2G Magazine's International Ideas Competition
for the Venice Lagoon Park
This was the official website for the 2G magazine's international ideas competition for the Venice Lagoon Park. The contest was for only theoretical ideas without definitive plans for the development or execution of the actual project.
The jury The jury was composed of the prominent architects: Inaki Ábalos, Francesco Careri, James Corner, Anne Lacaton and Phillippe Rahm, together with Team 2G. Winner were announced in 2008.
Content is from the site's 2007 archived pages as well as from other outside sources.
OVERVIEW
On the occasion of the celebration of the magazine's tenth anniversary, 2G launches a second international ideas competition
Category: Idea Competition / Competition Result / Open to Students
Type: International Urban Design Idea Competition
Genre: Landscape
Country: Spain
Registration Deadline: 15 Oct 2007
Submission Deadline: 12 Nov 2007 (Must be Received)
Eligibility: Students and Professionals under 40 in the field of architecture but also within the field of landscape design, urbanism and related disciplines, as long as they include a student of architecture or an architect in their team.
"I was turned on to this competition by a well known lawyer friend who is also an avid architecture maven. He bugged me for several weeks to pay a visit to this site before I finally relented. Benjamin Pred - you may know him for this extreme exercise ordeal, or as the Frisbee throwing former Queens Assistant District Attorney - raved about the images on this site and I now agree. I think the competition drew the artists out of the otherwise often technical discipline of architecture, and the proof is on these pages. Very impressive indeed." Laura Standish
"We reported on this organization and the winners of their creative competition. These are idea contests that enable considerations from outside the box to influence mainstream thinking. Because we have offices both in the US and in Paris, we often see events with a slightly different perspective. I don't believe there were any entrants for the US but we still reported on the results and we noticed something very unusual. Google serves different results based on the country where the search initiates. This makes sense in terms of language and culture, but we observed something way beyond explanation. From my office in Paris, a search in Google for "International Urban Design Idea Competition" got me right to this site. But searches from our office in NYC showed sites for pig nutrients and snow removal equipment. We are aware that Google occasionally screws up, but this was mind blowing. It lasted long enough so that I was just about to do a separate story on the harm caused by Google's mistakes when it reverted to a more accurate result set." Jan Petersen, UpNews
PRESS RELEASE
2G contest:Contest
To celebrate its 10 years, 2G magazine convenes an international ideas competition for the Venice Lagoon Park. The initial approach of the contest proposes a reflection on contemporary metropólis from the landscape project and the tension between global interests and local needs. The place chosen for the development of the program has been the Venice lagoon and the theme the creation of the Venice Lagoon Park.
The park project will seek to recover the urban idea of ​​the lagoon as a complex network of communications and settlements through the hypothetical re-colonization of its territory, the decentralization and atomization of a program of uses and the recovery of the lagoon as an urban constellation necessarily integrated into its natural environment. The program to devise this recovery will consist of an Urban Park and Lagunares Prototypes.
This contest is ideas, theoretical and does not imply development or execution of the project. The jury is composed of prominent architects: Iñaki Ábalos, Francesco Careri, James Corner, Anne Lacaton and Phillippe Rahm, together with Team 2G.
The period of consultation of the bases has passed, and these will be published on July 2, 2007.
The deadline for registration is October 15, 2007. Projects must be delivered no later than November 12, 2007, at 2:00 p.m. Barcelona time. The results will be published during January 2008.
Description
The competition is intended as a reflection on the contemporary metropolis that, growing out of the design of the landscape, pays attention to the tension between global interests and local needs. The site chosen for the unfolding of the competition is the Venice Lagoon, the specific theme being the creation of the Venice Lagoon Park.
The park project will be devoted to reclaiming the urban idea of the lagoon as a complex network of communications and settlements, through a hypothetical re-colonisation of the territory of the lagoon, the decentralisation and atomisation of a programme of uses, and the reclaiming of the idea of the lagoon as an urban constellation necessarily integrated in its natural environment. The programme for planning this rehabilitation will consist of an Urban Park and Lagoon Prototypes.
Jury
Iñaki Ábalos
Francesco Careri
James Corner
Anne Lacaton, president
Philippe Rahm
2G Team
Competition Type
One-Stage
Prize
First prize: 10,000€ plus a year's subscription to the magazine 2G
Second prize: 5,000€ plus a year's subscription to the magazine 2G
Five special mentions: Rewarded with a year's subscription to the magazine 2G
The winning, finalist and selected projects will be shown as part of the Venice Biennale di Architettura in Autumn 2008.
