Calling all architecture students!
The ARCHICAD Student Design Competition is coming up. Any and all US-based architecture students, graduate and undergraduate alike, will be eligible to compete in this national online competition.
Students will be challenged to create a modular mobile visitor’s center for the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Designing a Mobile Visitor’s Center
Each design for the center will need to meet a set of criteria, one of which stipulates that the structure must be adaptable for three locations spread out across the city.
Students must create their designs using shipping containers.
The real challenge for students, however, is the limitation on the structure’s materials. Each design must be made out of shipping containers, a popular material for adapted housing.
The design must be completed using ARCHICAD software, which is available with a free student license. Submissions must contain: a building information modeling (BIM) model and BIMx file, along with documentation including a site plan, floor plan, section(s), at least two exterior elevations, color renderings and a project narrative.
All but the narrative will be completed in ARCHICAD and then exported for upload.
How to Compete
The competition, which is put on by ARCHICAD creator GRAPHISOFT along with architectural firm Kitchen & Associates and AIA West Jersey, has a few rules for its designers of the future.
So what do designs need to consider? Structures must:
- Have an assembly/disassembly time of 24 hours or less.
- Maintain an independent power supply.
- Be ADA-compliant.
- Be entirely self-contained: Any parts of the design that are set up outside of the container must be transportable in the container.
- Have an individual transportation plan to identify how the center will move from site to site.
- Include a reception desk, a waiting area and a display area for event information, brochures and maps.
Students must also consider how the project will interact with its location, how it will function as a visitor’s center and how to use materials and colors creatively.
A Visitor’s Center for Philadelphia
Philadelphia is home to plenty of concerts, conventions and festivals each year. However, what it lacks is a portable visitor’s center that the city can transport to various locations to welcome guests.
Each design must be adaptable to various locations around Philadelphia.
As part of the contest, three locations have been chosen as necessary venues for designs.
Each design should be adaptable to each location. These locations are listed as:
- City Hall and the PA Convention Center, the official location for the judging of the Philadelphia Mummers Parade
- Boathouse Row in Fairmount Park, the location of the Dad Vail Regatta
- Race Street Pier
For more information, check out the ARCHICAD Student Design Competition website.