New
York - The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Google are kicking-off the
Design It: Shelter Competition, a global competition that will
challenge users to design a simple shelter in 3D with Google SketchUp,
give it a geographic location using Google Earth, and share it by
uploading to the Google 3D Warehouse. The summer-long competition,
which begins on Frank Lloyd Wright's birthday and will conclude on the
Guggenheim Museum's 50th anniversary, is inspired by the work of
architecture students at the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture
and a recent exhibition of that work at the Guggenheim called “Learning
by Doing.”
A signature project in the school's curriculum for over 70 years, students are tasked with choosing a location near one of the school's Taliesin campuses in Arizona and Wisconsin and designing a small, 100 square-foot shelter.
Students are encouraged to consider human needs for safety and comfort, and more broadly, to recognize the connections between a structure and its geographic location. The Design It: Shelter Competition offers a twist on this assignment, empowering anyone to use Google tools to think about design and ultimately share their ideas with the world.
After choosing a location in Google Earth, competition participants use SketchUp to design their shelters in 3D and upload them to the Google 3D Warehouse. They submit an official entry on the Guggenheim Web site and, within a couple of days, will be able to see their work, as well as other participants' submissions, with the Google Earth Plug-in on the Guggenheim Museum's Web site.
On October 21, 2009, the 50th anniversary of the Guggenheim Museum, winners will be announced and prizes will be awarded. Both winners will receive airfare and two nights' accommodation for two in New York City, behind-the-scenes tours of both the Guggenheim Museum and the Google Office in NYC, complimentary admission to selected NYC museums, and a Google SketchUp Pro 7 license.