Multidisciplinary Teams Tackle Climate Change with Innovative Plans for Healthy, Sustainable Communities

June 22, 2007 — By Royal Institute of British Architects - USA

LOS ANGELES, CA - At a symposium at the A + D Museum (Architecture Plus Design Museum) in Los Angeles on June 8 through 10, four winning teams were selected from among twelve finalists who presented proposals as part of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) - USA California chapter's competition, Building A Sustainable World: Life in the Balance. The competition, sponsored by Autodesk, Inc. attracted 65 registrations from 18 different countries, encompassing over 200 participants, either as individuals or in multi-disciplinary teams. It challenged participants to develop concepts for healthy, vibrant communities designed to address climate change and reverse, rather than add to, environmental damage.

Each entry tackled environmental and social challenges of enormous scope and offered engaging, inspiring solutions.

First Prize for $10,000.00 was awarded to the team from Fiji - Toby Kyle, Chris Cole and Kamineli Vuadreu for their project Sustainable Urban Housing in Fiji - "Vakabauta Village". This proposal addresses the displaced and low income Fijians with ways to uplift their local economy with affordable sustainable housing, and engaging ideas for the local people to create higher incomes for themselves whilst respecting and maintaining their cultural values and traditions.

Second Prize for $5,000.00 was awarded to the Australian Team from Gall and Medek - team DES of Brisbane, presented by Jim Gall and Tony Frye called "Boonah Two Development". This proposal addresses primary elements of off the grid communities including water catchment, food production, transportation, and relationship to each other and nature.

Third Prize for $2,500.00 was won by the United States design team of Wallace Roberts and Todd, LLC from Philadelphia, presented by Stephen Gibson called "Urban Kidney Project" (The Forgotten Bottom). The WRT team includes George B. Bryant, Stephen M. Gibson, Kyle Gradinger, John Keene, Adam Krom, Lauren W. Leatherbarrow, Jamie R. Ober, Anthony C. Okoye, Yogesh Saoji, KaMan E. Skinner, Devinder S. Soin, and Michael J. Tweed. This proposal addresses "The Forgotten Bottom" in Philadelphia and the sustainable restoration and re-use of this brown field site.

Bonus Prize for $5,000.00 was awarded to the entry that demonstrated the most imaginative use of Autodesk Software. This prize was awarded to Liu Di of China for his entry called "Seasonal Flood Threatened Community". This proposal addresses solutions to protect and support communities from serious flood.

An Honorable Mention was also given to the U.K. team - Angela Rivera, the Sustainable Construction Team with DGP International and Scott Wilson Ltd for their highly creative thinking outside of the box called "Tankers Converted to Village". This proposal addresses our soon to be flooded coastlines and offers a solution by converting abandoned oil tankers into sustainable communities.

RK Stewart, President of the American Institute of Architects opened the reception on Friday evening encouraging all disciplines in the building industry to work together in order to rise and meet our global challenges.

Architects have a golden opportunity to make a tremendous difference to our future by showing leadership and demonstrating how readily available sustainable systems of building and design are, exemplified by the works here.

An awards ceremony will be held the weekend of September 21 and 22nd 2007 in Los Angeles.

Contact Info:

Tim Clark
E-mail : tc@anet.net

Caroline Davies
E-mail : photoartist@earthlink.net

Website : Royal Institute of British Architects - USA