"I have lived many years for ideals which I would never be able to explain to myself; but I do something entirely good; I live on trees."  —The Baron in the Trees by Italo Calvino

Frost falls when bears climb trees, mountain grove is empty where deer drink water from a creek. —Hiking in Lushan Mountain by Mei Yaochen

Trees are doubtlessly deemed as a natural symbol, but we have always abstractly held a discussion on how architecture should treat the issues of the nature. If we directly interpret the abstract issues to concrete ones, the discussion would be how a building or a cluster of buildings should deal with the relation of trees (and relative things of the nature).

Trees are the embrace of the earth. If trees disappear, humans will disappear too. Forests have existed since the time when humans were born. Ancient trees or famous trees are all the precious capital of the nature which are witnesses to the evolution of the nature. We shall guard these ancient trees or famous trees throughout the world and create a coexistence future of sustainability both for humans and trees and forests. Ancient trees and humans will continue to breed in an endless succession.

It is like the film Up produced by Pixar that most people will resonate with some certain imagery in their childhood, and “live on trees” is a common imagery. However, “live on trees” does not mean dwelling in the trees, while it is an impulse or a will from the origin. In the process of modern society development themed with urbanization, architecture of modernization and post-modernization undoubtedly take up the largest percentage.

From ancient time till now, urban life hasn’t been the entire life of humans in society and with culture. Humans have always got a different cultural residence and psychological place on a certain land of isolation. These comfort and desire will finally be expressed concisely and concretely as a dreamlike hope – “tree residence”. What is this comfort like in the end? The discussion and probing continue endlessly, but the conclusion is always varied.

Ancient Tree Civilization and Residence Future International Design Competition is initiated by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), organized by Kaisen Holding Group and executed by RIBA WFOE. With designverse and Young Bird Plan as strategic cooperative partners, this competition is released and open to all individuals and groups in global design fields.

The site is located at Kaisen Thousand Year Ancient Trees Garden in Pingan Village, Baitang Town, Boluo County, Huizhou City, Guangdong Province, China. The total area is about 26.27ha. It is on the northwestern hillside of Guangdong Xiangtoushan National Nature Reserve and is embraced by numerous hills and mountains as well as ancient trees.

The project is located in the 1.5 hour economic circle of Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, China. It is merely 3 kilometers away from the Pingan Highway Exit of G0422 Xinbo Highway. The transportation is convenient.

The project, with the focus on the Thousand Year Ancient Trees Garden, radiates to the surrounding land of approximately 1333.33ha including three villages – Gudong Village, Pingnan Village and Jiaomu Village. The accessibility of transportation to three villages along the national road S244 is good.

The Kaisen Thousand Year Ancient Trees Garden is embraced by numerous ancient trees including over two hundred precious famous trees of the saved Ficus religiosa and Lagerstroemia speciose and Bischofia javanica, with diameter at breast height of 1~2 meters and even more than 3 meters. “Home in ancient trees, protection for thousand years.” The Ancient Trees Garden is creating a natural gravitational field of physical things, information and energy, and aims at protecting ancient trees and famous trees for its longevity and cultural inheritance. It protects a living fossil of civilization, explores the coexistence between humans’ return and ecology, establishes the research on ancient trees’ culture and art, and puts the sustainable ancient trees industry into practice.

The entrants(individuals/groups) of this competition are expected to fully consider the relationship of the buildings within the site and numerous ancient trees as IP. The theme of this competition, i.e., protection, return, inheritance, shall be expressed obviously. The relation of ancient trees’ civilization, humans and trees as well as nature is the core exploration and pursuit of this design. Designers shall design on the basis of this theme.

Designers shall focus on the design principle, design method and technical route of ecological architecture, and fully consider the specific ecological and cultural environment of this Ancient Trees Garden. The general layout of buildings shall be based on the ultimate expression of the idea that man is an integral part of nature. The design shall strive for the harmonious coexistence of buildings, trees, mountains and water, promote humans’ return to forests, construct home for humans’ spirit and soul.

