The 339 Building Community originally formed around a shared office in Lower Manhattan, which was re-located to the present site in 1969. The building is owned by the A.J Muste Memorial Institute. Part of the Muste Institute's mission as a non-profit, is to provide low-cost space for a group of affiliated organizations, especially the original owner of the building, the War Resisters League. The 1st floor is currently rented to for-profit retail spaces and the two upper floors provide office space for peace and justice organizations at subsidized rents.

The Peace Pentagon Competition is a project for a living community and has been shaped by its need to balance limited resources, values, and priorities, while developing a vision for the future. One of the difficulties facing the building's owners is understanding the cost of changes in relation to available resources and potential benefits. Certainly, if a minimum repair scheme is the only way for the building to remain a peace and justice center, then this is the best option. But a vision for the future means asking how the building can best meet the needs of its users in a dynamic way. A minimum repair scheme will require a large financial investment, but will not provide many improvements to the specific program of this building.

This competition requests the competitors to explore one of two alternatives:

1. A new building.

2. A renovation of the existing building.

Objective
Mobilizing the Building. Challenge 1: To use the building to reach out to the neighborhood and to promote a sense of community with the neighborhood.

-Develop a specific strategy for using the building to persuasively express the spirit of the peace and justice movement. How does the strategy express the basic values and respond to specific conflicts?

-Create an interface between the building tenants and the public. How can the building's presence inspire people to get involved? How does the interior interact with the exterior?

Supporting the Movement. Challenge 2: To create a program for a financially, socially and environmentally sustainable building community

The 339 building community is grappling with its future. The current building program uses 3 floors of space, but the zoning allows the addition of 2 full floors, to the existing building. Additional programming for the roof should also be considered. How could that space be used to support the building community? Should the current location of the activist groups be maintained? What forms and spatial relationships are suggested by interactions between the different building functions?

Environmental Sustainability
Participants are strongly encouraged to design environmentally sustainable building systems that:

Use sustainable energy for space and water heating.

Optimize the use of resources.

Generate on-site electricity

Use the exterior envelope to facilitate effective energy use.

Social Sustainability
Encourage a sense of community within the building.

Propose new shared program elements while maintaining the existing tenant organizations. How can the architecture deepen a sense of internal community?

Financial Stability
Participants should propose a strategy for income producing on the site.

The total space available for income generating activities is approximately 9,000 s.f .of enclosed space if the building is enlarged according to current zoning regulations. This includes the ground floor space, which is curently divided into 5 retail shops.

How much of the available space should be used for income generating? How can income- generating zones co-exist with bare-bones activism? How can the need to be self-sustaining shape the building in a positive sense? Is there a conflict between idealism and practicality?

Requirements
All entrants will be assigned an entry number upon registration. Please make sure to mark all submission boards and text with this number. Number should appear in the lower right hand corner of each board. No other identification of authorship should be visible. Presentations should be easily understood by a lay audience. Some members of the competition jury may not be familiar with architectural drawings and symbols.

A. Text:
1. Conceptual statement 200 words (maximum) in English, describing the site's potential and projected use of the building. Clarify your position on a new versus renovated building. Describe your proposition for space allocation within the building.

2. Sustainability statement 100 words (maximum) in English, describing how your proposal makes the building more sustainable.

The Text must be integrated into the composition of the board and submitted separately on 8½ " x11" size paper.

B. Visual Documentation:
To be organized on a single board 30" x40" oriented horizontally. All drawings should be clearly titled.

1. Two dimensional drawings

- 1 Plan, 1 Exterior elevation at 1/8"= 1'-0"scale (required)

- 1 Section through building and context at 1"= 50' (required)

- Additional Plans, sections and elevations are left to the discretion of the entrant.

2. Three dimensional drawings

- Views/ model photographs/ perspectives that respond to the ideas of the building interacting with its neighborhood.

- 1 Exterior View, 1 Interior View (required)

3. Diagrams

-Responding to key questions of - mobilizing the building, supporting the tenants and expanding the space.

- Energy efficiency

C. Identification:
In a sealed envelope enclose the names of the team members and their roles. Place the registration number on the top of the envelope.

Awards
The jury will select a first & second prize winner for proposals that address the project as a whole. A third award will be given to a project that creates the best integration of an artistic vision with the interior and exterior of the building. Honorable mentions will be awarded at the jury's discretion.

Prizes will be awarded as follows:

First Prize: US$ 5,000.00

Second Prize: US$ 2,000.00

Third Prize: to be determined

This is an ideas competition and the obligation of the competition sponsor to the winners is limited to the financial prizes as listed.

There will be a public exhibition of the winning entries and some additional selected entries in New York City. Selected exhibitors will be asked to submit physical models, mock-ups and projections for the final exhibition.

Registration
All competitors are required to register online. All submissions will be anonymous. Numbers will be assigned at the time of registration. Please make a note of the registration number.