Entry Fee
EURO 30 Students, 60 Professionals
Entries
A maximum of 2 DIN A1 panels (841 mm x 594 mm), and CD with the competition panels in jpg and pdf format
Timetable
Publication in the webpage of the jury's verdict and of the competition records: January 2008
Publication of the prize-winning and selected proposals: first six months of 2008
2G Competition: Venice Lagoon Park 1st Prize Winners
The Paris team BuildingBuilding, consisting of the architects Thomas Raynaud-team leader-and Cyrille Berger, has won First Prize in the 2G Competition. Venice Lagoon Park for entry presented with the slogan Drip Feed.
Some Proposals for a Venice Lagoon Park
Saturday, February 02, 2008 | https://pruned.blogspot.com/
First is the winning entry from architects Thomas Raynaud and Cyrille Berger. Presented with the slogan Drip Feed, they propose to turn one of the islands in the lagoon into a sort of algae power farm using organisms that already live in the tidal marshes to convert water pollution into clean energy.
It'll be a site of production and leisure.
Or as described by the Paris team: “Our project for the urban park of Sacca San Mattia consists of reinvesting the island in a Venetian, multi-functional approach to urban planning, in the context of an enlarged metropolitan, tourist centre. The Drip Feed project on the Island of Sacca San Mattia puts into place an above-ground ulva rigida cultivation device that is in keeping with the Greenfuel system. A saprophyte structure that ingests polluted waste from local industry, and conceptually redefines the lagoon’s future water level, without harming the natural state of the island.”
(Combining clean energy production and public space. Drip Feed by Thomas Raynaud and Cyrille Berger.)
(Picnicing under an algae-filled trellis pavilion. Drip Feed by Thomas Raynaud and Cyrille Berger.)
Second is the entry from the Spanish team of Josep Tornabell Teixidor, Gerard Bertomeu, Miriam Cabanes and Enrique Soriano. Called Instant Gel, their proposal also makes use of existing water-borne organism and pollutants but this time they are to be used to set off a chemical reaction with layers of flexible gelly structures, creating fantastical island-sized foamy water lilies.
(Instant Gel by Josep Tornabell Teixidor et al.)
The cranes in the image above suggest perhaps that in the future climate-changed Venice St. Mark's will be transferred onto one of these floating islands.
Or perhaps Askin Ozcar's fake Venice will be realized here. Duplicate canals, duplicate churches, duplicate palazzos, duplicate Venetians and duplicate film festival and biennales, all floating above and tethered to the lagoon. And every couple of years (another biennale of sorts), it gets disconnected to become a mobile museum, mall and casino.
(Exploring the underwater gardens of Venice or perhaps of an other world. Instant Gel by Josep Tornabell Teixidor et al.)
2G Competition: Venice Lagoon Park 2nd Prize Winners
2G Competition - Venice Lagoon Park, Italy
competition 2nd prize, 2008
project title: [500m apart]
design team: Johanna Irander, Nicolo Riva, Nicole Carstensen, Samuel Austin, Nuno Gonçalves Fontarra
client: 2G Magazine
The design of the urban park on the island of Sacca San Mattia, situated in the Venetian lagoon, is divided into four areas; a square, a pavilion area, a salt water pond with red algae and a plantation of pine trees.
The lagoon is represented by a land art installation, whereinformation from lagoon prototype sensors is being displayed on a screen wall. Steel rods are distributed across the lagoon in a 500m square grid. A sensor is attached to each, which registers movement within a defined radius and transmits images and information to the base at the island of Sacca San Mattia.
Projected onto a 5m high screen wall, this data becomes an abstract representation of the lagoon, with which visitors may interact. Lagoon activity is visualised on the wall in a changing reality of pixels that map the movement of unseen waters. The currents, cycles, processes and activities interweave - the presence of the lagoon can be felt.