Construct new ecology of “humans and trees” that man is an integral part of nature—

Construct the most appropriate ecological system for the growth of ancient trees

Form a strong natural ecological field of energy

Create the ultimate ecological lifestyle in the China Great Bay Area

Establish the leading technological and ecological protection system and technological life system

1. The relation of ancient trees’ civilization, humans and trees as well as nature is the core exploration and pursuit of this design. Design is based on this theme, i.e., it meets the demand and provides a solution for ancient trees manor as an international manor of culture, education, charity, wellness at first level with special characters of design.

2. This project should reveal actively the atmosphere of an entire manor which immerses people in an aesthetic environment of nature and ancient trees as well as humanitarian excellence.

3. To deal with the relation of buildings and big trees’ landscape is especially important. To deal with the relation of a unit and its surroundings from angles of traffic organization, open space, the transition of indoors and outdoors, site condition, nature resources, etc. Buildings are designed to bring active impacts on environment.

4. Designers should reasonably focus on the combination principle of building space, traffic circulation of inside and outside, function organization, and fully consider the connection and integration of environment indoors and outdoors.

5. Meanwhile, design should meet the requirements of building functions and the technical requirements of materials, construction and structure, fire protection, physical environment, etc.; erect an overall idea of architectural design (unity of space environment, style shaping, technical construction, etc.).

6. An optimized scheme on site plan should be provided in the design of a unit according to the entrant’s design idea and the actual needs of usage.

7. Designers should pay attention to form treatment, style shaping, elevation design, material of outer skin and expression of details, and create a unique building that integrates into its environment.

8. Designers should combine the design with the natural environment of ancient trees, reasonably deal with circulation of humans, vehicle and goods, reasonably determine the main and subsidiary entrance/exit, staff entrance/exit, goods entrance/exit, garbage/sewage exit, parking, etc. to avoid the disturbance of humans and vehicle, humans and goods.

9. Designers should fully consider the harmonious dialogue between the overall scheme and other buildings of this project when dealing well with the relationship of ancient trees as IP/natural landscape/the buildings within the site.

10. To synchronize with the article 9 stated above, the interactive relation of the 1333.33ha land panning of wellness and the overall scheme should be fully considered. Through analysis of architectural design and operation model, designers should study the possibility and the relation of cause and effect regarding the mutual upgrading of the design result of this competition and the entire planning.

Design of the entire manor environment and atmosphere, and architectural design of the following units,

Include:

1. YD-01 Ancient Trees Wellness Hotel;

2. YD-07 Hotel Villa Guesthouse;

3. YD-08 Hillside Villa;

4. YD-11 Mountain Top Big House B;

5. YD-13 Mountain Top Big House D;

(Select one of 4/5)

6. YD-15 Hillside Townhouse;

7. YD-16 Hotel Tree House Guesthouse

For the specific land code and the detailed function names of the land use indicators, please see Land Use Code and Index Chart.

Designers can determine the auxiliary functions and space of the buildings at their will.

The scheme should appropriately deal with partition of functions, circulation organization, big tree landscape and space layout, pay attention to the combination of inside and outside environment, deal well with the transition of space indoors and outdoors as well as the relation of permeability, and consider energy saving and sustainable development. The quantity of floors are determined by designers, but it shall not be too tall. The architectural style reveals the local characters and the characteristics of the times. Design should comply with relative design rules in China. It should express the solemn atmosphere of the entire manor through the landscape and the cluster of buildings.

According to the competition concept and design goals, the basic evaluation principles are set as follows:

1. Principle of space function and combination: According to the design challenges stated above, design shall reveal the prototype of different functions and evolution logic, and fully express the forms and functions.

2. Fully consider nature and ancient trees as IP: According to the proposition concept and the design challenges stated above, fully consider various elements of the site culture and natural conditions including site/plantings/climate etc. in response to related design.

