ReBurbia Design Competition 2009

Result

400 entries from more than a dozen countries.

GRAND PRIZE
Frog’s Dream: McMansions Turned into Biofilter Water Treatment Plants, submitted by Calvin Chiu

SECOND PLACE
Entrepreneurbia: Rezoning Suburbia for Self-Sustaining Life, submitted by Urban Nature, F&S Design Studio and Silverlion Design

THIRD PLACE
Big Box Agriculture: A Productive Suburb, submitted by Forrest Fulton

PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARD
Urban Sprawl Repair Kit: Repairing the Urban Fabric, submitted by Galina Tahchieva

View winning entries...

Overview

Dwell Magazine and Inhabitat.com are pleased to announce the first competition: a design competition dedicated to re-envisioning the suburbs.

Description
With the current housing crisis, the sub-prime mortgage meltdown, and rising energy costs, the future of suburbia looks bleak. Suburban communities in central California, Arizona and Florida are desolate and decaying, with for sale and foreclosure signs dotting many lawns. According to the US Census, about 90% of all metropolitan growth occurred in suburban communities in the last ten years. Urbanites who loathe the freeways, big box stores and bland aesthetics stereotypical of suburbia may secretly root for the end of sprawl, but demographic trends indicate that exurban growth is still on the rise.
In a future where limited natural resources will force us to find better solutions for density and efficiency, what will become of the cul-de-sacs, cookie-cutter tract houses and generic strip malls that have long upheld the diffuse infrastructure of suburbia? How can we redirect these existing spaces to promote sustainability, walkability, and community? It’s a problem that demands a visionary design solution and we want you to create the vision!

Jury
Jill Fehrenbacher (the founder of Inhabitat.com)
Sarah Rich (an editor at Dwell magazine)
Fritz Haeg
Geoff Manaugh (the author of BLDGBLOG and The BLDGBLOG Book)
Thomas Ermacora (Founder and Chairman of the CLEAR Village Foundation)
Paul Petrunia (the founder/publisher of Archinect.com & Bustler.net, the president/creative director at Extra Medium, Inc., an LA-based web design/development studio)
Eric Corey Freed (Executive Director ofUrban Re:Vision, and principal of organicARCHITECT)
Allan Chochinov (a partner of Core77)

Prize
Grand Prize: $1000, Publication
1 Readers Choice Winner (by popular vote) and 2 Runners Up (Second and Third Place): Publication

Entry Fee
None

Entries
Up to 5 jpegs and a statement (1500 characters remaining)

Timetable
Round 1 of judging (selection of finalists): Aug 1st – 5th, 2009
Finalists on published on reburbia.com and opened to the public for voting: August 10th - 20, 2009
Online voting: August 10th – 17th, 2009
Online voting closes: August 18th 12am EST
Winners announced on Inhabitat.com & Dwell.com, August 19th, 2009
Winners published in December issue of Dwell Magazine: November 2009

Organizer
Dwell Magazine and Inhabitat.com

Official Website
http://www.re-burbia.com/