'Welcome to the 5th Facade'
John Hill
25. March 2016
Image: Olson Kundig, courtesy of Blank Space
A team of architects from Seattle's Olson Kundig have won Blank Space's third annual Fairy Tales storytelling competition. Their architectural narrative, "Welcome to the 5th Facade," takes readers to "a future that is similar enough to our own, yet ripe with new challenges, opportunities, and issues."
The winning team at Olson Kundig consists of Alan Maskin, Jerome Tryon, Kevin Scott, Gabriela Frank, and Katie Miller. Principal Alan Maskin's description of the story:
Our Fairy Tales 2016 submittal became a tangential detour from Olson Kundig’s ongoing investigation into urban rooftops, the largely neglected uppermost layer of cities. The idea of applying a narrative filter – to both built and conceptual projects – became another way to look at and critique design ideas. “Welcome To The 5th Facade” used science fiction as it is traditionally used – as a modality to visualize and imagine a particular future in terms of both the pitfalls and the potential.
Image: Olson Kundig, courtesy of Blank Space
Visit Olson Kundig's website to read the story that accompanies these striking images in "Welcome to the 5th Facade," and head over to the Blank Space website for more information on the winning submission as well as on the runners-up.
