Core77

Congrats to Manuel Dreesmann who received the first prize at this year's VisionWorks Award - Cargopacks 2020! His future concept GREEN envisions a more sustainable future through vertical gardens that add a green and sustainable skin to future buildings.

The jury says: "The winning concept Green by Manuel Dreesmann stood out for three reasons. It uses no packaging, solves transportation and distribution problems through on-site production, and uses the concept of vertical farming in office buildings as the basis for a future-focused vision that can have a positive impact on the climate and atmosphere at the workplace."

URBAN MOLE by Philipp Hermes was awarded with the 2nd prize, BACS by Mareike Frensemeier and WATER AHEAD by Mathias Rauch both received the 3rd prize.

Cargopacks 2020 is the title of this year's VisionWorks Award. The award challenged young design students from all over Europe to envision and design for future scenarios. The VisionWorks Award was initiated by Bayer MaterialScience in cooperation with Airbus, DHL and Hettich.

Watch more photos after the jump!

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Last Friday, the Interaction Design Association (IxDA) launched its first
Global Student Competition in conjunction with Interaction 10 | Savannah, its annual conference. The competition is on the lookout for student work that exemplifies "Excellence in Interaction Design".

Embedded in the theme itself is an opportunity to define what has yet been undefined. Not to limit practice, but to better understand and articulate what it is we do. It is an opportunity to create a new method for assessing what is good interaction design (IxD) and offer this attempt as a point of evolving discourse:

As the discipline of IxD matures, the need for closer ties to design education programs that include the discipline of IxD intensifies. Every year the Interaction conference has been hosted by an educational institution with strong commitments towards creating tomorrow's designers with a strong base in IxD. This year we want to take the next step and broaden that relationship with future practitioners by offering them both a venue to demonstrate the amazing work that is going on within education programs around the world and to receive invaluable feedback from the practice community about the relevance and quality of the work being presented. This last goal is of the utmost importance to the core constituents of IxDA; to ensure that tomorrow's designers marry education's goals of practical development of future practitioners and the need to create new bodies of knowledge that can be used to inform today and tomorrow's practice.

Submit now!

Deadline, Stage I: November 30, 2009

Plastics manufacturer Axion Polymers is holding a design competition anchored around the manufacturing side of things, specifically, their new product, a 100% recycled polystyrene sheet:

Axion is seeking designs for a novel household product with mass market appeal that could be manufactured from its Axfoil or Axpoly products, which are derived from 100% recycled refrigerator plastic, TV casings or post-consumer electronic games consoles. Entries must be submitted by January 8th 2010.

Ideas could be completely unique or based on improving an existing product on the market, but the crucial element is that they embody the 'green' credentials and environmental profile of the material.

"A product made from 100% recycled plastic, such as Axpoly, that can be recycled at the end of its useful life, will have an immediate environmental advantage; saving 90% of CO2 emissions in its initial manufacture and reducing carbon impact over the product's lifecycle," says Axion director Keith Freegard.

Get the deets here (downloadable PDF).

Inhabitat has just launched their annual Green Halloween Costume Contest:

It's that time of year again when all the boys and ghouls come out to play - Halloween!!! With the big night swiftly approaching and not much time on your hands, it may be tempting to head to your local big box store and pick up a lame, generic costume straight from the shelves - don't do it! This year, why not get into the creative fun that All Hallow's Eve is all about, and entering your one-of-a-kind, green-themed, DIY costume into our spectacular Green Halloween Costume Photo Contest???! Not only will you able to flaunt your mad costume crafting skills to everyone reading Inhabitat, you could also win exciting prizes like a sweet solar-powered Bogo flashlight, an awesome $100 gift certificate to the Inhabitatshop or our fabulous Inhabitat t-shirts and tote bags!

Check out last year's winners here or submit here when you're ready.

Deadline: November 1st

It's that time of year again: ICFF is soliciting entries for its Studio and Design Schools competitions.

