The Dow Chemical Company Solar Design Competition

Competing teams are challenged with designing a building including three economical, energy efficient and attractive dwellings for three families.

Description
Competing teams are challenged with designing a building including three economical, energy efficient and attractive dwellings for three families. Through the creative use of active and passive solar technologies, among other sustainable solutions, contestants must create a design project with the potential for development into a net-zero building.
The designs for this competition will be energy efficient with the potential to be developed into net-zero energy housing solutions, necessarily incorporating the usage of solar technologies. This aim must be achieved within the functional, aesthetic and economic constraints of the project. The competition organizers realize that achieving net-zero energy efficiency comes at an economic premium - sometimes at the expense of functional and aesthetic values. For this reason, the goal of the competition is finding an optimal solution that balances these requirements.

Jury
The participants themselves

Prize
First prize: $20,000
Second prize: $10,000
Third prizes: $5,000
Three honorable mentions

Entry Fee
Individual / Team: $10.00 USD
Class: $30.00 USD

Entries
A design brief

Timetable
Election Period 1- 1st round of peer balloting: October 9 - 16, 2011
Election Period 2- 2nd round of peer balloting: November 20 - 27, 2011
Election Period 3- final round of peer balloting: January 8 - 15, 2012
Winners announcement: January 27, 2012

Organizer
The Dow Chemical Company

Official Website
http://www.designtozero.com/