Want to design the future? Here’s your chance. Inhabitat and the X-Prize Foundation have partnered on behalf of the Biodesign Competition, and the winner will receive $1,000 and the warm fuzzy feeling that accompanies the joy of integrating “the natural world into the built environment.” Because that, my friends, is apparently the future of architecture, and our world at large.
You have until September 6 to submit your design here, and the requirements are pretty straightforward (though certainly challenging). You’ll be tasked with showcasing your vision for the future of building — from bio-inspired building materials to systems and processes that will allow for healthier, greener, and more adaptive structures, just about anything goes.
You’ll need to submit renderings, illustrations, and mockups with descriptions in order to be considered. Specifically, required files include one 11 x 17-inch landscape panel demonstrating the idea, one 11 x 17-inch moonshot panel with a view, rendering, illustration, or collage, and a reflection of at least 150 words about the project.
Inhabitat and X-Prize are looking at a couple different categories, namely spaces for living, and spaces for learning or healing. In the former category, entrants are encouraged to submit their ideas for a single family home in the suburbs, a multi-family apartment in the city, an informal settlement or slum in the context of an emerging economy, or an in situ revitalization of abandoned buildings in the context of cities with declining population. Really, the (future) world is your oyster.
Ultimately, the competition is in search of designs that showcase “bold and innovative visions for the future of construction at the intersection of the physical, the digital, and the biological.” You can dream up a building that is grown, rather than built, or one that adapts to its physical environment, much as we do. So if you think you’ve got what it takes, here’s your chance to prove it.
