inside::out—what's it about?
The Boston Center for the Arts (BCA) is a unique, multi-disciplinary arts organization that houses and hosts numerous performances, exhibitions, and events throughout the year. Sited in Boston's hip and historic South End neighborhood, the BCA's four-acre campus is comprised of four theaters, over 50 artists' studios, a gallery, a jazz club, a music school, a 125-year-old large event/exhibition space, as well as restaurants, shops and residences.
It is a place where the arts, artists, and community are connected, but currently most of this activity takes place in-doors. The goal of inside::out is to broaden and enrich these opportunities for connection, while improving the fundamental urban landscape of the site.
inside::out is a creative challenge: How can the BCA—through architecture, urban design, landscape architecture, graphic design, and lighting—better communicate the activity and energy happening within, to the outside? How can the public spaces be made more welcoming for additional activity? How can the outside be activated to draw more audience to all of the arts opportunities available, both inside and out?
This creative challenge is being posed to both design professionals and to the general public. Those accepting the challenge are asked to consider how the re-design of the BCA's public spaces can expand its presence, provide a flexible gathering place for special events, balance the visual importance of old and new, and facilitate wayfinding to the many venues within its urban campus. The BCA's preparation for this competition included listening to a broad representation of those who make up the BCA community. Their voices, opinions, and ideas have been incorporated into the program goals and challenges.
The Competition will be conducted in two phases
An Ideas Phase will be open to all interested persons regardless of professional training or status within the continental United States. Registration to participate will begin in February 2006 and submissions will be due in May 2006. All entries from registered applicants meeting the qualifications of the competition will be posted in an Ideas Exhibition-Online. Physical design boards will be publicly displayed in the BCA's historic Cyclorama exhibition space for a week in June. A design jury will select up to five entries to continue on as finalists to the second phase of the competition.
In the Refined Proposals Phase, those five selected by the jury will receive a stipend for travel to Boston to review the site with members of the BCA and to present their projects to the public for informal review. In this second phase, each finalist will be expected to assemble a professional design team, provide a preliminary cost estimate for the execution of the work, and selectively revise their proposal in response to client and community considerations. The design jury will then reconvene to review the revised proposals and select a winner. Finally, the winning team will receive a cash prize and be invited to negotiate a contract for design services related to the construction of their proposal.