Open Architecture Network

The Open Architecture Challenge

Each year the Open Architecture Challenge harnesses the creativity and energy of the design community to address a different systemic issue facing those living in underserved communities. The Open Architecture Challenge is an open, international design competition that reaches beyond the traditional bounds of architecture by challenging architects, designers and others to solve inequities in the built environment affecting the health, prosperity and well-being of under-served communities.

AMD 2007 Open Architecture Challenge: Digital Inclusion
Submission Date: September 2007 to February 2008
Jury Date: March to April 2008
Site Winners: To be announced May 2008
Challenge Winner: To be announced May 2008

Sponsored by:

        

Imagining a world without the Internet is nearly impossible. Despite the Internet’s global significance, less than 20 percent of the world’s 6 billion people currently have access to the educational, social and economic opportunities it can create.

The 2007 Open Architecture Challenge was an open, international design competition to develop not one but many solutions for building sustainable, multi-purpose, low-cost technology facilities for those who need them most. Three community partners were selected and each site posed a unique set of design constraints and opportunities. While the needs of each client were unique, the hurdles they face in embracing technology to offer access to education, healthcare and the global marketplace are shared by millions of people in communities all over the world.

The three site challenges were:

South America
Community Partner: Kallari Association, Napo Province, Ecuador
Challenge: Connect a cooperative of indigenous chocolate producers and artisans in the Ecuadorian Amazon with the global marketplace by building a fair trade exchange, chocolate production center and satellite rural technology points. Learn more

Africa
Community Partner: SIDAREC, Nairobi, Kenya
Challenge: Empower the youth of Mukuru Kwa Njenga, an informal slum settlement of 250,000, to connect with other youth and create positive change in their community by building a technology media center and recording studio. Learn more

Asia
Community Partner: Nyaya Health, Sanfe Bagar, Nepal
Challenge: Enable families in a remote rural area of Nepal where there is only one doctor for a population of 250,000 to access to health care from top physicians and medical professionals all over the world by building a tele-medicine center. Learn more

Currently the competition is being juried. Once jurying is completed (mid April - early May), all entries will be viewable by the public. Additionally, the overall winning solution will be built and one years' operating costs will be given to the community partner with funds provided by AMD. Centers will be constructed for the other two sites and replicated for additional community partners as funding becomes available.

Competition Links
Community Review Process
Full list of Community Partner proposals
Jury Members
Timeline
FAQs
Official Competition Video: The Challenge by Turk Pipkin

Currently we are adding a number of completed competitions and will be hosting a series of competitions to improve living standards. Additionally the Open Architecture Network will include a number of previously run competitions including:

Transitional Housing for Returning Refugees in Kosovo (1999)

Outreach: Mobile Health Facility to Combat HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa (2002)

Siyathemba Youth Sports Facility and HIV/AIDS Outreach Center (2004)

Shelter in a Cart: designboom social awareness award (2006)