The One Prize Award is an international competition and it is open to everyone. The teams can have one or more members. The proposals can be for a real or speculative project, for one or more real sites, and located either in the U.S. or applicable to U.S. sites. Further, the proposals need not be generated exclusively for this competition, provided that they address the intent of the competition.
This competition is launched in the context of larger issues concerning the environment, global food production and the imperative to generate a sense of community in our urban and suburban neighborhoods. From Mowing to Growing is not meant to transform each lawn into a garden, but to open us up to the possibilities of self-sustenance, organic growth, and perpetual change.
Introduction
Research points out that North Americans devote 40,000 square miles to lawns, more that we use for wheat, corn, or tobacco. And, also that Americans spend $750 million dollars a year on grass seed alone while only 2% of America’s food is locally grown, 12% of every dollar’s worth of food consumed at home comes from transportation costs.
In July 2005, Los Angeles-based architect Fritz Haeg launched the campaign known as “Edible Estates”. Haeg says he was drawn to the lawn — that “iconic American space” — because it cut across social, political and economic boundaries. “The lawn really struck me as one of the few places that we all share,” he says. “It represents what we’re all supposedly working so hard for — the American dream.” The concept of tilling one’s front yard is not a new one.
In 1942, as the U.S. emerged from the Great Depression and mobilized for World War II, Agriculture Secretary Claude R. Wickard encouraged Americans to plant “Victory Gardens” to boost civic morale and relieve the war’s pressure on food supplies — an idea first introduced during The Great War and picked up by Canada, the U.S. and Great Britain. The slogan became “Have Your Garden, and Eat It Too.” Soon gardens began popping up everywhere, and not just American lawns — plots sprouted up at the Chicago County Jail, a downtown parking lot in New Orleans, and a zoo in Portland, Ore.
In 1943, Americans planted 20.5 million Victory Gardens, and the harvest accounted for nearly one-third of all the vegetables consumed in the country that year. Twenty-five million U.S. households planted vegetable and fruit gardens in 2008, according to the National Gardener’s Association. First Lady Michelle Obama and Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack have planted organic vegetable gardens this year. Roof gardens are sprouting nationwide. Community gardens have waiting lists. Seed houses and canning suppliers are oversold.
The time is NOW.
Objective
In particular, this is an award for specific technical, urbanistic, and architectural strategies not simply for the food production required to feed the cities and suburbs, but the possibilities of diet, agriculture, and retrofitted facilities that could achieve that level within the constraints of the local climate.
The theme of this year’s competition is “Mowing to Growing: Reinventing the American Lawn“.
- How can we break the American love affair with the suburban lawn?
- Can green houses be incorporated in skyscrapers?
- What are the urban design strategies for food production in cities?
- Can food grow on rooftops, parking lots, building facades?
- What is required to remove foreclosure signs on lawns and convert them to gardens?
Prizes
- Professionals: The winner will receive $10,000 cash award. The five finalists will receive prominent year-long exposure on the competition website; presentation of designs at the award ceremony and web symposium and will be featured in the media sponsors. The web symposium will provide a platform to match the finalists with leading experts in fields relevant to farming, urban agriculture, planning, market analysis and land use development.
- High School Students: The winner will receive $1,000 cash award, prominent year-long exposure on competition website; presentation of designs at the award ceremony and web symposium and will be featured in the media sponsors.
Rules
- Seeking architects, urban designers, planners, engineers, scientists, artists, students and individuals of all backgrounds. Professionals and students of all fields are eligible to submit.
- The proposal can be for a real or speculative project, for one or more real sites, and located either in the U.S. or applicable to U.S. sites. Further, the proposal need not be generated exclusively for this competition, provided that it addresses the intent of the competition. It may be the result of earlier research or the reworking of an unrealized project.
- The submission should include both visual and textual information, with pages formatted horizontally 11” by 17”. Its length must not exceed 5 pages.
- The digital file, in PDF format @ 300 dpi, should not exceed 10 MB.
- No identifying information should be included, as entries will be presented and judged anonymously.
- The presence of identifying information will be grounds for automatic disqualification.
How to enter?
Submissions, formatted as a single PDF file no larger than 10MB should be emailed to info@oneprize.org.
To identify submissions, each applicant will receive a registration number that must appear on the first page of the proposal, upper right corner. Upon receiving registration applications, Terreform 1 will issue each registrant a registration number, which must appear on the first page of the proposal or in the upper right hand corner.
Entry fee
The registration fees are $150 per professional team (including college students) and $50 per high school students team. All teams must register by the official registration date utilizing the registration form. Registration form should be emailed to info@oneprize.org.