Advice for Architect Applicants

Hello Architectural Designers of any kind! Here are a few things to consider before you apply. 

To start, keep in mind that the design of your Shanty is not the only final deliverable, the engagement with the public during the 4-weekend run is what it’s all about! When evaluating your initial concept, how can it be turned into a spatial story that engages public participation? The Art Shanty village is not the venue for a singular vision for experiencing an architectural object or sculpture. It is an immersive art program and you and your team are also the end users of what you create. Deciding whether you are sheltered or vulnerable to the elements as well as how you engage with visitors should be the foremost considerations for your design. Art Shanty Projects is about active experiences. Architectural concepts like expansion and compression can be interesting conceptually but they are passive experiences and do not answer the question of engagement. 

Rather than envisioning a final architectural design for this application, Art Shanty Projects is a better venue for collaborative design, thought experiences, hands on practice, community engagement, and an opportunity to utilize alternate materials. How can your design put on a show? Teach people? Or give them an opportunity to express themselves? How can you utilize context? What could only happen here? Or what can be built to completely subvert your expectations for what can be done on a frozen lake? With no building codes and a thorough study in equitable engagement, what are the architectural possibilities?