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TIMBER IN THE CITY: Urban Habitat Competition International Student Design Competition

Sponsor(s): The Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA); Binational Softwood Lumber Council (BSLC); School of Constructed Environments (SCE) at Parsons School of Design
Type: Open, international, student
Eligibility:
The Timber in the City 3: Urban Habitats Competition is open to students from all ACSA member schools around the world. All student entrants are required to work under the direction of a faculty sponsor from an ACSA member school. Entries will be accepted for individual as well as team solutions. Teams must be limited to a maximum of five individuals.
Awards:
1st Prize – Student $10,000, Faculty Sponsor $7,000
2nd Prize – Student $8,000, Faculty Sponsor $5,000
3rd Prize – Student $6,000, Faculty Sponsor $4,000
Timetable:
3 April 2019 – Registration Deadline
22 May 2019 – Submission Deadline

Design Challenge:

The competition challenges participants to re-imagine a vacant waterfront site in Queens, New York, as a vibrant and vanguard model of healthy, biophilic living for the future of the city.

Embracing new structural and ecological possibilities of wood construction, entrants will design a mid-rise, mixed-use complex that includes affordable housing, a large community wellness facility, and an early childhood education center, all interlaced with a new exterior public waterfront space. Entrants are challenged to propose construction systems in scenarios that draw optimally on the performance characteristics of not one but a variety of wood technologies, and are encouraged to think about the site as a testing ground for socially, materially, and environmentally progressive and innovative models of sustainable urban living.

The programs for this mixed-use development are composed to challenge students and educators to think creatively and critically about the way in which choices about building materials, and the interrelationship of interior space and the exterior environments frame long- term consequences for the health of urban environments. Housing is the largest component of the competition program and presents an opportunity to look closely at the way timber construction can be used effectively in creating buildings based on smaller cellular units. A community wellness and sports facility complements the housing, and offers larger community and collective spaces that will require larger structural spans. An early childhood education center, for children from 6 weeks to 5 years old, calls attention to the critical role these institutions play in the long-term vitality and development of a community.

For more information, go to:
http://www.acsa-arch.org/programs-events/competitions/2018-2019-timber-in-the-city