SCI-A3 | Trash Talk Competition

“It moves around like a big animal without a leash.” When that animal comes close to land, as it does at the Hawaiian archipelago, the results are dramatic. “The garbage patch barfs, and you get a beach covered with this confetti of plastic,” - Curtis Ebbesmeyer, oceanographer and leading authority on flotsam

Deadline for registration: March 30, 2009
Deadline for submission of work: April 30, 2009

Theme: Trash Talk The largest landfill in the world is in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. It is known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, this growing mass is created from the waste off the coastlines of North America, Japan and the outlying waste of the Pacific. Built up of two amorphous patches, these trash islands combined are equal to twice the area of Texas, with a depth ranging from 30-100 feet below the surface with a total of 100 million tons of debris. The garbage vortexes are brought together by high pressure systems in the North Pacific Gyre, which force the currents to spiral inward. These convergence zones are presently effecting marine life and humans, contaminating waters, infiltrating the food chain and creating dead zones. The Garbage Patch is indirectly infecting inland rivers and coastal shores globally with contaminants ranging from detergent bottles to the toxins from the plastics themselves.

With architecture as the conveyance of a solution, what is the design strategy needed to resolve the current problem and prevent further damage? The competitors’ entries can focus on a range of solutions from simply ways to clean up the gyre to harnessing the gyre itself, with technologies either real or imagined.

Resources: The website below is a resource with information that ranges from nanotechnologies, ocean farming, and trash cleaning boats to ocean utopias. They are meant as a stepping off point to a pelagic solution.
http://delicious.com/santino/01_Ex

Eligibility: The 2009 SCI•A³ Design Competition is open to all SCI•Arc Alumni & design teams with at least one SCI•Arc Alum. Students are also welcome to participate on Alumni teams.

Entry Fee: The entry fee is $50 and must be paid by March, 30, 2009.

Submission Process: The submission requirements are two 36”x36” boards with a written statement, not to exceed 500 words, summarizing the project for publication purposes. The files must be saved as PDF. An ftp site will be setup to upload entries.

Announcing Winner(s): Distinguished judges will discuss and select the most notable entries. The winner(s) will be announced early summer at the Los Angeles SCI-Arc Alumni Regional Event, where we will project all of the exhibits onto a screen.

Additional Information: Please send any questions by April 1st to: [email protected]. Answers will be posted on April 15th on the SCI-Arc website and the facebook page.