The 2nd Annual Life of an Architect Playhouse Design Competition has officially come to close! It was an amazing competition this year with so many really great designs … the pressure has really turned up on for me to get more of these playhouses built.
This past Saturday – April 27th – we took the top 30 entries that were selected from the previous round and argued and debated their merits to get down to the top three entries. This process was more difficult than the previous round of judging – there were more arguments, more scrutiny, and more wine consumed. In all, the process took about 3 hours and at one point we had to take a break before coming back to the entrants to continue the evaluation process.The general concepts we used during the judging process for determining the winners were:
- Overall Design
- Appeal
- Constructibility
- Adherence to rules – mostly regarding the safe-guarding of the playhouses while they were on display)
It might sound easy but picking the top 3 was a lot more difficult than you might think – not one entry was a unanimous winner. I was not one of the judges although I was there to answer questions and provide some guidance on the process of building and protecting the playhouses.
The judges for this round consisted of:
Andrew Hawkins – Architect and owner of Hawkins Architecture
Cindy Warner – Director of Finance and Administration for Dallas CASA
Bryan Botterman – Construction Project Administrator for Austin Commercial, Inc.
Dana Lutz – Marketing and Cultural Representative
Kate Borson and Ella Luter – Generational Relevance Administrators representing “target demographic”
This was a well informed and diverse group of judges – I was very impressed with the types of questions they brought up as they clarify considerations and challenge one another on their assumptions.
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Kate Borson, Ella Luter and Bryan Botterman
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Cindy Warner and her husband David Warner
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Bob Borson, Ritzy Borson, and Andrew Hawkins
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Enough delaying … I am pleased to announce the winners of the
2013 2nd Annual Life of an Architect Playhouse Design Competition!
(as a reminder, we are currently planning on building three playhouses but there are plans to build as many as five. As a result, there are two additional playhouses that were selected as “alternates” which will get built if we are able to secure the possible resources OR if one of the three playhouses selected here are not able to be constructed for some reason. (unlikely scenario)
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1st Place Winner
Thanh Ho Phuong – Piacenza, Italy
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2nd Place Winner.
Katie Friesen – Media, Pennsylvania, USA
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3rd Place Winner
Sarah Fox – Raleigh, North Carolina, USA
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1st Runner Up
Alex Greenhut – Los Angeles, California, USA
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2nd Runner Up
Travis Pawley – Norman, Oklahoma, USA
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Congratulations to the winners and I would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to everyone who took the time to participate in this competition.
(in case you are new to Life of an Architect – here is a little information on Dallas CASA, and the volunteers that donate their time to abused and neglected children – these are the people these marvelous playhouses will benefit)
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Information on Dallas CASA:
Dallas CASA (which stands for Court Appointed Special Advocates) is a nonprofit organization of community volunteers trained and supervised to serve as voices in court for abused and neglected children. On any day in Dallas County, there are nearly 2,000 children waiting for a safe place to live. Many times the CASA volunteer is the only constant in the child’s life during this very difficult process. Parade of Playhouses raises funds for Dallas CASA to continue serving more children who need safe, permanent homes where they can thrive.
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Special Thanks to:
This is the third year in a row that AUI Contractors has stepped up and funded the construction of several of these playhouses. I became familiar with AUI thanks to Tim Guedry, a friend of mine dating back to high school who is now the Director of Commercial Construction Services for AUI. Considering that I am primarily a residential architect, their financial commitment speaks to how much they care about the work Dallas CASA is doing in the community. Without the involvement of AUI, this competition would not be the success that it has become – I am proud of AUI and their commitment to Dallas CASA.
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Thanks again to everyone who played along this year – I hope to see you back again next year. If you are one of the five people who have won the 2nd Annual Life of an Architect Playhouse Design Competition, I will be in touch with what happens next … you need to start preparing construction drawings.
Cheers,
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