Search is on in Asian green design competition

October 30, 2010/ http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=625367&publicationSubCategoryId=85

Philippines - Think it’s easy being green?

Back for its fourth year, FuturArc Prize, Asia’s leading international green design competition, once again seeks to challenge the minds of architects and students studying the field to come up with creative ideas for a sustainable future.

This year’ topic is about living within our means. The brief calls for a building design of any type that relies on resources within a 1,000-kilometer radius around the project site, which should be located in Asia or Australia.

Eco-resort: The villa at Six Senses Hideaway Yao Noi in Phuket, Thailand

Dr. Nirmal Kishnani, this year’s jury chair, elaborates, “This year’s FuturArc Prize brief is a call to imagine how we will live in a world of scarce resources and expensive fuel; a reversal of trends from global to local living. As the world shrinks towards localized self-sufficiency, building must change in form, materiality and operation. We are delighted once again to have a top-notch jury, consisting of some of the top thinkers in the field of sustainable design. Our expectation is that this year’s prize will be given, as in past years, to entrants who surprise and provoke us with visions of a brave new world.”

Supported by various green building councils and architectural associations in Asia-Pacific, the competition is open from now till Dec. 15.

Winners stand to win awards and cash prizes totaling up to SG$50,000 sponsored by HP Designjet Large Format printers and Philips.

Aside from Kishnani, the jury panel consists of Ray Cole, director of the School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture at the University of British Columbia; Peter Head, a director in Arup (UK), where he heads a global team for planning and integrated urbanism; Kazuo Iwamura, CEO of Iwamura Atelier, Inc. and a professor in the faculty of Urban Life studies at Tokyo City University; and Jimmy Priatman, chairman of the Center for Building Energy Study Petra Christian University and principal architect of Archi-Metric, PT.

Judging will conclude by March 2011, after which winners will be notified by the end of March to receive their trophies and prizes at the annual BCI Asia Awards ceremonies held in May 2011 in seven cities: Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Green theme park: The hilltop lookout of Ma Wan Park’s Nature Park in Hong Kong

The FuturArc Prize was launched in 2007 by the BCI Group of Companies through its publication arm, FuturArc Journal, to seek out innovative green building designs for sites in Asia-Pacific.

The competition has two objectives: to create a platform for talented individuals — professionals and students — who are keen on environmental issues; and to encourage the construction industry as a whole to move towards sustainable design.

All entrants are required to register and submit their entries online via the competition website at www.futu-rarc.com/prize2011