ICFF Studio, put together by GLM (the producer of ICFF) and Bernhardt Design, invites designers to submit prototypes in any category featured in ICFF. The selected designers will win a spot to display these prototypes on the floor in 2010. More info here.

Also take note that the Design Schools competition is now open. Schools may submit a "singular concept with original products and prototypes, designed by students to be exhibited at the ICFF." Submissions will be reviewed by editors from design publications like Abitare, Domus, Frame, Interni, Intramuros, Metropolis and Wallpaper. More details here.

Deadline: January 15, 2010.

Re:Vision Design Awards 2010 is a new competition put together by Modern Painters magazine and Louise Blouin Media to celebrate the expansion of the magazine to "more fully include design in recognition of its growing prominence and importance."

Designers and design students are encouraged to think broadly and imaginatively in answering the central question: How can design make the way we live in our homes more efficient, sustainable, enjoyable and/or beautiful? An international jury, comprised of leading designers, design curators, entrepreneurs and thinkers, will evaluate entries based on material and design innovation, performance and visual appeal, among other criteria. Limited-production, prototype and concept designs are the focus here: Products already in mass production are ineligible, while new designs created specifically for the competition are particularly encouraged.

The stakes are pretty high: the first prize winner will receive $10,000 with two runners up awarded $2500 each. All three will be featured in the May 2010 issue of Modern Painters and on the website ARTINFO.

For more guidelines and to enter, click here.

Deadline: November 17th, 2009

There's only one day left for our current One Hour Design Challenge, The Future of Digital Reading. For this one, we've teamed up with Portigal Consulting, who have offered up the research generated by their Reading Ahead project as a foundation for your work.

This challenge asks that your project include the sensual; support the social side of reading; consider the varied rituals of reading; and develop an ecosystem around your proposed product. Because of the complexity of the assignment, we're actually offering 90 minutes, so ">go read the guidelines, carve out an hour and a half, and submit!

Core77 and Portigal consulting will each be donating $300 in the winner's name to 826 Valencia, a SF non-profit that encourages creative writing among youth.

If you've participated in the design, engineering, manufacture or distribution of an outstanding medical device, here's your chance to shine. The 13th annual Medical Design Excellence Awards competition is open for submission by companies and individuals who have products commercially available by December 31, 2009. It's a worldwide call for entries, so get crackin -- last year's winners are a serious bunch to beat.

Early bird deadline is November 20, 2009
Standard deadline is December 18, 2009

You can find out more by visiting the MDEA website. Winners will be displayed at the 2010 Medical Design & Manufacturing (MD&M) East trade event in New York.

The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and The European Centre for Architecture, Art, Design and Urban Studies are seeking entries for the 2010 Green Good Design Awards.

Both institutions in Europe and the U.S. will honor visionary architects, industrial designers, landscape architects, urban planners, developers, building owners, manufacturers, institutions, organizations, corporations, and governments—together with their new building designs, urban planning projects, landscape architecture, products and graphics, new technologies, public programs and services, and people for outstanding new innovation, commitment, dedication, and preservence in finding sound design solutions for a more healthier and more sustainable global environment. Architecture, landscape architecture, urban planning projects, product design, technology, (designed and/or produced after January 1, 2008), as well as public education programs, people, and organizations qualify for submission.

To submit, send all entries to the The Chicago Athenaeum. For more info, email Lary L Sommers at lary@chicagoathenaeum.org.

Deadline: November 1st

UK production company Two Four Broadcast is currently working on a new design series to be aired on BBC1. Currently, they are soliciting contestants (from the UK) that have designed something they "want to take to the next level." The show will then provide a team of top industry experts who will be on hand to help the selected individuals make their product dreams real.

Here's their brief:

Have you slaved away over a product which you dream could be the next big thing? Maybe it's a new toy or game, a tasty twist on food or drink, a design sensation or something special for the home and garden? BBC1 would like to follow the people who think they have what it takes to make their dream come true. Are you up for a challenge? Can you impress top industry experts? If so this could be the opportunity of a life time. We would love to hear your story.

