Big scandal around the winner

'Phyte', a 380m mobile tower by Nicolas Mouret

'Phyte', a 380m-high mobile tower by Nicolas Mouret, a 23-year-old design student, was announced on March 31, 2009 as the winner of a competition 'le Prix CONCOURS EIFFEL 2008-2009' held by the the Fondation Societé Tour Eiffel , 

However, two days later Nicolas Mouret was stripped of his prize because he is not officially studying architecture but design [the prize was intended for architecture students].

Gustave Eiffel, who was an engineer and not an architect, must have flipped over in his grave. But even he couldn't change the rules of the competition that carries his name.

Nicolas Mouret, 23


As for Nicolas Mouret , who is passionately involved in architecture, design and photography he 'knew that he had overstepped' [he falsified the architecture student card to participate]. So no outcry, no bitterness, just the pleasure of having been the real winner, however short-lived.

According to Mouret the project is entirely feasible: its eight mono-bloc structural members, 50 metres high, are articulated by gimbals and guys that ensure stability while allowing rotating movement. They are fibre concrete tubes filled by ultra strong fibrecrete and carry spoke-beams with triangulated extremities, stiffened and tied by cables.

The mechanical energy of the rocking tower generates electricity sufficient for its lighting. It thus becomes epiphytic, lighting up to the rhythm of its movements and creating a spectacle similar to that observed in certain planktons, glow-worms or fish. [from DesignBoom ]

The project is not static [it moves with the wind] and it's totally different from other competitors projects.  

As the Eiffel Tower is the most visited monument on the world [7 million visits last year] and is celebrating its 120 anniversary this year, it's good to be reminded that the Eiffel Tower was born as the result of a competition of freedom, imagination, invention and creativity for the Exposition Universelle World Fair.

Also it's good to be reminded that talented people are not necessary in the place we think they should be and that social context is not decisive for someone's creativity.

And most important: congratulations to Nicolas Mouret for his courage in coming out in public in front of the 600-strong jury [watch the video].

Tags: architecture, paris, eiffel tower, nicolas mouret, concours eiffel 2008-2009, innovation, creativity