cycle closes, documenting the traces of what was there, and with them the metal-devouring machines, the saws and the patient labour of the workers sorting the materials.  

Some pavilions seemed to have evaporated. In the earth were some traces of foundations and mud; others were lacerated, others looked as if they had been bombed but stood stoically. 

Where a few months ago I struggled to find a good shooting point, I now walk alone along the Decumanus, a post-atomic landscape all around me. Volunteers rescued many plants, but the greenery that cannot survive without artificial irrigation was already dead and, in the meantime, the Third Landscape (G. Clement, 2004) has gained some space among the skeletons of structures and abandoned gardens. In this way, too, the Expo has its own charm.

The photographic series presented on these pages wants to raise some questions not only about architecture but also about our society and the meaning of these events.

_____________

Filippo Poli is a photographer specialized in architectural photography; he is based in Europe and collaborates with architecture firms, institutions and publishers.

His personal work is focused on cultural landscape, on the relationship between Man and Nature and its results in the Space. 

His photographs are part of the permanent collection of the new Art Centre of Santander of public Enaire Foundation and his work has been presented in venues in Europe (Climate Summit (COP25) in Madrid, Venice Biennale, Arco Madrid, Photo España, Deutsches Architekturmuseum, …) and USA and are part of private and public collections. 

He regularly publishes in the most important architecture magazines and his work has been awarded by Fundación Enaire, PX3, European Architectural Photography, Architekturbild, IPA, Photography Master Cup, Philadelphia Basho, ArchTriumph among others.

Filippopoli.com
facebook.com/filippopoliphotography
instagram.com/filippo.poli