Interested? A resident of the UK? Get in touch with them by emailing newbrands@twofour.co.uk.

(Probably not what the Apple tablet will look like)

Who'da thunk a glass rectangle could generate so much buzz? But the web is, and has been, undeniably a'Twitter with speculation, rumors, future stock price analyses, and rendering mock-ups of Apple's forthcoming tablet.

iLounge is tapping into the frenzy with their "Design the Apple Tablet" contest:

Submit a brand-new artistic rendition (minimum 1600 pixels wide) of what you think Apple's upcoming Tablet device should look like, including the on-screen interface. Some of the details are believed to be known here, but you're not bound to follow them. Your image may be wholly original or based in part on iLounge photos of the iPhone or iPod touch, however, originality is strongly encouraged, and no use of others' photos or previous contest entries is permitted. Please do not overlap text on top of the image of the Tablet....

For this contest, we will be selecting winners based on either the plausibility or the cool factor of their designs, and unlike some previous contests, we are not looking for funny entries. Use realistic or smart design ideas to inspire your work and you'll have the best shot at winning a prize.

Said prizes are a series of headphones way too expensive for you to ever actually pay money for. Deadline's October 26th.

To see what previous iLounge contests have yielded, check out their gallery of submissions for iPhone concepts. (Pictured up top is one reader's amusing take on the iPhone Nano.)

3rd Ward, the member-based workshop and design center in Brooklyn, is looking for the best new art for their fall solo show:

The Fall Solo Show is an international open call for dynamic, inventive and provocative work of all mediums - sculpture, photography, painting, printmaking, illustration, installation, graphic design, video, and more!

Selected by Priska C. Juschka and CK Swett of Christie's, the winning artist will receive a $1,000 grant, a solo exhibition in the 3rd Ward galleries, a 2-page spread in 3rd Ward's quarterly publication, and a 1-month residency with access to all their facilities.

Submissions must be received by October 22 at 11:59 pm. Enter now!

Metropolis Magazine has announced a call for entries for their Next Generation design competition, titled "One Design Fix for the Future":

Good design determines how well products, spaces, and systems work from the beginning. We think that great design ideas can make things work even better. One Design Fix for the Future challenges you to prove us right--whether you are an architect, interior designer, product designer, landscape designer, graphic designer, communication designer. We're looking for ONE design fix you can make now in your designed environment--the products you use, your home, your workplace, your city, or any commercial application--that, in scale or as inspiration, can improve our future.

To enter, provide one small (but brilliant and elegant) fix--leading to an incremental (or dramatic) change in sustainability. Your fix needn't have anything to do with "environmentalist engineering" to make a difference. Concentrate on what you know best, are aching to improve in a way that deploys your training and imagination.

Grand prize is ten large, and the deadline's not 'til late January 2010 so you've got a little time for this one. But hurry up--those holidays will be here before you know it. Click here to learn more.

The Object Design League is seeking submissions for Worth Your Salt, its first ever pop-up shop, produced in partnership with Chicago design boutique Pavilion. The shop will open in Pavilion's Bucktown storefront on November 27th, the day after Thanksgiving, with a Black Friday reception, and maintain day and evening hours until December 11th.

This pop up shop aims to provide emerging American designers with a retail opportunity during the holiday shopping season, while also bringing a select cross-section of designed objects from emerging American Designers to Chicago in a half-exhibition, half-boutique format. The call for entries is open to all US designers, as long as the object is at the scale of the tabletop.

For more guidelines and information on how to submit, visit worthyoursalt.objectdesignleague.org.

The Boston Globe asked local artists and architects to re-imagine the sites of construction projects that have stalled in response to the recession, becoming eyesores that remain separate from the rest of the city's cultural fabric.

Our favorite entry is Howeler + Yoon and Squared Design's imaginative proposal for the 32-story Filene's development downtown: a network of algae eco-pods which will turn the entire site into a large bio-fuel reactor. The reactor would serve as a center for energy production, while supporting bio-fuel research by allowing scientists to test the effectiveness of different algae species and perfect methods of fuel extraction. The structure would have other benefits as well—in addition to producing energy, micro-algae reduces carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere without relying on arable land.

