USGBC Natural Talent Design Competition 2009 - Cascadia Chapter

COMPETITION CHALLENGE
Transportation is one of the biggest issues facing the environment today. The automobile, North America’s favorite method of transportation, often contributes to air, water and noise pollution, habitat loss and destruction, community dislocation and climate change. This design competition challenges competitors to design a building and program that explore the connection between transportation, community and the environment within the performance guidelines of the Living Building Challenge.

Design a Living Building that has portions of its program dedicated to transportation, community and the environment. All projects must address the environmental impacts of transportation by designing spaces and circulation that celebrate sustainable alternatives to non-renewable fueled automobiles. The Living Building is an aggressive model and best suited to identify these solutions at a regional or community scale.

PROJECT CONTEXT & LOCATION
There are two (2) available site options for creating your design proposal:

Option A: Riverfront site in Portland, Oregon. Within the neighborhood district of St. Johns and in the shadow of the majestic and historic St. Johns Bridge, the site lies in a brownfield, south of Cathedral Park. Along the Willamette River and adjacent to the North of the site is Portland’s Water Pollution Control Laboratory and bordering to the East is the Portland Railroad tracks. This site will seek to address increased transit needs to the Portland Central City and growth of the St. Johns and North Portland residential areas along the East bank of the Willamette River. See www.cascadiagbc.org/emerging-green-builders/NTDC for more site details.

Option B: Elect your own site. The elected site must physically exist within the Cascadia bioregion and adhere to the Living Building Challenge site prerequisites. A narrative of up to 300 words must be submitted to explain the choice of this site over the recommended site in Option A.

Note: No judging preference will be given for choosing either Option A or Option B. Option B is intended primarily for, but not limited to, university students to use a studio project focused on the Living Building Challenge as a competition entry. Unless a structured thesis program, students may not be able to choose the site of their studio project; though it may otherwise meet the competition requirements.

Brief (PDF)