The International Living Building Institute, in partnership with the National Trust for Historic Preservation, invites the world’s most talented and daring designers, planners, artists and animators to create a new global vision: a breathtaking, compelling model for the future of civilization.
Unleash the power of your imagination to envision a city capable of thriving through the centuries – one that will heal the land and prove that the human species can in fact live, in the words of E. O. Wilson, as ‘part and parcel with creation’.
If we are to respond effectively to the environmental crisis we now face, we must begin by radically reimagining our neighborhoods, towns, villages and cities.
Objective
Living City Design Competition entries should both inspire and inform. The Competition is meant to provide powerful but readily accessible models of truly sustainable cities. Members of the general public should be able to view the visualizations and come away with a clear sense of how each city would look, feel and function. At the same time, entries must be grounded in real technology and presented with sufficient information to be useful to skilled designers, engineers and planners. The winning entry should be so compelling that current members of the green building movement will want to devote themselves to achieving its vision.
- Imagine a truly sustainable future.
- Imagine a socially just, culturally rich and ecologically restorative civilization.
- Imagine what tomorrow might hold for humanity if we rise to meet the challenges of today.
Prizes
- First Prize
- Cash Award of $75,000
- Press coverage by Metropolis Magazine web site (metropolismag.com). Metropolis retains the additional right to cover the contest and award in its print magazine.
- Feature article in Trim Tab (cascadiagbc.org/trimtab), Cascadia Green Building Council’s quarterly electronic magazine for transformational people + design.
- Two tickets to Living Future 2011 where the winning awards will be presented.
- Second Prize
- Cash Award of $25,000
- Press coverage by Metropolis Magazine (on web site with option of article in print magazine) and in Trim Tab.
- Two tickets to Living Future 2011.
- Building Re-Use Award
This award focuses on the best example of the city of the future that gracefully preserves and respects the historic context of its community and the existing built fabric in 2010. The award will be chosen specifically by representatives from the National Trust for Historic Preservation.- Cash Award of $25,000
- Press coverage by Metropolis Magazine (on web site with option of article in print magazine) and in Trim Tab.
- Two tickets to Living Future 2011.
- People’s Choice Award
Selected by the popular vote.- Press coverage by Metropolis Magazine (on web site with option of article in print magazine) and in Trim Tab.
- Two tickets to Living Future 2011.
- Living Build Community Choice Award
Selected by registered members of the Living Building Community.- Press coverage by Metropolis Magazine (on web site with option of article in print magazine) and in Trim Tab.
- Two tickets to Living Future 2011.
Rules
- People from any country are eligible.
- There is no limit on the number of entries a given organization may submit, but all entrants must pay the full entry fee and each entry must meet every contest requirement to be considered.
- All entries must be photo-realistic, three dimensional computer renderings rooted in a particular place and relevant to that place’s resources. (For example, Portland 2035 will not look like Phoenix 2035.) The winner will allow a broad audience to contemplate an inspiring and persuasive vision of a sustainable city in the not-toodistant future.
- Each entry must be based explicitly on Version 2.0 of the Living Building Challenge, and must demonstrate how the realized city would meet each Imperative.
How to enter?
Each entry must include:
- Signed, completed entry form.
- Two 24” by 36” color boards (landscape orientation) presented as digital files in PDF format at 300 dpi. Total combined files size is 15 MB. These boards are the visual summary of the transformation each team envisions for its selected city. At a minimum, boards must include:
- Carefully chosen images demonstrating current conditions in the selected city. Images should be of size and clarity sufficient to present a “before” summary.
- Five to ten color computer renderings from various vantage points. (Street-level and aerial views must both be represented.
- Sufficient visual information to clearly communicate your design intent.
- Adequate annotations to guide viewers through the visualization.
- A narrative of between 1000 and 1250 words that describes the project and articulates the strategy for achieving Living City status based on the Living Building Challenge 2.0. All entries must be in English.
- An abstract statement of no more than 150 words.
- Annotated system diagrams that demonstrate the flows in the city based on the seven Living Building Challenge™ Petals (Site; Water; Energy; Health; Materials; Equity; Beauty). Each of the diagrams must be packaged as an individual PDF of no more than 3 MB formatted and as no more than two 11” by 17” pages. Contest teams are encouraged to creatively express their conceptual approach to the Beauty and Equity Petals.
- (Optional) Animated fly-throughs in flash format (.flv) or Quicktime are encouraged.
Entry fee
All Living City Competition teams must be members of the Living Building Challenge Community. A submission fee of $500 per entry is required from professional firms, $100 by students and currently unemployed individuals submitting outside of a firm.
