Yarışmalar-Competitions

Start Small. Think Big. Build Green.
Come on out and play! Join the Green Dollhouse Project — we take fun seriously. We're on a mission to inspire kids and adults to create healthier, more eco-friendly homes.

The Competition
Design pros and design students, get your creative juices flowing. Here's the deal: Design, build and submit a dollhouse (or two) that's a kick to play with and green to boot. What's in it for you? Creative challenge. National media and museum exposure. And a chance to change the world, one dollhouse at a time.

The Exhibit
After review by our distinguished jurors (chosen for their keen eye for green and healthy sense of fun), the winning dollhouses will be exhibited at Coyote Point Museum in San Mateo, California. And that's just the first stop of a five-venue national tour, complete with exhibit catalogs and local events. 

How You Can Help
No time to build a dollhouse? You can still help the cause. The Green Dollhouse Project needs your financial support. Make a donation today.

Everyone can play! We also need volunteers, sponsors and in-kind donors.

About the Competition
The competition goal is simple: Inspire lots of people (big and little) to take steps to make their own homes a little healthier and easier on the environment.

Energy efficiency, water conservation, the use of nontoxic building materials and other sustainable practices are gradually making inroads into mainstream home building. But many people still think of green building—if they think of it at all—as a bewildering subject best left to the experts.

The Green Dollhouse Project Competition will help change that perception by showing kids and adults how we can all take action to make our homes healthier and more environmentally sustainable.

Design professionals and design students are invited to submit built dollhouses of their own original invention. The dollhouses should inspire children and adults to take some steps—small or large—to make their homes a little greener.

In the Fall of 2005, after review by a distinguished panel of jurors, the winning dollhouses will be featured at a green-building exhibit at Coyote Point Museum in San Mateo, California. The exhibit will subsequently be made available for touring to other museums across the country.

Judging Criteria
We have two deceptively simple criteria by which we will judge the entries:

Dishy doll dwellings: Your entry must, first and foremost, be successful as a dollhouse. It should delight children (and adults!) and hold up to active play. Creativity, inventiveness, playfulness, and functionality as a dollhouse are key features.

Great green guidance: Your completed dollhouse and accompanying design statement should teach children and adults about one or more aspects of green home building, and inspire them to do something now to make their own home a little greener. Green building concepts to be conveyed by the dollhouse could include but are not limited to:

energy efficiency
water conservation
environmentally preferable materials (for example, recycled, recyclable, reusable, adaptable, reclaimed, nontoxic, durable, locally produced, sustainably harvested, rapidly renewable, etc.)
renewable energy generation (for example, solar or wind power)
passive solar design
solar water heating
climate-appropriate design
and more

A Few More Words of Explanation
We're talking dollhouses here, not architectural scale models of constructable human dwellings.

So first, put yourself in a doll's shoes:

How does this dollhouse make my dolly world a better place?
Then put yourself in a child's shoes:

Is this dollhouse fun?
What does it teach me that I can try at home?
Finally, put yourself in a parent's shoes:

Would I want my child to play with this dollhouse?
Could I live with this dollhouse in my own house?
What does this dollhouse teach me about how to make homes healthier for people and the planet?

Got it? Now slip off all those shoes and wiggle your toes! Have fun, and remember—it may help to sit on the floor while dreaming up your sustainable dollhouse.

Eligibility
Open to design professionals and design students.

Schedule
October 15, 2004
Final postmark date for registration

December 15, 2004
All dollhouses and accompanying design statements must arrive in San Mateo County, CA (address will be provided). Dollhouses that arrive late or without an appropriate design statement will be disqualified.

Spring 2005
Entrants notified of the competition results

Fall 2005
Exhibit opens at Coyote Point Museum

Competition Details
Unleash your creative powers. Remember, this is child's play!

Dollhouse Design and Construction

Dollhouse must arrive mounted on its own real estate no larger than 23 inches x 35 inches.

Dollhouse must be designed and built to the traditional dollhouse scale: 1 inch equals 1 foot (1:12).

Dollhouse must be no taller than 46" including the depth of the platform.

Dollhouse must be durable enough to withstand shipping, as well as handling by museum visitors. We will make every attempt to limit handling by visitors, but cannot make repairs to dollhouses damaged during shipping or while on exhibit.

Your dollhouse should teach people about green building concepts. How you accomplish this is the creative challenge on which your efforts will be judged. Remember that you're not building an architectural model! Your dollhouse does not have to represent a real house but it does need to inspire people and encourage them to embrace green design.

Design Statement
Each dollhouse must be accompanied by a design statement using the form we provide.

Download Green Dollhouse Submittal Form

In the design statement, you will be asked to provide (in 250 words or less) a description of what makes your dollhouse green, including details about materials used and green strategies employed.
Shipping your Dollhouse

The green dollhouse needs to arrive in San Mateo County, CA by December 15, 2004. As you design your green dollhouse, consider how it will be packed and shipped. Please pack it carefully and with little or no assembly required. We won't do repairs.

Awards
The jury will choose winners in two categories – professional designers and design students. Additional awards may given. All decisions are final.

Winning dollhouses will be part of the Coyote Point Museum exhibit and will be featured in the Green Dollhouse Project publicity and exhibit catalog. Winning dollhouses may also be part of a national tour to other museums and venues.

All submitted dollhouses become the property of the Green Dollhouse Project. Dollhouses other than the winners may be displayed to round out the exhibit and offer museum visitors additional examples of green building practices and materials. Exhibited dollhouses may also be included in the project's publicity materials and exhibit catalog.

Dollhouses other than the winners may be placed in a reserve category to be available to replace any dollhouse that is damaged on tour. We will attempt to protect the dollhouses from abuse and damage, but all dollhouses should be designed and built to be durable and withstand handling.

After the exhibit closes, all dollhouses will donated to schools, child care centers or other suitable organizations, or will be auctioned with proceeds donated to the nonprofit organizations that have sponsored the Green Dollhouse Project.

Help Us to Stay in Touch
We'd appreciate it if you would sign up for the Green Dollhouse Builders e-list so that we can let you know of any additional information that might be useful, such as the delivery address.

Fine Print – Get out your magnifying glass.
Upon receipt, all entries become property of the Green Dollhouse project. Dollhouses will be donated to appropriate venues or auctioned in support of local nonprofits at the completion of the local exhibit and/or the touring exhibit.

The Green Dollhouse Project and all sponsoring organizations reserve the right to publish or photograph submissions, drawings, text, and the competitor names, without compensation.

Teams in either student or professional categories are acceptable, providing all team members are listed on the registration form.

For personal or portfolio use, entrants should photograph and reproduce their work prior to submission.

Incomplete entries are subject to disqualification.

The design statement and any additional documentation must be suitable for black & white reproduction. Color is acceptable, but must remain legible when reproduced in black & white.

Green Dollhouse Competition Application
To register for the competition, submit your entry fee ($25 for students and $50 for professional designers) with this application by October 15, 2004. You can register online and mail us the check or download the application and mail it to us with your check.

Please make the check out to Sustainable San Mateo County and mail it to:

Green Dollhouse Competition
c/o Sustainable San Mateo County
177 Bovet Road, Suite 600
San Mateo, CA 94402

Web: www.architectureweek.com/cgi-bin/wlc?http://www.greendollhouse.org/