Student Design Competition

cove.tool Student Design Competition: Library in Midtown Atlanta

The earth’s climate is changing — 2019 was recorded as the warmest year ever, and the decade of 2010-2019 was the warmest decade on record. Temperatures are rising, sea levels are precariously increasing, and weather events are becoming more erratic and extreme. Radical action against climate change is needed in the next decade, termed the ‘Decade of Action’, if we are to stall the disastrous impacts of a spike in global temperatures.

As the single largest contributor of greenhouse gas emission, the building industry has a significant role in shaping the climate crisis. In the same line, buildings offer some of the most cost-efficient ways of reducing carbon emissions and stalling climate change, through energy efficiency and an increased reliance on renewable energy sources.

As a software developer on a mission to fight climate catastrophe, we want to make sure everyone knows every project can and should be modeled for performance optimization. No project is too complex or too insignificant to benefit from what building science and parametric optimization can help us learn about the designs we create.

The Brief: 

Model a library and using the climate report and 3D studies, reduce energy use and carbon emissions while maintaining ideal levels of daylight.

Using the Drawing Tool or 3rd party plugin, place your project at the corner of Peachtree Street Northeast & 6th Street Northeast in Atlanta. The site is in a dense urban area in Midtown Atlanta and will pose many challenges with massing, orientation, and daylight access. Minimum project size requirement is 8,000 sqft (double the property lot size). Studio projects are welcomed, but response to context and climate will play a major role in the jury’s decision making. Submit one 20”x20” artboard demonstrating how analysis help shape the design.

Analysis tips:

Start with the climate analysis report to get yourself familiar with the project’s climate. Using climate report, implement recommend passive design strategies to reduce the need for active systems and the whole building energy consumption. Use different types of 3D analysis to address your design and show us how each of these analyses affects your geometry, façade strategy, interior layout, etc. We are looking for the projects which achieve the best performance in energy and carbon emission. Entries can set the energy baseline using this guide for library templates.  Entries interested in exploring PV renewable energy, cannot have an array that exceeds their 50% their total roof area.

Assessment Criteria in order of importance

1.            Energy Performance, Carbon Emission Reduction Percentage

2.            Use of Passive Design Strategies (WWR, Building Orientation, Shading Strategy, etc.)

3.            Design (Building form, space quality, lighting condition)

4.            Graphical quality of the artboard

Visit our competition website here.