USGBC’s Natural Talent Design Competition provides applied learning experience in the principles of integrated design, sustainability, and innovation, all of which are components of the LEED® Green Building Rating System™. Participants compete in local competitions, and the top winner of each moves on to compete for a national award at USGBC’s annual Greenbuild International Conference & Expo. Awards include green building scholarships, as well as travel and registration to Greenbuild, where finalists’ entries are displayed and final judging occurs. The 2010 Natural Talent Design Competition focuses on a single design challenge for all entrants: to design a compact, affordable home for elderly occupants that will meet LEED for Homes Platinum certification requirements.For the first time, the competition will be split into student and emerging professional categories, allowing entrants to be evaluated with their peers. The most exciting new feature of the competition is that the national winners will see their designs actually built in New Orleans’ Broadmoor neighborhood. Located in the heart of the city, Broadmoor is characterized by low and middle-income residents living in shotgun and raised basement houses. The neighborhood flooded badly in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and was almost reverted to uninhabitable green space as a catch basin for floodwaters. Residents strongly objected this suggestion and have been rebuilding their neighborhood since 2006. The new facets of this year’s competition will help level the playing field for entrants, streamline the local judging process and bring displaced residents home to New Orleans. IntroductionThe Salvation Army joins the U.S. Green Building Council this year in hosting USGBC‘s 2010 Natural Talent Design Competition. Entrants will design an affordable, 800 square foot green home for an elderly client in the Broadmoor, New Orleans neighborhood. Winners will be announced after the top four entries have been constructed, inhabited and evaluated.

Read more about USGBC 2010 Natural Talent Design Competition: Small, Green, Affordable on Contest Watchers.