Announcing an innovative design competition for Buffalo

Designs for Sustainable Living is an architectural and site design competition for the City of Buffalo. It seeks local, national, and international entrants to best answer the question: How would you design a space in one of nine designated areas to promote sustainable living in a neighborhood and for the City of Buffalo as a whole?

Designs for Sustainable Living (D2SL) invites architects, planners, designers, students, developers, business people and elected officials in a competition open to all citizens and innovators to collectively improve the City of Buffalo. Through a collaboration to challenge and change the conventional urban paradigm, D2SL seeks creative designs for the city’s neighborhoods that will re-establish the benefits of city living.

In framing a competition, D2SL asks entrants to challenge conventional approaches to land use and zoning. The competition builds on initiatives such as Buffalo Green Code, referencing inspiration from other design competitions. Designs will be evaluated and judged based on the specific needs of the neighborhood, the designated area, and the City of Buffalo, with the winning submissions chosen for each of the nine areas. Winning designs from each area will be advanced to a further level of judging for “Best of City” at a celebratory design showcase. At each level, there will be Jury and People’s Choice Awards.

Specifics of entry, including details on required drawings, methods of submission, and monetary award amounts are available in the competition brief, which will be released August 1. Online registration runs December 6-20. The submission deadline is January 5, 2012. For more info, contact D2LiveS@gmail.com.

—tim raymond