Savannah College of Art and Design > 040908a "Just Jerusalem" awards two SCAD teams honorable mentions

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04/09/2008

"Just Jerusalem" awards two SCAD teams honorable mentions

International competition seeks proposals that plan beyond the current nation-state conflict

The Landwalker created by architecture professors Ming Tang and Dihua Yang.

The Landwalker created by architecture professors Ming Tang and Dihua Yang.

SAVANNAH, Ga. — The MIT Jerusalem 2050 Program recognized two teams from the Savannah College of Art and Design with honorable mentions for their proposals for the international competition.

More than 1,150 people from 85 countries participated in the competition, which sought proposals addressing different aspects of urban life in a future Jerusalem. Participants were asked to plan beyond the current nation-state conflict and focus on the city as a place where citizens may coexist in peace.

SCAD architecture professors Ming Tang and Dihua Yang received honorable mention recognition for their proposal, titled "The Landwalker."

"The central feature of our project is the development of a series of kinetic structures that demonstrate characteristics of a walking machine, with the potential of moving across the land in a manner similar to that of mobile houses. We named it, 'The Landwalker,' a solar energy-driven building," Tang and Yang said.

"The Landwalker" proposal does not claim property, sidestepping the struggle for land ownership among Christians, Muslims and Jews in the past 1,000 years. The proposal hopes to overcome the argument over permanent structures in a shared land of mutli-ethnic societies.

Tang and Yang recently won the Second Advanced Architecture Contest International Competition for their entry, "Self-Sufficient Housing — The Self-Fab House."

Students Caitlin Hill and Gordon Marshall also received an honorable mention for their proposal titled "Jerusalem Olympics: An International City, An International Event."

Hill and Marshall proposed that preparation for 2048 Olympics would provide both nationalities the chance to work towards a nonreligious, nonpolitical goal, unifying the country. They suggested four main sites to receive extensive revision and civic improvements that would upgrade the city and renew economic interest and tourism after the games. These sites include Teddy Stadium, Hebrew University, the YMCA and Mount Scopus.

"The preparation for the Olympics will manufacture modern, nonreligious sites on a scale that does not yet exist in Jerusalem," Hill and Marshall said.

Named one of Kaplan's "25 cutting-edge schools with an eye toward the future," the Savannah College of Art and Design is a private, nonprofit, accredited institution with locations in Atlanta and Savannah, Ga., and in Lacoste, France. Undergraduate and graduate degree programs also are offered online through SCAD-eLearning. The college offers Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Fine Arts, Master of Architecture, Master of Arts, Master of Arts in Teaching, Master of Fine Arts, and Master of Urban Design degrees.