Drawing on the principles in the book Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things by William McDonough, FAIA, and Michael Braungart, the Roanoke (Va.) Regional Housing Network has launched the first International Cradle to Cradle Housing Design and Construction Competition.
The contest invites professional architects and designers (with separate competitions for students and university teams) to design homes that are buildable and sustainable, with reusable parts, says Gregg Lewis, AIA, the acting competition adviser.
Judges will select the winning designs after the Dec. 15 submission deadline. First prize earns $5,000. Roanoke-area builders, in cooperation with the Roanoke Regional Home Builders Association, will construct up to 30 of the designs in Roanoke during the summer of 2005.
Lewis sees design/build firms as particularly important to the contest because effective execution of design ideas requires close collaboration between designers and builders.
Other sponsors include the GreenBlue Institute and the American Institute of Architects. For more on the competition, visit www.c2c-home.org.