SEGD Design Awards Program

February 10, 2010 at 3:54 pm
Filed under Design competition

Cathedral of Christ the Light: Honor Award, 2009 SEGD Design Awards Program, Skidmore Owings & Merrill (Photo: Cesar Rubio)

The beauty of environmental graphic design is that it sits at the confluence of so many different design disciplines: architecture, interior design, interaction design, graphic design, exhibition design, signage and wayfinding, placemaking, branding, dynamic environments, and public art to name just a few.

The SEGD Design Awards Program demonstrates this diversity: in recent years, winning projects have included a Catholic cathedral in Oakland, Calif., airport graphics in Dublin, wayfinding through an abandoned German coal mine, an Australian architecture pavilion, a Mexico City park, and many others.

One Day Poem Pavilion: Jiyeon Song

The SEGD Design Awards Program honors the best in environmental graphic design, celebrating the pandisciplinary nature of the field and reflecting the increasingly crucial role of visual communications in the built environment. It’s a complex world out there, and environmental graphic design helps guide users through it and enhances their experiences in public spaces.

New York Times Building Facade: Pentagram (Photo: Peter Mauss/Esto)

The deadline for the 2010 SEGD Design Awards Program has been extended to February 19, 2010. A series of snow storms in SEGD’s headquarters of Washington, D.C., has kept us out of the office for a few days, but we still want you to have a chance to enter. Check out our new electronic entry form, which makes entering faster and easier. And we’ll be looking for you at the June 3 awards banquet during the SEGD Conference + Expo June 2-5 in Washington. – P.M.K.

City Museum, Melbourne: emerystudio (Photo: Paul Knight)

M.D. Anderson Access System: fd2s Inc. (Photo: David Omer)

Launch the Fiesta

January 25, 2010 at 9:21 pm
Filed under Design competition, Transportaton

“In anticipation of the Fiesta’s US launch, for the next chapter of the Fiesta Movement we’re handing over creative direction for the all-new 2011 Ford Fiesta’s advertising and promotion to our fans.

You’ll need a creative vision and passion for the Fiesta. We’ll provide the public spaces and help connect you to local creative talent. Together, we’ll bring your ideas to life.

Your team will also have access to an all-new 2011 Ford Fiesta for the duration of the program (with gas and insurance) and a shot at winning a brand new Fiesta for yourself and your teammate.” — A.M.

Decorated (sidewalk) shed

January 22, 2010 at 3:07 pm
Filed under Architecture, Design competition, Urban Planning

Last fall we told you about the UrbanShed competition hatched in New York to reimagine the ubiquitous-and-ugly plywood sidewalk shed. Sponsored by Mayor Bloomberg’s adminstration and the AIA New York chapter, the competition culminated this week with a winning concept by University of Pennsylvania/ PennDesign student Young-Hwan Choi.

Choi’s “Urban Umbrella” design eliminates the need for cross-bracing, providing a much airier concept that creates more light and space than its plywood alternative. Made of translucent fiberglass decking, it also includes an integrated lighting system.

Bloomberg says the new shed design won’t be mandatory, but he’s betting it will catch on fast. A prototype will be installed in a Lower Manhattan construction site soon. — L.G.D./P.M.K.

SEGD Design Awards: save time and money!

January 8, 2010 at 10:42 am
Filed under Design competition, SEGD Design Awards

Those of you who’ve entered the SEGD Design Awards Program in the past remember late night runs to Fedex or UPS with last-minute entries.  

Never again!  

The new system requires a quick one-time account set-up regardless of how many entries are submitted. Images and text can be uploaded easily and, best of all, entries can be completed during multiple sessions; your entries remain open and accessible until you’re ready to submit them. Hard copies of text, entry forms, or images will no longer be required.

The deadline for entries is January 29; the late deadline is February 12.  (Yes, your devoted blogger knows you have the best intentions of entering early but write down the late deadline anyway.)