To maximize the effectiveness of the project, the whole thing would be reconfigurable by a set of robotic arms. Powered by the fuel produced by the reactor, the arms will move the algae pods around the framework to ensure that the plants have access to favorable growth conditions.

The Boston Globe is holding a vote to determine the best proposal, so go see the other projects and cast your ballot now.

For more information about the eco-pods, read Building Design's writeup here.

We wanted to take a moment to commend Core-toonist lunchbreath on his awesome (and accidental) response to the latest One Hour Design Challenge, The Future of Digital Reading (based on research from Portigal Consulting). Whether lunchbreath knew it or not, the Trapper-Kindle addresses all aspects of the latest challenge— it "includes the sensual" by enclosing the kindle in a familiar case; "supports the social side of reading" by addressing questions of identity and personalization; "considers the ritual of reading" by referencing the once-popular trapper-keeper; and "develops an eco-system" by suggesting how this object could be personalized en masse and grow a culture around it.

Applause, lunchbreath. And for the rest of you, this is a reminder to enter! There's lots to explore in 90 minutes, but your entry can take any form, even (and maybe especially) a one panel cartoon. Deadline: October 14th.

This just in: GOOD and Architect's Newspaper have chosen the winners to their Redesign Your Farmers' Market competition. There were lots of great ideas proposed by the 22 finalists, from hydroponic markets to refurbished train cars and rooftop urban farms. Read more about the winners below, and be sure to browse the site for more proposals.

The Winner: Farm on Wheels by Mia Lehrer + Associates, pictured above

Farm on Wheels is a program that brings locally grown produce to the people of L.A. County. The program selects fresh fruits and vegetables from local farmers and distributes the produce through a network of farm trucks. To engage more people in the consumption of fresh foods and support local and urban agriculture, Farm on Wheels creates a simplified and convenient food distribution network between farmers and consumers.

First Runner-Up: The New City Center of Urban Farming by Im Studio mi/LA

The New City Center of Urban Farming (NCCUF) is the new information and food hub for the Los Angeles neighborhoods. This NCCUF and its four elements of demonstrative production (greenhouse), distribution (farmers market), processing (data center) and education (information center) centered around farming, both crops and data will feeding the new idea of rural and healthy living into metropolitan lifestyles.

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The sediliegi² chair is a lounge chair for two person, and probably the most romantic winner of this year's One Good Chair competition.

Finalist Helene Cany writes: "I chose a place, near to Turin in Italy, where we can see the Alps. Many lovers come to this square because it is really romantic and the view is beautiful. This chair is made of molded cork. And the cork come from the Italian cork tree. Its shape allows transport easily and to rest comfortably in the sun watching the Alps. The shape is inspired by the cars designed in Turin (Fiat 500 and Ferrari)."

Great to see inspirations, materials, and research coming together. The two other finalists, Andrej Blazon and Azul Cadenas, were inspired by the Daughters of Charity and beautiful estancias houses in Argentina. Watch all chairs here

Las Vegas is your home? Prototypes of the three finalists will be fabricated and presented at the upcoming Las Vegas Market on September 14!

We love repairing and it seems we're not alone here. Ever since Platform21 presented its Reparing Manifesto (earlier) they received over 60 inspiring entries in the Most Remarkable Repair Contest.

For instance, Platform21 now offers a solution for broken china: the new repair technique Bison kintsugi (photo).

Designer Lotte Dekker developed a new view of gluing porcelain based on kintsugi, an old Japanese technique in which porcelain is repaired with gold leaf. It's an extremely time-consuming, expensive method. Dekker found Bison glue to be the perfect Western variant for making beautiful yet simple repairs.

Watch all entries here

After a flurry of activity last week, the Reburbia winners have been announced! Our own Allan Chochinov was one of the judges, but we haven't heard a peep out of him until now. Still, we weren't so off target with our finalists preview post last week—though we didn't know it, we featured both the grand prize winner and the people's choice award.

