Type: Open, two-phase, restricted
Registration Deadline: January 7, 2001
Submission Deadline: February 21, 2001 - Phase 1 and May 15, 2001 - Phase 2
Open to: American multi-disciplinary teams
Entry Fee: US$50 Early, US$100 Late
Awards: Worth US$100,000
Jury: Not yet announced
WestStart and the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), in collaboration with seventeen communities around the country, are staging a competition to foster a new and innovative service called Bus Rapid Transit (BRT). BRT is a high quality service that will significantly reduce travel time, reduce congestion and improve air quality. The competition will challenge multi-disciplinary teams -- industrial designers, planners, engineers, architects, artists, manufacturers, community groups -- to envision innovative ways in which new bus vehicles, transit sites and integrated support systems can be designed to best serve the future American community.
In the past, bus design and its use has followed a narrow, traditional approach. Bus transit has filled a relatively small role in the expansion of transit opportunities; in many instances, that role has devolved into the choice of last resort. But as traffic congestion increases, rail transit costs escalate, and funding timelines stretch out into decades, new ideas are beginning to emerge. These ideas encourage us as a nation to rethink how new vehicles might move America, and how 'buses of the future' might serve us better.
The competition format anticipates a multi-disciplinary team of professionals or students with representatives from the following areas of expertise: Industrial and Urban Designers, Planners, Architects, Landscape Architects, Interior Designers and Engineers. Additional skills may be garnered from outside areas, including talent drawn from, but not limited to, graphic designers, artists, management, or from anyone able to contribute to an insightful and creative submittal. Competitors will be encouraged to design new vehicles that can better solve the needs of cities, towns and patrons as part of the rapid transit system. Competitors must also show how new visions of integrated/intermodal transportation can contribute to communities through imaginative approaches to transit, its stops, stations, nodes or links, its infrastructure, services and its application. Successful submissions will take advantage of the emerging new BRT thinking and technology, and many new transit enhancing services which allow buses and transit sites to serve a greatly expanded role in the transportation network.
The competition will be held from mid-January until mid-May and will contain two related challenges. The first challenge, the design of the vehicle platform, will consist of a rapid sketch problem to solicit initial ideas on the design of the bus, to be submitted February 21, 2001. Each team will be responsible for designing a 'vehicle of the future' that can serve the New/Bus Rapid Transit concepts and better meet the opportunities for our communities than the vehicles available today. The second challenge of the competition will focus on the final design of the bus and its integration into a specific community, to be chosen by each competing team. The submittals will illustrate the qualities of the bus design, how it can serve special new needs, and how new infrastructure and associated transportation enhancements can positively impact the quality of life and environment in the American community. Final submittals will be in two-dimensional sketch/illustration form and will include an electronic or "soft" copy suitable for display on the Internet and hard copy publications.
Monetary and non-monetary awards will be issued in multiple categories for both stages of the design competition. Awards for the most creative ideas in the first stage will be announced at the end of the competition. A distinguished jury is being formed to review and premiate the entries. Additional expert feedback and workshops will be offered during the course of the competition.
For more information or to register, contact:
Fred Silver
Competition Manager
WestStart
Phone: 805.987.1462
Email: fsilver@weststart.org
or
Jonathan Harris
University, College and Industrial Team Entrants Coordinator
The Cecil Group
Phone: 617.424.8686
Email: jharris@cecilgroup.com
Website: http://www.weststart.org
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