A property that is “in play” is a property at risk. Our current development decisions put into play a series of events that dictate the future environmental, social, and economic course of a property for generations to come and far beyond the immediate development impacts and costs. Play Space is a place that aspires to change the way we look at development. It is a place that looks to the future and aims to provide the support necessary to achieve carbon neutrality on a community scale.

THE CHALLENGE
Green Spaces is an annual design competition that offers collaborative, community level solutions to existing and future environmental issues. This year’s “Play Space” challenge is to design a sustainable outdoor play space that will serve as a cultural, environmental, and economic amenity for the surrounding neighborhood as well as a teaching tool to educate children and adults about their environment. It is a two-year challenge with 2009 serving as Phase I (in) and 2010 serving as Phase II (out). Teams will register in either professional or student categories and their entries will be judged and presented at the Green Spaces Forum on April 16th, 2009 in Richmond. In addition, the City of Richmond’s K-12 afterschool programs will compete on the same site to design a playground by reusing or repurposing the materials from on-site condemned buildings.

THE PROGRAM
Within the site’s 10.42 acre boundaries, the play space must be designed to accommodate the program components listed below.  This area is approximately 25% of the total development area of 44 acres that it will be serving. Program elements should be integrated with each other and the overall park space.
  Child space:  Design a space that is easily accessible and includes enough space for 50 children (of various ages from toddlers through elementary school age), the associated activities and equipment. 
  Adult space:  Design a space or collection of spaces for older children and adults to use for exercise and play. 
  Community space:  Provide space for community social gatherings and events.  Focus should be on bringing people together for social interaction as well as entertainment.
  Environmental space:  Incorporate methods to make the space self-sustaining and beneficial to a percentage of the surrounding community.  The space shall provide electricity, carbon offsets, sewage treatment, and storm water treatment on the site.  In addition to being self-sustaining, the design should provide for the needs and reduce the impacts of the surrounding community. 

The beneficial impacts will be measured as a percentage of 100 homes.  The following are the assumed quantities per home of a typical residence in the surrounding neighborhood:
-  Electricity - 10 kwh/day
-  CO2 - 450 tons/day
-  Sewage - 50 gallons/day
-  Storm water - 2250 gallons per event storage
-  Potable Water - 140 gallons/day
-  Community connectivity space:  Address access to the site by the community and how the space relates to its surroundings. 

THE SITE
The project site is located within the City of Richmond, Virginia and is a brownfield site owned by the City at the former Fulton Gas Works. The 10.42 acre parcel is located at 3301 Williamsburg Avenue and is part of a larger site known as the Extended Fulton Gas Works Area that consists of approximately 44 acres of land both city owned and privately owned bounded generally by Ash Street and Williamsburg Avenue to the north and east, the James River to the east, and Nicholson Street to the south. The city’s ultimate goal for the entire Extended Fulton Gas Works Area is to create a diverse, mixed-use, pedestrian friendly community that may include residential, office, retail, transportation, and green spaces resulting in increased property usage and revenues to the City of Richmond.

THE JURY
Judging will be performed by a stellar jury from Philadelphia who are currently being assembled. The Jury Chair is Charlie Tomlinson of Wallace Roberts and Todd. We will announce the remaining jury members at a later date.

SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS
Submissions should be delivered to the JRGBC at 2415 Westwood Avenue, Richmond, Virginia 23230 / (804) 288-2950 / greenspaces@jrgbc.org.
Submissions should be made on a maximum of (2) 24X36 prints.

At minimum, prints must include:
-  Site plan providing context (scale at the discretion of the entrant).
-  Illustration of key elements of sustainable infrastructure and systems.
-  Community Health Index (CHI) scoring.  Example available on website.
-  Illustration/description of systems.
-  Do Not include names or the name of the team on the print.

Each entry must also provide a digital file of the image as a JPEG or TIFF format at 300 dpi, full size.
A (1) page summary in PDF form to provide the judges with further insight into the submission.
Prints should be rolled up in cardboard tubes suitable for shipping (low-VOC & recyclable materials).
Prints should have square corners (no grommets).

Failure to follow the submission requirements can result in disqualification. This will be at the judges’ discretion.

REGISTER
All teams are required to complete an on-line registration form after submitting the registration fee below. The form will open after you submit the entry fee. You will be able to edit this form at a later date from the website so make sure to keep track of the password that you supply on the form. All information must be complete to be considered a valid entry. Registration is open to anyone and is international. The winning teams should consider their ability to travel to the Forum to accept their award and to participate in the Forum. 
-  Teams must register as either student-led or professional-led.
-  A registration fee of $50/project print is required for professional-led teams. (max 2 prints)
-  A registration fee of $30/project print is required for student-led teams. (max 2 prints)

Registration and payment must be completed online by the deadline. The late registration fee is $30. (refer to the schedule for registration deadlines).

SCHEDULE
1/5/09 Call for entries. Registration opens
2/13/09 Regular registration ends
3/20/09 Entries due. Late registration ends
4/1/09 Judging
4/2/09 Winners notified
4/16/09 Forum