Rules & Eligibility

Eligibility | Registration | Late Registration | Requirements | Format | Rights

Eligibility

The competition sponsors encourage entrants to work in teams, although individuals may also enter. At least one primary registrant must be a graduate of one of the following degree programs:

Accredited professional architecture program
Accredited professional landscape architecture program
Accredited professional urban planning or urban design program

OR

If no primary registrant is a graduate of one of the above programs, the team must include an advisor (faculty member or practicing professional) who is a graduate of one of the above degree programs.

The competition organizers encourage students, members of community groups, and others interested in these issues to enter the competition. Connections to potential professional advisors can be found through organizations such as the Community Design Collaborative in Philadelphia, your local AIA chapter, your local ASLA chapter, or your local APA/AICP chapter.

Team members fall into three possible categories: primary registrants (one of whom will be the contact), advisors, and consultants. Awards will be given to primary registrants, but all team members will be acknowledged in publications and exhibitions.

Primary Registrants: The main team members, responsible for the design. One of the primary registrants is the contact.

Advisors: Advisors may be faculty and/or practicing professionals who are graduates of one of the accredited programs listed above. Advisors provide technical, design, and presentation advice to their team.

Consultants: Consultants are optional team members who provide consultation or assistance to the primary registrants (for example rendering assistance or engineering advice), but are not responsible for the design.

To better formulate creative solutions to the multi-faceted issue of vacancy in Philadelphia, the competition sponsors encourage multidisciplinary teams. Members could include geographers, botanists, sculptors, sociologists, engineers, ecologists, zoologists, geologists, historians, agronomists, photographers, horticulturists, folklorists, gardeners, hydrologists, historians, artists, etc.

The competition is open to all individuals, teams, and firms from around the world with the following exceptions and qualifications:

The competition is anonymous and the jury will not be informed of any aspect of the authorship of any submission.

Registration

Entries which do not meet the following criteria will be disqualified and will not be viewed by the jury.

Entrants are required to register for the competition prior to submitting their entry. Registration is $150 USD until 5:00 pm October 7 (late registration, until 5:00 pm November 14, is $180). Registered entrants will receive access to the password-protected Download Images page.

This fee includes registration fee in addition to high-quality printing, mounting, and lamination of submitted digital boards. To ensure fair evaluation of all boards, to eliminate shipping damage, and to eliminate printing and postage fees for entrants, all entrants must submit digital files. Van Alen Institute will be responsible for printing, mounting, and laminating all submitted boards. All files will be professionally printed as high-quality (200 dpi) prints, laminated, and mounted on 1/4" Gator board.

Also note that there is no additional print information—all information is available online.

Entrants can only register online and can pay by credit or debit card via a secure system. Upon completion of online registration and payment, entrants will receive their registration confirmation and registration ID number, as well as access to additional downloadable images.

All payments are final. The competition will not be able to offer refunds for registrants who do not submit an entry.

Late Registration

After 5:00 pm Friday October 7, 2005 the registration fee will be increased to $180 USD.

Submission requirements

Deadline: All submissions must be received online no later than 5:00 pm Friday January 6, 2006. Submissions may NOT be delivered in person or by mail. See below for format requirements.

Anonymity: The submission shall have no name or mark that could serve as a means of identifying the project, other than the registration number, which entrants will receive by email after completing the registration process (including payment). Both PDF files must include the entrant's registration number in the upper right hand corner in either 36 point plain black text on a white background or 36 point plain white text on a black background.

Late Submissions: Submissions received after 5:00 pm on Friday January 6, 2006 will be considered late entries and will be deleted without being viewed.

Drawings: Plans, sections, and perspective views are suggested, but the scale of each is left up to the entrants. Additional drawings may be included if they will further explain your project.

Text: A text statement of no more than 250 words explaining the project's concept, design intent, and phasing should be included on one of the two boards submitted, as well as in a separate Microsoft Word compatible (.doc) file.

Confirmation: Entrants will receive an automatic email confirmation upon receipt of both registration and payment, and again on receipt of a complete submission.

Submission Format Requirements

Please read all submission requirements carefully. Files that do not meet the requirements will be rejected. No resubmissions will be allowed after the deadline has passed. If you have any questions, you may submit them online until 5pm November 14, 2005. Answers will be posted on this website.

Each team shall submit two boards explaining their project. One of the boards must include a text statement of no more than 250 words on the board itself (the same text should be saved as a Microsoft Word compatible file). The boards must be uploaded to the competition website in both of the following formats:

Two 30" x 40" PDF files, 200 dpi, 8MB maximum size for each file
(primary files for printing boards)

Two 600 x 800 pixel JPEG files, 72 dpi, 150K maximum size for each file
(web-ready files for online exhibition)

In addition, the following two files are also required:

One 100 x 100 pixel JPEG file, 72 dpi, 20K maximum size
(image detail of your choice from either board for online thumbnail)

One Microsoft Word compatible (.doc) file containing the same project description text (250 words or less) as the first board

All files must be in LANDSCAPE format (long side horizontal, short side vertical). All files must be named with the registration number you received when you submitted your registration, followed by an underscore and A, B, etc. For example, the files for registrant 0000 would be called:

Board A: 0000_A.pdf (large file), 0000_A.jpg (small file for web)
Board B: 0000_B.pdf (large file), 0000_B.jpg (small file for web)
Other: 0000_thumb.jpg, 0000.doc

Each PDF file must include the entrant’s registration number in the upper right hand corner in either 36 point plain black text on a white background or 36 point plain white text on a black background.

For PDF files, graphics should be set to 200 dpi/ppi. If printing to PDF from Illustrator, for example, choose Effect -> Document Raster Effects Settings -> Resolution -> Other: 200 ppi.

Layout: Two 30" x 40" landscape boards are required. Each board must include the entrant's registration number in the upper right hand corner in either 36 point plain black text on a white background or 36 point plain white text on a black background.

The first board must include the project description text (the same text will also be submitted separately as a Microsoft Word compatible .doc file), a small diagram, plan, or sketch to place the project in context, and a single large image that conveys the intent of the project. The suggested layout for this board is: large image on the right, text at the bottom of an 8" column on the left, and an overview, sketch, or diagram in the top of the 8" column on the left (above the text).

Board A Layout Diagram

The second board should contain whatever additional drawings, diagrams, or sketches are necessary to further explain the project.

Rights

Finalists: in the first phase of the competition, up to five finalist teams will receive $5,000 each to continue on to the next phase of the competition, Reconnecting the Lots.

Public Exhibition and Copyright: Van Alen Institute and the CPA shall retain ownership of all prize-winning design submissions. Van Alen Institute plans to hold both an online and a gallery exhibition of work submitted in the competition following the jury. In entering the design competition, entrants grant Van Alen Institute and the City Parks Association unrestricted license to exercise the entrants' rights regarding their design submissions, including, but not limited to, reproduction, preparation of derivative works, distribution of copies of the design submission, and the right to authorize such use by others.

Announcement, Displays, and Publication of Results: When entering the competition, the registrant and all team members recognize the competition's program as the intellectual property of Van Alen Institute and City Parks Association and agree to credit the two organizations by name in any subsequent exhibition or publication of the project. Entrants will be credited on all online and print material published by the organizers of the competition.