Check out past winners.  Click here with questions. — A.M.

Oh, Ottawa

December 11, 2009 at 9:26 am
Filed under Architecture, Design competition, Urban Planning

The Ottawa Citzen reports today that all seven architects on a review panel formed to help the Canadian capital city improve its architecuture have resigned to prove a point: that the city is not as serious about good design as it says it is.

The Downtown Ottawa Urban Design Review Panel was formed in 2005 to reviewed  proposed developments in the downtown core, suggest changes, and recommend whether the development should be approved. The panel’s seven architects say the process is flawed and a waste of their time, because they’re asked to  review developments after all of the planning and architectural design work has been done — too late to make any major changes. They also say the city has initiated several new building projects without holding design competitions.

The last straw, the panel said, was when the city cancelled an interational design competition for redevelopment of Lansdowne park in favor of a business-driven proposal with only a secondary consideration of architecture.

Councillor Peter Hume, chair of the city’s planning and environment committee, says a competition for part of the park development will be launched next week. He says the city is “politically committed” to the review panel and would like to keep the dialogue open. –P.M.K.

One Design Fix

December 8, 2009 at 4:57 pm
Filed under Design competition

“Good design determines how well products, spaces, and systems work from the beginning. We think that great design ideas can make things work even better. One Design Fix for the Future challenges you to prove us right—whether you are an architect, interior designer, product designer, landscape designer, graphic designer, communication designer. We’re looking for ONE design fix you can make now in your designed environment—the products you use, your home, your workplace, your city, or any commercial application—that, in scale or as inspiration, can improve our future.” — A.M.

World Architecture Festival

November 9, 2009 at 1:15 pm
Filed under Architecture, Conferences, Design competition, Festivals and Conferences

Aussie SEGDster Jack Bryce suggests having a look at the award winners from the World Architecture Festival.  With entries like the Mapungubwe Interpretation Centre (South Africa), pictured below, it’s sure to be worth the trip. — A.M.

Design Business Awards

November 4, 2009 at 6:50 pm
Filed under Design competition

“Good design means good business. The Design Business Association is the UK’s most vocal champion of the role of effective design in the creation of business growth.”  Check out the winners

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.  (And will someone please, please explain what “We’re looking for the fur coat and the knickers” means.) — A.M.

Decorated shed?

October 15, 2009 at 1:22 pm
Filed under Architecture, Design competition, Urban Planning

Talk about about your design challenge. At any given time, more than 6,000 sidewalk sheds are in place in New York City. They have an important purpose, of course: protecting pedestrians from flying construction debris. But their aesthetics leave much to be desired.

A consortium of NYC planning and design groups is trying to change that aesthetic part. urbanSHED is an international competition that challenges designers to rethink the sidewalk shed and conceive solutions that are sustainable, economical, safe, and pleasing to the eye.  In Stage I of the competition, three finalists (including KNE Studio, New York, whose team conceived “urbanCLOUD,” pictured) were selected to receive $5,000 stipends to participate in Stage II. The grand winner will receive $10,000 and the winning design will be fabricated and installed at a site in lower Manhattan. — P.M.K.

Call for entries

July 28, 2009 at 4:41 pm
Filed under Design competition

An international design competition from designboom in collaboration with Nissan: Think outside the parking box City of Ghosts movie The Exorcism of Emily Rose download . “Designs may challenge any element of urban parking (underground, exterior, interior, multi-layer, ground level, shape, colors, material, smell, sound, ramps, signage, limits, etc.). Urban parking is in need of a renovation. Ideas must challenge current perceptions of urban parking and offer a tougher, sleeker, or even playful rendering of it.” Application registration will start on July 8th, 2009 and will be accepted through September 27th, 2009 Fast Times at Ridgemont High ipod The Final Terror movie download

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. The designers of 3 winning entries will win cash prizes. Get more info at designboom.com.  – S.N. Murder in the First download

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