In this lecture, George Baird will describe the background to the Parc de la Villette international design competition, including the various decisions of the French Government leading up to it. It will provide a detailed description of the site selected by the government for the park, the complex program that was prepared for it, and, to the extent possible, the composition of the jury nominated to select the winning scheme. The lecture will also attempt to situate the competition in the context of other French Government sponsored competitions from the same period, including that for the Centre Pompidou and the Opera de la Bastille.
The lecture will provide a critical commentary on the process the jury went through in order to arrive at the selection of a winning scheme. It will provide a critical commentary on the winning scheme by Bernard Tschumi, as well as on the well-known runner-up by OMA/Rem Koolhaas. In addition, it will briefly comment on a number of other submissions to the competition. Finally, it will conclude with a review of the subsequent careers of Tschumi and Koolhaas, both of whom became famous as a result of their participation in the competition.
The Berlage Sessions is a thematic seven-part seminar series focusing on scholarly research and critical approaches to the history and theory of architecture and urban design. This semester’s theme, “Building Competitions,” explores architectural competitions as opportunities of experimentation. Lecturers will examine the histories, politics, policies, and processes of canonical architectural competitions, from the mid eighteenth century to the present. Discussed competitions will include the Chicago Tribune Tower, the Paris Opera House, the Canberra Plan and Parliament, the Palace of the League of Nations, Parc de la Villette, Guggenheim Helsinki, and KANAL-Centre Pompidou.
George Baird is the former dean (2004-2009) of the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design, and is a partner in the Toronto-based architecture and urban design firm Baird Sampson Neuert Architects. Prior to becoming dean at the University of Toronto, Baird was the G. Ware Travelstead Professor of Architecture at the Graduate School of Design, Harvard University.