Students to compete for $20,000 prize at World Architecture Festival
Students around the world are invited to submit innovative solutions to the environmental, social, and economic challenges confronting cities worldwide. The Urban SOS : Distressed Cities, Creative Responses competition, sponsored by EDAW AECOM, is offering US$20,000 in prize money to encourage creative ideas that could transform global cities and offer lasting improvement. The top four finalists will travel to Barcelona, Spain to present their designs to a jury made up of some of the world's most distinguished architects at the World Architecture Festival in November 2009.
"More than half the world's population now lives in urban areas," said Jason Prior, President of EDAW, an AECOM company. "Well-executed cities are vibrant cultural, social and economic centres and offer hope for addressing climate change and resource scarcity. But in many urban places serious challenges affect quality of life, limit opportunities and perpetuate inequalities. We want to encourage students' fresh ideas and creative solutions to a range of real issues."
The competition is open to individual students or teams of up to four undergraduate and graduate students at all levels from all countries, in the design and planning fields - including landscape architecture, urban design, planning, architecture, landscape urbanism, economics, geography, engineering, environmental studies and related fields. In their submissions, students should address an actual site from any city in the world and develop an intervention that offers lasting improvement to problems ranging from economic collapse, environmental degradation, social disintegration, civil unrest, climate change or natural disaster.
Paul Finch, Programme Director of World Architecture Festival said: "This competition will engage students in the wide range of issues affecting our global cities today and challenge them to address these with creative design solutions. It is an excellent educational opportunity, which offers students across all architectural disciplines the chance to present their work to some of the leading figures in the architectural industry and an outstanding reward. I look forward to seeing the finalists present their solutions at World Architecture Festival 2009."
To participate, students must register (via www.edaw.com/urbanSOS ) and provide statements of intent by May 15, 2009; final board submissions are due July 31, 2009. Semi-finalists will be announced September 1, 2009. The semi-finalist teams will each be assigned a professional EDAW AECOM mentor who will work with the team to further articulate its proposed interventions. The top four finalists will travel to Barcelona, Spain to present their treatments to a jury panel at the World Architecture Festival at the Centre Convencions International Barcelona (CCIB) from 4th to 6th November 2009.
World Architecture Festival is the world's biggest architectural summit taking place in Barcelona for the second year running, and features the word's biggest architectural awards programme - The World Architecture Festival Awards.
The WAF Awards celebrate the work, concerns and aspirations of the international architectural community. Unlike other schemes, the WAF Awards involve shortlisted architects presenting their schemes live to delegates as well as international judging panels as they compete for the ultimate accolade of World Building of the Year 2009 and other awards.
For more information on WAF and to buy visitor tickets visit www.worldarchitecturefestival.com
The Urban SOS competition is an evolution of the EDAW AECOM Intern Program. Since 1980, EDAW AECOM has guided students from around the world in holistic, cross-disciplinary approach to real-world projects involving issues of regional or international significance.
For further information, please contact:
Jo Reid, Tilly Shirlaw at FD on:
+44 (0) 20 7269 9348/ +44 (0) 7855 084 713 or +44 (0) 20 7269 9352
jo.reid@fd.com or tilly.shirlaw@fd.com
Notes to editors:
About Emap
The organiser of the World Architecture Festival, Emap, runs a number of other festivals including the World Retail Congress and Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival. It also publishes, among other things, the Architectural Review, the Architects' Journal, and Middle East Economic Digest.
About EDAW
For 70 years, EDAW AECOM has shaped exemplary environments worldwide through a collaborative approach to design and planning. We integrate design, master planning, environmental and ecological planning, and strategic planning and economic development to create productive, sustainable places for a variety of clients and markets. We provide a global network of 34 offices and 1,800 professionals to address complex challenges within a broad range of scales and contexts. Learn more at www.edaw.com.
About AECOM
AECOM (NYSE: ACM) is a global provider of professional technical and management support services to a broad range of markets, including transportation, facilities, environmental and energy. With 43,000 employees around the world, AECOM is a leader in all of the key markets that it serves. AECOM provides a blend of global reach, local knowledge, innovation, and technical excellence in delivering solutions that enhance and sustain the world's built, natural, and social environments. AECOM serves clients in more than 100 countries and had revenue of US$5.6 billion during the 12-month period ended December 31, 2008. More information on AECOM and its services can be found at www.aecom.com.
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