GinSoakedBoy
11-04-2006, 12:50
Submission Deadline: 15 th July 2006
Announcement of Short-List Entries: October 2006
1st Lisbon Ideas Chalenge (http://www.lisbonideaschallenge.com.pt)
Definition & Objectives
Lisbon Ideas Challenge is an international design competition aimed at fostering innovative ideas relevant to the development of urban structures integrating PV systems and technologies. It encompasses an initial phase of direct contacts among experts from all areas involved in the competition and relevant institutions, followed by the presentation of the ideas to a pre-defined international committee.
This challenge is aimed to promote innovative ideas of technological and business potential, to be developed by architects, engineers and designers with interests in new energy concepts for the built environment, either university teams and/or entrepreneurs. It is also aimed to foster new contacts between business leaders and the previously identified actors in a way that will allow to explore both new urban concepts and science-based developments, as well as to foster entrepreneurial attitudes.”
Targeted Audience
Lisbon Ideas Challenge is a design competition mainly aimed at students and professionals recently graduated (e.g. for less than 5 years) in the fields of design (industrial, architects and other related fields) and engineering. Nevertheless, exceptional ideas submitted by professionals falling out of these specifications will also be considered. In both cases, entries are welcome to constitute R&D results close or ready to be demonstrated. Entries are equally welcome from any geographical location and can be done individually or by a team.
Design Brief
THE CONTEXT FOR A NEW COMPETITION
In the developed world, there is a growing involvement of urban planners, architects and industrial designers in the design of our cities, giving new meanings and importance to the relationship between architecture, design and popular interests and lifestyles. These professionals hold increasingly a fairly high share of responsibility for the environmental performance of the urban structures they devise, and of the city as a whole, namely in its energy dimension. There is thus an urging need for shifting the paradigms underlying the design process so to incorporate, as guiding principles, the concepts of sustainability as a means to increasingly attain lower levels of energy consumption, in conjunction with higher levels of use of renewable energy technologies. Among these, photovoltaic (PV) technologies have the unique potential to be merged with the urban fabric, enriching its design texture, while transforming cities in huge, distributed green-electricity production facilities.
Nevertheless, and even though general awareness about photovoltaic solar technology is increasing worldwide, adoption of practices leading to effective, systemic and widespread integration in the urban fabric has not happened yet. What do we understand by integration? Integration of photovoltaic technology in urban structures is usually discussed in association with buildings, being the first ones to be identified as suitable. The basic function of a PV product is to directly generate electricity from a renewable energy source – the sun. The use of PV in buildings was first motivated by the evidence that such approach withdraws the need for dedicated land resources, therefore providing for an effective means to reduce/avoid cost(s) at the system level. This preliminary understanding has evolved to a wider view of the additional role that a PV system can potentially perform when integrated into a given building skin: PV materials eventually embed a multifunctional character. In fact, PV can be physically integrated into façades and roofs and become part of the watertight and thermal insulation layers; of the daylighting and/or shading systems; or be an active element in a given cooling strategy. PV materials have additionally an intrinsic aesthetic character that must be exploited in the design concept as a value-adder, either of a building or any other urban structure. The optimal combination of physical and aesthetical integration is therefore expected to maximise the overall value of the PV system, and it should be noted that this can correspond to a situation where the system is not optimised for its energy output, as a conventional engineering approach could suggest. For each object being designed there will be such balanced combination of form and function, subjected to the constraints of the design process, which will deliver a high-value product.
In a future scenario, in which PV makes a significant contribution to the electricity consumption of a given city, the importance of integration gains further enhancement, as problems of visual saturation may arise if integration (with a special emphasis on aesthetical integration) is not properly tackled. Apparently, this problem is already emerging in the world’s PV by far leading market – Japan.
The potential for maximised-value integrated photovoltaic technology in the diverse urban structures can be said to be poorly exploited, even if there are some attempts in the market, especially for buildings. But even for these, a further step ahead will have to pass through whole urban products incorporating PV – these will have a higher potential for diffusion than the PV products alone. Mass-production may be at quest then, though following the manufacturing principles of modular platforms as a means to achieve both some level of customisation and flexibility in space and time of the design solutions.
Meanwhile, PV technology has not recess development – in fact, it is said to be in its third generation, standard crystalline technology and thin films being acknowledged as the first and second generation, respectively. Here too, the potentialities offered by materials, especially these latest concepts, have not been properly exploited yet. In fact, there is a kind of boom in cell technology available in the market, ranging from back-contacted crystalline cells, to thin, bifacial and flexible mono-crystalline technology to spheral technology that combine characteristics not found in previous cell/module architectures. As a consequence, new form and function opportunities arise when designing PV-integrated urban-scale structures.
The urban form by itself is a powerful way of communication, especially when embedding design features; architecture, for instance, has elsewhere been acknowledged as the most public of arts, being arts a means of communication in its own right. Communication is an indispensable ingredient in the first phases of any technology-diffusion process, as it is a means to increase awareness and the willingness of ownership, while reducing social and institutional barriers. Effective communication of iconic values associated with PV, such as the production of green electricity and, more generally, of the sustainability paradigm, is essential at the present stage of market diffusion. Even though aesthetical communication may be straightforwardly resulting from the design concept, explicit communication of function may be at quest at present, as to avoid disregard attitudes resulting from the selective perception processes of potential PV adopters.
