Program:
Your charge is to develop a “structure for living” within the area shown in the base model. We ask that you challenge the idea of structure and permanence with your design by thoughtfully engaging our aquatic/intertidal site which is at once constantly changing due to factors that are both man made and of a natural consequence.

Labeled as a Marine Reserve, our site is caught within an apparent paradox of preservation: it sits at the intersection and periphery of a nearby residential neighborhood, a sewage treatment plant, a lock system, a retired army fort and finally a civic park.

By “structure” we mean that which has a physical permanence associated with an element that is here today, here tomorrow and most probably here in a few years or so—most literally, it is the thing you make. In a broader sense, structure can include those temporal constructs we find within society and our culture diverse cultures as well as those physical constructs that float, rest or otherwise reside on the site.

By “living” we mean broadly the processes which distinguish organisms and inorganic objects from dead organisms. This can also be taken to mean and include any plants, animals or any mixture thereof either naturally found in and around the site or imported/foreign. This is not expressly a contest to design a place for humans to live.

Site:
Our site reference boundary is located on the Puget Sound shoreline within the city limits of Seattle, Washington within Discovery Park. Our site is located smack dab in the middle of an intertidal zone that is exposed to air at low tide and left underwater at high tides. The water level contained in the base model is to be considered “high tide.”

References:

• A link to the exact site location: here.
• General information about intertidal areas here.
• Local Seattle tide charts here.
• Marine Reserve Area Rules in information here.
• Discovery Park information (maps too) here.
• West Point Sewage Treatment Facility information here.
• Historic Fort Lawton information here.
• Hiram M. Chittenden Locks information here.

Contest Directions

1. Go to our contest page on the Open Architecture Network. Click the "Enter Now" button. (Follow the directions to create an OAN profile if you do not already have one.)
2. Download your free version of SketchUp.
3. Get a copy of the site model here.
4. Locate the site area (yellow box) in the model and start modeling!
5. Your competition entry will consist of a minimum of 3 jpg image files, your model file and a 100 word design statement. You need to create a user profile on the Open Architecture Network, enter our competition and submit them as a project before Tuesday, September 15, 2009. The image files should be a minimum of 800 pixels x 600 pixels and 300 dpi.
6. Stay tuned for information updates by email. Check in below for updated FAQ's

Note: This is a kid's contest but parents and guardians are required to register on their child's behalf. Like any kid's contest (think coloring contest at a diner) parents and guardians should feel free to assist in the preparation and delivery of their kid's entry--they are going to need your help--just know that the jury is interested in acknowledging the child's effort, and not the parents! Have fun!

Also a special thank you to our media sponsor The Architects Newspaper.

Selection Criteria
The projects will be judged on the following criteria:
1. Creativity – The originality of ideas will be praised. This criteria focuses on the idea of the model rather than the construction of it.
2. Story – What does your structure do? How does it accommodate "living" (and by whom or what?) How does is relate to the site? Why did you design your structure the way you did? What it is made of and what parts do you find are the most interesting?
3. Modeling Skill – Great models will speak for themselves in a lot of ways. A well presented, aesthetically pleasing model takes time and is necessary to place in the top three.