VENICE / lagoon park
Finalist project
2G Venice Lagoon park international competition
2007
Design: Luis Callejas, Edgar Mazo, Sebastian Mejia and Juan Pablo Martinez
Collaborators: Erica Martinez
As a canonical case of aquatic urbanization, the Venice Lagoon in Italy serves as an ideal ground for tactical interventions that trigger new forms of public life ultimately tied to aquatic events. Varying in scope and scale, the project strategically intervenes at the building scale of decaying houses threatened with collapse and from a tidal park at the vacant island of Sacca San Mattia to the territorial scale of an artificial reef to recover the lagoon’s ecology.
Removing the roofs but conserving the facades transforms residential buildings into open public spaces as they become abandoned or obsolete due to water damage. New gardens, galleries, small parks, and public baths appear behind their walls, eventually generating a decentralized system of dispersed yet connected micro-parks. Second, as a means of forecasting future landscape and climate events, the uninhabited island of Sacca San Mattia becomes a testing ground for the amplification and replication of the almost invisible, slow drowning of Venice. Through its simple features such as canals and trenches, the paths of the new park on the island register tidal cycles, to the extent of becoming inaccessible during high tide. Third, as territorial infrastructure, the artificial reef aims to protect and preserve weakened ecologies in the lagoon resulting from the constant traffic of the Vaporetto system of public ferries. Thus, the reef becomes both a highway for boats as well as a hotbed for the lagoon ecosystem, to eventually disappear from view under the rising tides of the lagoon
Finalist project 2G Venice Lagoon Park, international competition 2g Magazine Barcelona, Spain 2007 Proyect: Luis Callejas, Edgar Mazo, Sebastián Mejia, Juan Pablo Martinez
The park as a living museum of the slow death of the city.
/images/luis-callejas-vista-general.jpg
The Venice lake is colonized by an artificial reef system that intends to recover, keep and protect a living fertile ecosystem. With the change of the tides the reef emerges and disappears partially.
inside the canals the light and water level reveal the passing of the hours. Eventually the canals get flooded and become unwalkable.
The surface of the island is covert with as many seeds and spores as possible, the strongest and most capable species will impose and some months later there will be a completly unpredictable, wild and convulse garden.
The island coasts are the main circulation system, no paths and no program.
“I draw, not with ideas, not with stones; but with light and air the way of my transit.” Octavio Paz
Naos, Water clock house and confined forest. The residential and workshop constructions of the city of Venice, Murano and the other islands are colonized by contemplative uses as they are abandoned or become obsolete . Roofs are removed, walls stay, new gardens emerge, sitting rooms that will eventually get flooded. New decks, galleries, small parks and public thermae appear within the old walls in an unplanned way.
“there is nothing built on stone. Everything is built on sand, but it is our duty to edify as if the sand should be stone” Jorge Luis Borges
Inside the canals the light and water level reveal the passing of the hours. Eventually the canals get flooded and become unwalkable.
WINNERS
2008 Magazine 2G, Barcelona (ES)
2G Competition on the occasion of the celebration of the magazine's tenth anniversary, 2G launches on international ideas competition. Venice Lagoon Park. This theoretical initiative, which does not involve subsequent phases of the project or its execution, is an inducement to free, non-restrictive reflection, the objective to embark on a worthwhile debate within the profession.
The competition is intended as a reflection on the contemporary metropolis that pays attention to the tension between global interests and local needs. The site is chosen for the Venice Lagoon Lagoon Park.
The park project aims to reclaim the urban idea of ​​the lagoon as a complex network of communications and settlements, through a hypothetical re-colonization of the territory of the lagoon, the decentralization and atomization of a program of uses, and the reclaiming of the idea of ​​the lagoon as an urban constellation is absolutely integrated in its natural environment. The program for planning this rehabilitation will consist of Urban Park and Lagoon prototypes.
