Arch Tracker

Dwell and Inhabitat have announced the winners of the Reburbia Design Competition. The competition called for design solutions that would address the problems that plague present-day suburbia by envisioning different scenarios for the future. Proposals tackled McMansions, big box stores, strip malls, parking lots and more with design fixes ranging from community agriculture and algae-based biofuels to transplanted tract developments and zeppelin-based transit. The competition drew 400 entries from more than a dozen countries, and while it was quite a challenge to narrow them down to twenty finalists, culling that list into just 4 winning entries proved almost impossible. In the end, there could only be one grand prize winner.

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Inhabitat (in partnership with Dwell) has announced the 20 finalists for Reburbia Design Competition. Finalists are competing head to head with online voting and will be published in the December issue of Dwell magazine. Brief description of the 20 finalist after the break. Arch Tracker is not involved with the competition, all enquiries should be directed to Inhabitat and Dwell at the competition web page.

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

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!

Calling all future-forward architects, urban designers, renegade planners and imaginative engineers:
Show us how you would re-invent the suburbs! What would a McMansion become if it weren’t a single-family dwelling? How could a vacant big box store be retrofitted for agriculture? What sort of design solutions can you come up with to facilitate car-free mobility, ‘burb-grown food, and local, renewable energy generation? We want to see how you’d design future-proof spaces and systems using the suburban structures of the present, from small-scale retrofits to large-scale restoration—the wilder the better!

Winners will be showcased in Dwell Magazine, Dwell.com & Inhabitat.com, and will receive $1000 cash prize.
More info: http://www.re-burbia.com/