Terri Meyer Boake B.E.S. B.Arch. M.Arch. LEED AP
Professor School of Architecture University of Waterloo

ARCHmedium Competition - Justin Lai, Jack Lipson and Haley Chan - Awarded Second Prize in ArchMedium International Competition ‘DGEF’

Arch 346/686: Competitions Elective

STUDENTS MUST COMPLETE THE COMPETITION AND ESSAY AND SUBMIT TO ME PRIOR TO BEING REGISTERED FOR THE COURSE. YOU MUST OBTAIN PRE-APPROVAL FOR THE COMPETITON. MASTERS STUDENTS WILL NEED TO ALSO SUBMIT AN ESSAY OUTLINE TO THE GRAD OFFICER FOR APPROVAL.

1. The Competition must be registered for and entered (on time) and proof submitted to indicate this. This course is not a "test run" but the "real thing". The competitions listed below have all been selected as they allow student entries. If you fail to enter, it will not "count". DO NOT PUT YOUR NAME ON THE FRONT OF THE BOARD. Competitions are judged anonymously.

2. Failure to submit the ILLUSTRATED and PROPERLY REFERENCED essay portion of the course will result in failure of the course (maximum grade of 46%). The essay portion is necessary for this course to qualify as a research elective and it allows me (and you) a better understanding of the development of the project/building type. Make sure that you read the course outline and see the grade breakdown! undergrad. grad. If aspects are missing (images, footnotes, bibliography) you will receive zero on that portion of the assignment. No exceptions.

3. The elective must be completed in a timely fashion. Please select a competition/deadline that is manageable within either your work term or school term. Lack of time will not be acceptable as an excuse for failure to complete. You need to figure out how to manage your time and create space to complete the course. This is why it is an "independent" course. If you cannot manage your time, do not take this course. You will never be "gifted" with 2 to 3 weeks with nothing else to do, so you cannot count on this.

4. The course is reserved for students of a 3A or higher studio level. Students should have at least an 80% standing in Design Studio and Digital Design to apply for this course. 2B students are NOT permitted to take this course.

5. Students may undertake the competition entry in pairs (MAX), but each student must submit their own, unique, essay. Essays MUST include proper university level referencing formats: endnotes/footnotes (Chicago Style), image credits AND a separate bibliography.

6. You may NOT use work or designs created for another course (ie. design studio or thesis) to satisfy this course. Projects must have been specifically created to satisfy the competition requirements.

Also, PLEASE DO NOT PUT YOUR ID NUMBERS ON YOUR RESEARCH PAPERS. I am concerned about your personal security when I post them on the website.

WORK SUBMITTED FOR THIS COURSE CANNOT HAVE BEEN SUBMITTED FOR CREDIT FOR ANOTHER COURSE. IE. YOU CANNOT "TWEAK" YOUR STUDIO PROJECTS TO RECEIVE CREDIT OR USE THESIS WORK. THIS ELECTIVE IS TO USE WORK SPECIFICIALLY DONE FOR THIS COURSE AND ITS COMPETITION ALONE.

The competitions elective was designed to give students the opportunity to support the creation of entries for the many, interesting competition opportunities provided by organizations such as the American Collegiate Schools of Architecture, the Steel Structures Education Foundation, The Precast Concrete Institute, etc. The students must comply with the rules, regulations, requirements and submission deadlines for the competition. They must also create a research paper that highlights the various precedents and initiatives that were part of the required typological or technological research portion of the design parti. This is an important aspect of the course and is designed to assist you to develop research and writing skills that support design related inquiries.

For anyone doing housing, Roger Sherwood has a great website on Housing Prototypes link

ALL COMPETITIONS AVAILABLE AT THE UNDERGRAD AND MASTERS LEVEL. IF THEY DO NOT APPEAR ON THE COURSE SCHEDULE, PLEASE INQUIRE SO THAT THEY CAN BE ADDED.

Make sure the competition permits student entries! Check to see if submission/registration fees are required. It is the responsibility of the students to pay such fees.

The ArchitectureWeek.com website has a comprehensive listing of competitions. AIAStudents lists competitions here. Feel free to check their listings and suggest new topics for me to lis. Take care to make sure that the competition is open to students, as well as students in Canada. Also check out the listings at Archiseek. And those at Death by Architecture. Also look at the ACSA Competitions page www.acsa-arch.org/competitions/ Also check out Archiseek

If students submit their entries in digital format, they will be published on this site. Examples of projects that were part of the Competitions Elective may be viewed by following the links below.

Steve Chodoriwsky, Chantal Cornu, Jesse Dormody, EJ Martin - 4B

"Award of Merit" - Jane Wong and Bi-Ying Miao - 1B
Timea Jakab and Jessica Liefl - 3A
"top 8" - Miklos Conti - 3A
"top 8" - Matthew Peddie - 3A
Millie Roy - 1B
Kenneth Wong - 2B
and selections from the Arch 173/113 General class submissions!
"top 8" - Kili Akua and Renee Kuehnle - 1B
"top 8" - Coco Xiong - 1B
"top 8" - Sam Sutherland and Jenia Faibusovitch - 1B
Valerie Aiken and Andrea Nagy - 1B
Ray Wang and Eric Lajoie - 1B
Anna-Joy Veenstra and Andrea Barei - 1B
Eugenio Villarreal and Matthew Compeau - 1B
Nicholas Savage and Jamie Ferreira - 1B
Jay Worthing - 1B
Amir Azadeh - 1B
Andrea Murphy and Kathryn Bell - 1B