1st Prize
Thomas Raynaud, Cyrille Berger, France
2nd Prize
Johanna Irander, Nicole Carstensen, Nicolò Riva, Nuno Gonçalves Fontarra, Samuel Austin, Holland
Honorable Mention
Gauthier Le Romancer, Guillaume Derrien, France
Honorable Mention
Michele Brunello, Giovanni Roncador and Constantina Verzi , Italy
Honorable mention
Josep Tornabell Teixidor, Gerard Bertomeu, Miriam Cabanes, Enrique Soriano, Spain
Special mention
Giacomo Summa, Paolo Capri, Andrea Zanderigo, Pier Paolo Tamburelli, Silvia Lupi, Francesca Torzo, Vittorio Pizzigoni, Lorenzo Laura, Chiara Pastore, Italy
Honorable Mention
Pierre Bélanger, Ed Zec, Behnaz Assadi, Canada
Honorable Mention
Anders Berensson, Ulf Mejergren, Sweden
Honorable Mention
Aymeric Olry, Jeremy Bernier, France
Dossier: Venice Lagoon Park (2G Books) Paperback – 2008
by Anne Lacaton (Author)
2G Competition. Venice Lagoon Park series: 2G Dossier The 2G Competition. Venice Lagoon Park was convoked in April 2007 in connection with the celebration of the tenth anniversary of the magazine 2G. The contest proposed a multidisciplinary treatment of an architectural and landscape design intervention on a territory -the Venetian lagoon- with a long and intense historical trajectory. At present, the lagoon constitutes a rich ecosystem subject to a wide variety of uses tourist, -residential, industrial, farming- which are difficult to reconcile and to re-elaborate. The 2G Competition delimited and determined this complex reality so as to emphasise, using a real example, many of the issues posited by current architectural debates, and the success of this approach was reflected in the more than 1000 registered competitors from all over the world and the upwards of 500 projects presented. This volume of 2G Dossier contains the competition's winning projects, special mentions and a major selection of schemes that were singled out as finalists by the jury. With the freedom that an ideas competition gives, the whole offers an ample display of the different approaches used, from the most innovatory and risk-taking to more orthodox, rigorous proposals. The jury members Iñaki Ábalos, Francesco Careri, James Corner, Anne Lacaton, Philippe Rahm and other specialists in architecture and landscape design have written texts that complement the schemes presented by the competitors.
Product details
On Amazon
- Paperback: 100 pages
- Publisher: Gustavo Gili; 1st edition (2008)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 8425222508
- ISBN-13: 978-8425222504
More Background on 2GCompetition.com
2GCompetition.com served as the official online platform for the 2G Magazine International Ideas Competition for the Venice Lagoon Park, a significant event in the field of architecture and urban landscape design. Although the site itself is now archived, the competition and its outcomes remain influential within architectural circles. This article explores the history, structure, reception, and cultural significance of the competition, drawing on external sources and documented outcomes.
History and Background
2G Magazine, established in Spain, is recognized for its critical engagement with contemporary architectural practice and theory. In 2007, to celebrate its tenth anniversary, the magazine launched the 2G International Ideas Competition for the Venice Lagoon Park. This competition was conceived as a theoretical exercise, inviting architects, landscape designers, urbanists, and students under 40 to propose visionary concepts for the future of the Venice Lagoon-a site of immense historical, ecological, and urban significance.
The competition was not intended to result in a built project. Instead, it aimed to generate innovative ideas and stimulate debate about the relationship between global trends and local needs in metropolitan landscapes. The Venice Lagoon, with its complex network of settlements and ecological challenges, provided a rich context for this exploration.
Competition Structure and Jury
The 2G Competition was structured as a one-stage, open ideas contest. It attracted significant international attention, with over 1,000 registrants and more than 500 submissions from around the world. The eligibility criteria required teams to include at least one architect or architecture student, but encouraged multidisciplinary collaboration across landscape design, urbanism, and related fields.
The jury was composed of prominent figures in contemporary architecture and landscape design, including Iñaki Ábalos, Francesco Careri, James Corner, Anne Lacaton (President), and Philippe Rahm, along with Team 2G.
Goals and Thematic Focus
The competition’s central theme was the creation of a new Venice Lagoon Park, conceived as a reflection on the contemporary metropolis. The brief emphasized:
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Reclaiming the lagoon as a complex network of communications and settlements
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Hypothetical re-colonization of the territory
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Decentralization and atomization of programmatic uses
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Integration of the lagoon as an urban constellation within its natural environment
Participants were encouraged to approach the challenge as a theoretical exercise, using the freedom of an ideas competition to propose bold, experimental, or even speculative solutions.
Prizes and Exhibition
Prizes were awarded as follows:
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First Prize: €10,000 and a year’s subscription to 2G Magazine
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Second Prize: €5,000 and a year’s subscription to 2G Magazine
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Five Special Mentions: Each received a year’s subscription to 2G Magazine
Winning and selected proposals were exhibited as part of the Venice Biennale di Architettura in Autumn 2008, further amplifying the competition’s visibility and influence.
