2009 Oculus Editorial Calendar
If you are an architect by training or see yourself as an astute observer of New York’s architectural and planning scene, note that OCULUS editors want to hear from you! Projects/topics may be anywhere, but architects must be New York-based. The themes:

Spring Issue: Elevating Architecture / Design Literacy for All. Closed.

Summer Issue: AIANY 2009 Design Awards and AIANY/BSA Biennial Building Type Awards
02.06.09: Registration Deadline

Fall Issue: Carbon Neutral Now. The new green frontier, carbon neutrality, researched, explored, planned, and designed at all scales by New York architects.
06.01.09: Suggestion Deadline

Winter Issue: Health & Architecture. Architecture designed to promote fitness, health, and wellness will be profiled. Projects selected from within this growing field will demonstrate sensitivity to generational and demographic issues, sustainability, and technology.
08.01.09: Suggestion Deadline

If you have suggestions, please contact OCULUS editor-in-chief Kristen Richards.

01.14.09 Call for Ideas: Lighting up the Gesù
As part of an ideas competition, the Quartier des spectacles Partnership, the Gesù, and the City of Montreal’s Design Montréal agency invites designers and creators to submit lighting, architecture, and scenographic proposals that will reveal the unique personality of the Gesù. Montreal’s only entirely baroque church housing the oldest operating performance hall in Quebec. Cash prizes include: Grand prize: $10,000; Second prize: $5,000; Third prize: $3,000; and Public choice award: $2,000.

01.15.09 Call for Entries: Greener Gadgets Design Competition
This competition challenges established design firms, emerging designers, and design students to develop new and innovative solutions that address issues of energy, carbon footprint, health and toxicity, new materials, product lifecycle, and social development. The top 50 entries will be published on the web for voting and commenting, and top finalists will be showcased live at the Greener Gadgets Conference (02.27.09 in the McGraw-Hill Conference Center) for judging by an expert panel. Winners will be showcased on Core77.com, GreenerGadgets.com, CE.org, and Inhabitat.com. Cash prizes include: Grand Prize: $3,000; Second Prize: $1,000; and Third Prize: US$1,000.

01.15.09 Call for Entries: 2009 Gensler African-American Internship & Scholarship
This program aims to recognize the best emerging talent among African-American college students in architecture programs and raise awareness about the profession to African-Americans. Open to African-American students approaching their final year in a NAAB-accredited program, once nominated by their academic institution, applicants are selected through a juried application process. Two finalists will be awarded scholarship funds, paid directly to their college or university, toward the cost of their final academic year. One winner will also be awarded a paid summer internship in a Gensler regional office, where he or she will be paired with a Gensler mentor.

01.23.09 Call for Entries: Cut&Paste Digital Design Tournament 2009
The competition is for an annual, live 16-city digital design tournament. This year, 3-D design and motion design contests have been introduced. The 2009 tour will begin in North America in February, and Europe and Asia will follow. The Global Championships, which will feature a winner from each of the 16 participating cities, will take place in NYC in June 2009. One Grand Prize winner from each category in each city (48 in all) will receive an expenses-paid trip to NYC for the Global Championships.

03.03.09 Call for Entries: In the Pursuit of Housing
This biennial awards program, sponsored by the Boston Society of Architects and Architectural Record, gathers and exhibits a wide range of housing designs proposed for urban, suburban, and rural communities by architecture students and recent graduates. Selected work will address the challenge of housing the world’s population, with particular interest in projects that are innovative, socially progressive, and sustainable. In addition to a juried exhibition, awards may be given to projects that exhibit exceptional clarity of intention and thoughtfulness of resolution.