Anyway, all talk of prescience aside, here's the breakdown:

Grand Prize: Frog's Dream: McMansions Turned into Biofilter Water Treatment Plants by Calvin Chiu
Second Place: Entrepreneurbia: Rezoning Suburbia for Self-Sustaining Life by Urban Nature, F&S Design Studio and Silverlion Design
Third Place: Big Box Architecture: A Productive Suburb by Forrest Fulton
People's Choice: Urban Sprawl Repair Kit: Repairing the Urban Fabric by Galina Tahchieva.

Congrats to the winners for their thoughtful re-imagining of America's suburbs, to be featured in the December 2009/January 2010 issue of Dwell magazine. For now, you can read more about all the notable entries, finalists and winners here.

Designboom, in partnership with Incheon Metropolitan City, brings us the Incheon International Design Award 2009: Green Design and Daily Life. The competition (with a total of $41,000 in prize money!) asks designers to submit concepts in three categories: Green Design for Humans, City and Green Design and Green Design and Communication. In other words, products, architecture, environments, and visual communication entries will all be accepted. The judges include: Jerszy Seymour and Karim Rashid among them, so show them your best!

More information here.

Deadline: August, 25, 2009

Co-produced by The Architect's Newspaper, Good Magazine, The Urban & Environmental Policy Institute at Occidental College and the LA Good Food Network, Project: Redesign Your Farmer's Market is a competition that seeks improvements on the current model for farmer's markets. This could take the form of a venue, product, distribution method or marketing mechanism, as long as it increases returns to farmers and improves the accessibility of healthy food to urban residents. For inspiration, be sure to read Alissa Walker's Good Magazine post on design and the farmer's market.

Find more information about the cause, the guidelines, the judges and the prizes here.

Deadline: September 1st

Dwell Magazine and Inhabitat have posted the top 20 finalists of their Reburbia competition, which challenged designers to develop new visions for the future of the American suburb. The entries range from extreme, eco-conscious interventions to sharply observational proposals. For example, Chiu envisions a drastically altered future for suburbia in Frog's Dream (pictured above), where McMansions have all been abandoned and are repurposed as biofilter water treatment plants, taking advantage of existing transportation systems to surround the city with a rich suburban wetland. We're not sure why the McMansions remain standing (aren't there toxins in there?), but it does make for a provocative visual!

On the other side of the spectrum is the Urban Sprawl Repair Kit (pictured above), a set of drawings that proposes small changes to common suburban building types, combatting sprawl. We love that Galina Tahchieva, the designer, visualized her new-urbanist ideas in true suburban style: developer-inspired, mock-watercolor renderings.

More images of these and a few more of our favorites follow after the jump, including a parasitic highway turbine and parking lot farms.

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Planet Green and Hessnatur, the German eco-fashion company, are co-producing the Eco T-Shirt Design Challenge. The competition challenges designers to make an eco-statement by creating a bold, original and persuasive print for Hessnatur's eco-friendly, organic cotton t-shirts. The winning design will be printed on a Hessnatur tee, which will be sold in support of The Grameen Foundation, an anti-poverty organization founded by Nobel Peace Prize recipient Dr. Muhammad Yunus.

More information here.

Deadline: September 1st

We're excited to announce the Design Ignites Change 2009 Implementation Award, which will grant $15,000 to a design concept that has the ability to ignite change within their local community. The parameters are broad, but the concepts must address a pressing social need within a community, be implemented within that community and deliver positive, measurable results.

The award is available to creative professionals and universities engaged in youth mentoring programs around social issues or universities using design thinking to address social issues. The eligibility seems a bit tricky, so be sure to read up on the guidelines.

Deadline: December 31, 2009

Been waiting for an opportunity to publish some of your work? Here it is: Rockport Publishers is collecting submissions for 1,000 Product Designs, curated by Eric Chan of ECCO Design. The book is scheduled to be released in 2010 and will be distributed globally. More information here.

Deadline: September 1st