Notable Winning Projects
First Prize: "Drip Feed" by BuildingBuilding (Thomas Raynaud & Cyrille Berger, France)
The winning entry, "Drip Feed," proposed transforming the island of Sacca San Mattia into an algae power farm, using native organisms to convert water pollution into clean energy. The project envisioned a multifunctional space combining ecological production and public leisure, with an above-ground ulva rigida cultivation device that processed industrial waste and redefined the lagoon’s future water level without harming the natural state of the island.
Second Prize: "[500m apart]" by Johanna Irander, Nicole Carstensen, Nicolò Riva, Nuno Gonçalves Fontarra, Samuel Austin
This project divided the urban park into four distinct areas and featured a land art installation with sensors distributed in a grid across the lagoon. These sensors registered movement and transmitted data to the island, where it was visualized on a large screen wall, creating an interactive, abstract representation of the lagoon’s dynamics.
Finalist: Luis Callejas, Edgar Mazo, Sebastián Mejia, Juan Pablo Martinez
Their proposal addressed the transformation of decaying Venetian buildings into open public spaces, the creation of tidal parks, and the construction of artificial reefs to support the lagoon’s ecology. The project highlighted the interplay between urban decay, ecological restoration, and the unpredictable forces of nature.
Media Coverage and Reviews
The competition received widespread coverage in architectural media and design blogs. ArchDaily and Bustler both featured summaries of the competition, highlighting its international scope and the creativity of the submissions. The competition was also discussed in academic circles and in publications such as 2G Dossier: Venice Lagoon Park, which compiled winning and notable entries alongside critical essays by jury members and other experts.
Pruned, a well-known landscape architecture blog, reviewed the winning projects and praised the competition for drawing out the artistic side of architecture, allowing for imaginative and speculative proposals that pushed the boundaries of conventional practice. The blog also noted the competition’s role in fostering debate about the future of Venice and the challenges facing similar urbanized aquatic environments.
Audience and Participation
The 2G Competition attracted a diverse, international audience of young architects, landscape designers, urbanists, and students. Its open, theoretical format and relatively low entry fee made it accessible to participants from a wide range of backgrounds. The competition’s emphasis on multidisciplinary collaboration and speculative thinking resonated with emerging professionals eager to challenge established paradigms and explore new directions in urban and landscape design.
Cultural and Social Significance
The 2G Competition is widely regarded as a significant event in the evolution of architectural ideas competitions. Its impact can be understood in several ways:
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Platform for Emerging Talent: By focusing on participants under 40 and encouraging multidisciplinary teams, the competition provided a launchpad for young designers to showcase their ideas on an international stage.
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Stimulus for Debate: The competition’s theoretical nature and focus on the Venice Lagoon-a site facing both environmental and urban challenges-stimulated meaningful debate about the future of cities, the role of landscape in urbanism, and the reconciliation of global and local interests.
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Exhibition and Publication: The exhibition of winning and selected entries at the Venice Biennale di Architettura and their publication in the 2G Dossier ensured that the ideas generated reached a wide audience, influencing both practitioners and academics.
Legacy and Lasting Impact
The 2G Competition for the Venice Lagoon Park is remembered as a landmark in the tradition of ideas competitions. It demonstrated the power of open, theoretical contests to generate innovative thinking and to bring together diverse voices in architecture, landscape, and urbanism. The competition’s focus on the Venice Lagoon-a place of both beauty and fragility-underscored the urgent need for creative approaches to the challenges facing cities and landscapes worldwide.
The projects submitted, particularly those recognized by the jury, continue to serve as references for contemporary debates on ecological urbanism, adaptive reuse, and the integration of natural systems into urban design. The competition’s emphasis on speculative, non-prescriptive solutions has influenced subsequent competitions and design practices, reinforcing the value of imagination and critical reflection in shaping the built environment.
2GCompetition.com played a pivotal role in facilitating a global exchange of ideas about the future of the Venice Lagoon and, by extension, the possibilities for urban and landscape design in the 21st century. The competition it hosted remains a touchstone for architects, designers, and scholars interested in the intersections of ecology, urbanism, and cultural heritage. Its legacy endures in the ongoing conversations it helped to spark and the creative visions it brought to light.