3. Principle of sustainable influence: According to the proposition concept stated above, this project is the initial phase project, and the future phase should be combined to consider the overall needs and achieve the goal of the initial phase driving the future phase.

4. Principle of cost control: Based on the principle of solid, pragmatic, beauty, the cost control is adopted as one of the evaluation criteria.

5. Principle of environmental protection and sustainability: After the consideration of all the principles stated above, the principle of environmental protection and sustainability will be deemed as one of the evaluation criteria.

Beside the principles stated the above, the scheme should appropriately deal with partition of functions, circulation organization, big tree landscape and space layout, pay attention to the combination of inside and outside environment, deal well with the transition of space indoors and outdoors as well as the relation of permeability, and consider energy saving and sustainable development. The quantity of floors are determined by designers, but it shall not be too tall. The architectural style reveals the local characters and the characteristics of the times. Design should comply with relative design rules in China. It should express the solemn atmosphere of the entire manor through the landscape and the cluster of buildings.

1. A scheme shall be presented in at least four A2 sheets in a clear, vertical way and in readable format (with a 8mm page margin) and include following parts:

-Descriptive text on concept within 1200 words, economic and technical indicators;

-Registration No. shall be put in the bottom right corner of the sheets, in Arial 20pt font;

-Contents are as below:

1) The drawings should be with caption in English and Chinese, and include site plan, master plan with function analysis, circulation organization relation drawing, function details and evolution diagram, other diagrams, plan, elevation, section, perspective drawing, scene details, etc.

2) Color renderings:

Two renderings of aerial view shall fully express an atmosphere of the whole manor via presenting the relation of the landscape and the cluster of buildings. Other buildings which are not listed in the design of units could be expressed by the designers at will to fit the completeness of the whole atmosphere.

1-2 rendering(s) for each unit include: YD-01, YD-07, YD-08, YD-11(or YD-13), YD-14, YD-16/17.

3) Descriptive text on architecture design: design idea, general layout and environmental design, unit building concept, function, style, structure scheme, technical and economic indicators, etc.

*Through diagrams and text, the scheme shall be narrated in details and be sure of its clarity and readability.

2. Two versions of materials shall be submitted. Sheets of Version A in JPG format (no larger than 10MB for each) can be submitted; Sheets of Version B in PDF format (original high definition for each) can be submitted.

3. A scheme title shall be named as simple as possible; the scheme shall be saved in the "registration No. – scheme title – sheet No.1/No.2/No.3/No.4" format;

4. A scheme shall be submitted in bilingual (English and Chinese) or English;

5. When submitting all drawings and text online, work shall be placed within the frame provided by the host;

6. It is best to submit four drawings according to the order of general plan – diagrams –unit – partial. It can be adjusted under certain circumstance；

7. The cover must be submitted online which is the key visual of your design work; it must be uploaded in the size of 1045×654 pixels, 72 dpi, less than 2MB.

2021/01/11   Call for entries

2021/04/11   Registration deadline

2021/04/11   Submission deadline

2021/04/20   Release of Top 100

2021/04/20   Release of Top 30

2021/04/30   Release of Top 6

2021/06/11   Release of Top 3 and the Champion

1. All individuals and groups can participate this competition. If it is involved that the design is adopted for landing, the possible cooperation shall be based on the contact signed by the individual’s company, thus, the individual entrant shall coordinate with its company on the corresponding issues.

2. There is no limitation on quantity of members for each group, but the group leader shall be a professional architect whose company information must be filled out.

3. Each participant has to register on our website; for any question, please visit our website.

First Prize (Champion) 1 winner

1.5 million RMB (pre-tax) + RIBA Trophy + RIBA Certificate of Honor

Second Prize (Top 6) 5 winners

200,000 RMB each (pre-tax) + RIBA Trophy + RIBA Certificate of Honor

Top 30 24 winners

RIBA Trophy + RIBA Certificate of Top 30 Honor + Work Publication

Top 100

RIBA Certificate of Top 100 Honor + Work Publication

*Award money is sponsored by the organizer Kaisen Holding Group. Trophy and certificate of honor are provided by Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA).