DESIGN OBJECTIVES AND CONSTRAINTS
Entries are requested to present proposals on urban-scale structures incorporating PV, not PV products by themselves. Examples of urban structures are:
Housing developments, being the critical dimension (e.g. a block, a neighbourhood, a district) subjected to the local context;
Mixed use developments;
Urban furniture;
New urban structures deriving from new urban planning paradigms (e.g. sustainable mobility)
Entries should take into consideration present trends in design methodologies, notably those inspired in human-centred design, i.e., following a framework based on human factors, addressing the physical, cognitive, social, and cultural issues involved in people's interactions with products, systems, organizations, and messages.
Entries are also requested to have market potential in the geographical contexts they are aimed at, which must be demonstrated through a short opportunity plan. The short opportunity plan guidelines can be found in Resources. The submitted designs should be able to be mass-produced, though under a modular platform philosophy, so to allow for customisation whenever relevant. The extent of customisation allowed for depends on the nature of the design object under development.
The design exercise must be additionally subjected to the following constraints:
Integration
PV materials are expected to be adequately integrated in the urban-scale design concept, both physically and aesthetically. The level of integration must be explicitly stated in the design description and should include the expected electricity output and other identification of other functions performed by PV materials. Attempts to quantify the value of these additional functions will be most welcome and considered a majoration factor.
New PV technological concepts or new application of conventional PV technological concepts Entries should attempt to make use of PV materials in innovative ways, both regarding conventional and new technological concepts.
Mass Production
Much welcome will be entries targeted at mass-production housing concepts. In this case it should be observed that, to a greater or lesser extent, in the developed countries housing is being produced under the philosophy of mass-production. Eventually, this will too lead to mass-produced renovation practices. The challenge is how to make these mass-production houses turn more sustainable, including PV as part of a wider strategy. An example of recent developments in housing mass-production concepts are presented in Mass-customised housing examples.
Communication
Entries must include an effective means of communicating to the wide public that the urban-scale structure has an embedded PV system, which is performing a given set of functions.
Timeline
Lisbon Ideas Challenge was firstly announced on the 16th of March 2005. Entries should be submitted from the 17th of October 2005 to the 15th of July 2006. Evaluation will take place until the first week of September 2006. Short-listed entries will be announced in October 2006. The venue of the prizes ceremony will be announced in due time. Stay tuned to the News Flashes, or subscribe the News Alert, and find out the latest announcements.
Announcement of Short-List Entries: October 2006
1st Lisbon Ideas Chalenge (http://www.lisbonideaschallenge.com.pt)
Definition & Objectives
Lisbon Ideas Challenge is an international design competition aimed at fostering innovative ideas relevant to the development of urban structures integrating PV systems and technologies. It encompasses an initial phase of direct contacts among experts from all areas involved in the competition and relevant institutions, followed by the presentation of the ideas to a pre-defined international committee.
This challenge is aimed to promote innovative ideas of technological and business potential, to be developed by architects, engineers and designers with interests in new energy concepts for the built environment, either university teams and/or entrepreneurs. It is also aimed to foster new contacts between business leaders and the previously identified actors in a way that will allow to explore both new urban concepts and science-based developments, as well as to foster entrepreneurial attitudes.”
Targeted Audience
Lisbon Ideas Challenge is a design competition mainly aimed at students and professionals recently graduated (e.g. for less than 5 years) in the fields of design (industrial, architects and other related fields) and engineering. Nevertheless, exceptional ideas submitted by professionals falling out of these specifications will also be considered. In both cases, entries are welcome to constitute R&D results close or ready to be demonstrated. Entries are equally welcome from any geographical location and can be done individually or by a team.
Design Brief
THE CONTEXT FOR A NEW COMPETITION
In the developed world, there is a growing involvement of urban planners, architects and industrial designers in the design of our cities, giving new meanings and importance to the relationship between architecture, design and popular interests and lifestyles. These professionals hold increasingly a fairly high share of responsibility for the environmental performance of the urban structures they devise, and of the city as a whole, namely in its energy dimension. There is thus an urging need for shifting the paradigms underlying the design process so to incorporate, as guiding principles, the concepts of sustainability as a means to increasingly attain lower levels of energy consumption, in conjunction with higher levels of use of renewable energy technologies. Among these, photovoltaic (PV) technologies have the unique potential to be merged with the urban fabric, enriching its design texture, while transforming cities in huge, distributed green-electricity production facilities.
