Smarter Better Houses

Many houses are beige disasters: awkwardly plopped on a lot, poorly designed, shoddily built, and functionally inefficient, with little thought given to their surroundings or the acts of living that go on inside them.

We believe technology and rationality can allow normal people to have homes that are affordable, efficient, thoughtfully designed, well-made, and cogent responses to the necessities of both their sites and their residents.

Show us your plans for a smarter, better house.

Contest: Design a single family residence that is the best house you can imagine. Areas that we thought of for optimization were cost of construction, cost of maintenance, and liveability of design, but feel free to provide your own focus.

Eligbility: Entrant must be a student in a post-secondary institution.

Entry fee: Each entry must be accompanied by a $20 fee, which must be made through PayPal.  An individual may submit any number of entries.

Deadline: Electronic and mailed components of entries must be received by midnight on May 31, 2009.

Awards: Grand prize will be $2,000, plus a $500 award to the faculty sponsor of the winning student. Depending on the number and quality of entries, an additional number of designs will be chosen as Merit Finalists and will be displayed on the contest’s website.

Judges: Judges will be representatives of the fields of architecture, construction, interior design, and normal humanity.

Criteria for judging: Criteria for judging submissions include rational use of materials, construction processes, and energy sources to maximize cost efficiency of construction and/or operation; rational use and design of interior space to maximize the liveabilty of the house for its residents; and depth of detail of submitted plans.

Entry requirements:
1. Electronic submission: Zip these together.
  a. AutoCAD 2007 or later: plans, sections, and elevations are required. Details, electrical, mechanical, etc.
      will earn you serious bonus points. The more detail you can provide, the better.
  b. Powerpoint: in no more than 15 slides, tell us why your house is the best house you can imagine.
      Explain the parameters you established and how you met or optimized these goals.

2. Mailed submission: We get tired of looking at the computer screen. Mail us a board (24” x 36”) that
  includes your plans, sections, elevations, renderings, and anything else you want to show us.

  Send it to:
  Smarter Better Houses, Inc.
  75 Springdale Avenue
  Asheville, NC 28803

www.smarterbetterhouses.com