①Please register by logging into our official website: www.designverse.com.cn

②For the latest information about this competition, please follow the official WeChat account: designverse设计宇宙; the official Weibo account: @YoungBirdPlan

③You can directly contact the competition team by adding YoungBirdPlan as one of your Wechat friends. We remain at your service here for any further questions you may have.

In accordance with applicable laws and regulations, by participating in this competition, each Entrant irrevocably agrees to abide by the below statements about the copyrights for all submissions.

1. Statement of Originality

All submissions must be original, and each Entrant shall ensure that his/her entry does not infringe any third party’s rights, including patents, copyrights, trademarks, and so on. Otherwise, the Entrant will be disqualified from the competition, and the organizer will withdraw all the sponsorship money and materials and reserve the right to investigate and affix legal liability of infringement. All damages and losses arising therefrom shall be borne by the Entrant; and all the direct and indirect damages (including but not limited to attorney fees, legal fees, costs of preservation, appraisal costs, notarial fees, and so on) suffered by the organizer shall be compensated by the Entrant.

2. Statement of Consent

By submitting an entry, each entrant agrees to publicly display the works, and accepts the online selection process. And before uploading a submission, each Entrant must confirm that he/she has read and fully understands all of the clauses, and accepts them. The judging panel reserves the right to make a final decision on entry assessment and award list.

With a history of 186 years, the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) was established as the Institute of British Architects in 1834. In 1837, the Institute of British Architects was awarded the Royal Gold Medal. In 1848, the Institute of British Architects was awarded the royal title by Queen Victoria. It is a global architecture community with a network of 50,000 high quality members across 150 countries and regions. RIBA has always adhered to the mission of promoting the development of the world architecture industry and assisting the development of China's architecture industry and practitioners.

Kaisen Holding Group Co., Ltd., with ancient trees as its core resource, from the angle of human’s future development, focuses on human and forest and promotes the idea of “back to human’s home of forest”. With the goal of “guarding forest of ancient trees for future generations”, it strives for “ancient trees protection and research, research on culture of ancient trees, research on wellness of human’s body and mind, research on future human’s dwelling”. Currently, three parts are formed preliminarily – Kaisen ancient trees inheritance and protection, Kaisen ancient trees art, Kaisen forest wellness. Kaisen Holding Group’s core project - Kaisen forest wellness – has been the standard example base unit for forest wellness in China and the experimental base of Chinese Academy of Forestry’s project – big tree breeding and maintenance.

designverse, on the basis of the website - www.designverse.com.cn, aims at an accurate matching platform for developers (government, government development platform, developers, etc.) and designers (architectural design, urban planning, landscape design, interior design, product design, and public art), at the same time, it provides brand management services for developers and designers as well as content products for design professionals and creative enthusiasts.

Founded in 2013 by Isa Ye, Young Bird Plan, is an international competition platform for global design talents. With three key elements, viz. fabrication, mentor’s guidance and interdisciplinary jury, it is fast becoming a leading voice in global design fields like urban design, architecture design, landscape design, interior design, product design, logo design and fashion design.

On the one hand, the platform constantly connects and meets various demands from political, business, and academic circles and actively fill supply and demand gaps among designers, manufacturers, developers, urban operators and users. We are committed to design and innovation, and offering opportunities for creative minds around the world to participate in creation process, so as to propel the implementation of design projects and products focusing on urban spaces and life aesthetics. Besides, Young Bird Plan is devoted to pushing the urban development and offering high-quality solutions to product updates. On the other hand, as one of the most influential design competition platforms around the world, we make every effort to create opportunities for young designers.