Nevertheless, and even though general awareness about photovoltaic solar technology is increasing worldwide, adoption of practices leading to effective, systemic and widespread integration in the urban fabric has not happened yet. What do we understand by integration? Integration of photovoltaic technology in urban structures is usually discussed in association with buildings, being the first ones to be identified as suitable. The basic function of a PV product is to directly generate electricity from a renewable energy source – the sun. The use of PV in buildings was first motivated by the evidence that such approach withdraws the need for dedicated land resources, therefore providing for an effective means to reduce/avoid cost(s) at the system level. This preliminary understanding has evolved to a wider view of the additional role that a PV system can potentially perform when integrated into a given building skin: PV materials eventually embed a multifunctional character. In fact, PV can be physically integrated into façades and roofs and become part of the watertight and thermal insulation layers; of the daylighting and/or shading systems; or be an active element in a given cooling strategy. PV materials have additionally an intrinsic aesthetic character that must be exploited in the design concept as a value-adder, either of a building or any other urban structure. The optimal combination of physical and aesthetical integration is therefore expected to maximise the overall value of the PV system, and it should be noted that this can correspond to a situation where the system is not optimised for its energy output, as a conventional engineering approach could suggest. For each object being designed there will be such balanced combination of form and function, subjected to the constraints of the design process, which will deliver a high-value product.
In a future scenario, in which PV makes a significant contribution to the electricity consumption of a given city, the importance of integration gains further enhancement, as problems of visual saturation may arise if integration (with a special emphasis on aesthetical integration) is not properly tackled. Apparently, this problem is already emerging in the world’s PV by far leading market – Japan.
The potential for maximised-value integrated photovoltaic technology in the diverse urban structures can be said to be poorly exploited, even if there are some attempts in the market, especially for buildings. But even for these, a further step ahead will have to pass through whole urban products incorporating PV – these will have a higher potential for diffusion than the PV products alone. Mass-production may be at quest then, though following the manufacturing principles of modular platforms as a means to achieve both some level of customisation and flexibility in space and time of the design solutions.
Meanwhile, PV technology has not recess development – in fact, it is said to be in its third generation, standard crystalline technology and thin films being acknowledged as the first and second generation, respectively. Here too, the potentialities offered by materials, especially these latest concepts, have not been properly exploited yet. In fact, there is a kind of boom in cell technology available in the market, ranging from back-contacted crystalline cells, to thin, bifacial and flexible mono-crystalline technology to spheral technology that combine characteristics not found in previous cell/module architectures. As a consequence, new form and function opportunities arise when designing PV-integrated urban-scale structures.
The urban form by itself is a powerful way of communication, especially when embedding design features; architecture, for instance, has elsewhere been acknowledged as the most public of arts, being arts a means of communication in its own right. Communication is an indispensable ingredient in the first phases of any technology-diffusion process, as it is a means to increase awareness and the willingness of ownership, while reducing social and institutional barriers. Effective communication of iconic values associated with PV, such as the production of green electricity and, more generally, of the sustainability paradigm, is essential at the present stage of market diffusion. Even though aesthetical communication may be straightforwardly resulting from the design concept, explicit communication of function may be at quest at present, as to avoid disregard attitudes resulting from the selective perception processes of potential PV adopters.
DESIGN OBJECTIVES AND CONSTRAINTS
Entries are requested to present proposals on urban-scale structures incorporating PV, not PV products by themselves. Examples of urban structures are:
Housing developments, being the critical dimension (e.g. a block, a neighbourhood, a district) subjected to the local context;
Mixed use developments;
Urban furniture;
New urban structures deriving from new urban planning paradigms (e.g. sustainable mobility)
Entries should take into consideration present trends in design methodologies, notably those inspired in human-centred design, i.e., following a framework based on human factors, addressing the physical, cognitive, social, and cultural issues involved in people's interactions with products, systems, organizations, and messages.
Entries are also requested to have market potential in the geographical contexts they are aimed at, which must be demonstrated through a short opportunity plan. The short opportunity plan guidelines can be found in Resources. The submitted designs should be able to be mass-produced, though under a modular platform philosophy, so to allow for customisation whenever relevant. The extent of customisation allowed for depends on the nature of the design object under development.
The design exercise must be additionally subjected to the following constraints:
Integration
PV materials are expected to be adequately integrated in the urban-scale design concept, both physically and aesthetically. The level of integration must be explicitly stated in the design description and should include the expected electricity output and other identification of other functions performed by PV materials. Attempts to quantify the value of these additional functions will be most welcome and considered a majoration factor.
New PV technological concepts or new application of conventional PV technological concepts Entries should attempt to make use of PV materials in innovative ways, both regarding conventional and new technological concepts.
Mass Production
Much welcome will be entries targeted at mass-production housing concepts. In this case it should be observed that, to a greater or lesser extent, in the developed countries housing is being produced under the philosophy of mass-production. Eventually, this will too lead to mass-produced renovation practices. The challenge is how to make these mass-production houses turn more sustainable, including PV as part of a wider strategy. An example of recent developments in housing mass-production concepts are presented in Mass-customised housing examples.
Communication
Entries must include an effective means of communicating to the wide public that the urban-scale structure has an embedded PV system, which is performing a given set of functions.
Timeline
Lisbon Ideas Challenge was firstly announced on the 16th of March 2005. Entries should be submitted from the 17th of October 2005 to the 15th of July 2006. Evaluation will take place until the first week of September 2006. Short-listed entries will be announced in October 2006. The venue of the prizes ceremony will be announced in due time. Stay tuned to the News Flashes, or subscribe the News Alert, and find out the latest announcements.