Winners of 2020 UBC Arch/Eng Competition Selected
January 19, 2021
Every year, Fast + Epp challenges UBC architecture and engineering students to collaborate on a design challenge. This year’s challenge was to design an outdoor cinema by Jericho Beach. The coronavirus pandemic has forced many people to socialize outside, but a lot of the movie theaters and concert halls are either closed or too confined with full enclosure, which poses a risk of the virus outbreaks.
The constraints behind this challenge were:
+ Full natural ventilation is required
+ Heating is required (theater must be able to operate all year round)
+ Seats must be protected from the rain at a 45 degree angle
+ The noise of the rain should be considered
+ Internal columns are allowed
+ Screen: Min. 3m high x 6m long
The six-member jury – which included William Loasby (Fast + Epp), Steve Jeon (Fast + Epp),Tobias Fast (Fast + Epp), Derek Ratzlaff (Fast + Epp), Adrien Pratlong (Perkins + Will), David Dove (Perkins + Will) – selected three winning projects from nearly 23 submissions.
The winner and runner ups for this year’s competition are:
1st Place: Team D – John Benner, Guillermo Bourget-Morales, Jenny Lee, Caroline Pfister, Ashmeet Singh
2nd Place: Team I – Peter Ehrlich, Jedrik Mangahis, Homa Samiezadeh, Luis Marchese del Valle, Alex Willms
3rd Place: Team R – Jon Ackerly, Massimo Pecoraro, Patrick Mella, Chloe Sirges, Darci Nesbitt
“The judges were very impressed with the creation of a theatre space which preserves the continuity and public use of the existing landscape. The roof emerges from the ground to create an open, expansive volume with a bold structural expression in the diagrid and supporting braces. The descent of the seating into the ground gives a sense of enclosure and location without compromising the open connection with the surrounding terrain.”
“The design named “The Light House” is an exquisite use of simple, straight, repeating structural lines to create a structure that is elegant but not imposing, captivating but not distracting. The judges admired the achievement of beauty through a simple approach with a light footprint on the existing site.”
“The design named “The Lantern” is articulated in a rhythm of repeating structural frames approaching and focusing on the theatre screen. The judges were impressed by the light-weight structural solutions developed to enable a floating structure and by the development of both day and night programming options.”
The competition was open to all students registered at UBC, and winners will be rewarded with a cash prize. See full competition guidelines here.