Oculus 2007 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 are looking for writers for the Fall and Winter issues. The themes:

Fall OCULUS: Practice. Focus of this year’s Practice issue is on the architectural office — the culture and decision-making structure of NY-based practices, how the office’s design reflects the culture, along with the views key players in the firm.

Winter OCULUS: Competing for Space. Explore the growing competition between expansionist institutions on limited sites and the interests of adjacent communities, many in residential areas with moderate-income families.

If you’re interested, please contact OCULUS editor-in-chief Kristen Richards. with a brief outline and full contact information.

Spring 2008: closed
Summer: Design Awards — AIANY Design Awards (02.08.08 registration deadline); AIANY/BSA Building Type Design Awards (03.01.08 registration deadline)
06.01.08 Fall 2008: Practice
08.01.08 Winter 2008-09: Competing for Space

02.15.08 Call for Entries: Share a New Vision: Redesign the Bank Branch of the Future
This international design competition asks young designers and architects to contemplate banks of the future, including ways to make them more comfortable and relaxing environments. The challenge is to design a space in which customers can obtain information and feel in control, thanks to visual itineraries, interactive zones, self-service technologies, and entertainment areas.

02.25.08 Call for Entries: 2008 ARCHI-TECH AV Awards Competition
This program honors the creative and effective integration of technology into otherwise traditional construction projects. Award winners will be prominently featured in the July/August 2008 issue of ARCHI-TECH and showcased at the InfoComm International Exhibition. Each winning project will be the subject of its own educational “e-lunch and learn” webinar offered to architects for continuing education credits.

02.29.08 Call for Entries: Millennium School Competition
Part of the Be Better Build Better Campaign, this international competition seeks designs for school buildings in tropical developing countries. The competition will facilitate the emergence of new sustainable design solutions and appropriate technologies to improve the quality of school buildings — particularly in areas that face natural disasters such as typhoons, flash floods, and earthquakes.

03.01.08 Call for Nominations: 2008 National Preservation Awards
Each year the National Trust celebrates the best of preservation by presenting awards to individuals and organizations whose contributions demonstrate excellence in historic preservation. Nominated projects must have been completed in the past three years.

03.07.08 Call for Proposals: Van Alen Institute New York Prize
Fellowship
The Van Alen Institute welcomes proposals for public projects from emerging scholars and practitioners in the design and planning disciplines and other fields in the arts, humanities, and sciences. Up to five Resident Fellowships and one Partnered Fellowship with the Social Science Research Council will be awarded for three-month-long residency periods in 2008-2009. Fellowship awards include project support, work, and gallery space at the Institute, publication in Public Practice, stipend, and a range of project production, research, and programming resources.

03.07.08 Call for Entries: AIA Los Angeles Design Awards
The AIA Los Angeles Chapter encourages any architect who has completed projects in the Los Angeles area to enter the 2008 AIA/LA Design Awards, NEXT LA Awards, and the Cultural Affairs Commission (CAC) Awards. In addition to projects by Los Angeles-based architects, projects that are located in the Los Angeles area are also eligible for awards.

03.10.08 Call for Entries: 2008 COD Ideas Competition: Branding the American House
The AIA Committee on Design (COD) invites architects, students, and allied design professionals to submit that examine parallels between design professions and the automobile industry. Winners will be funded to attend the COD Spring Design Conference in Detroit and have their work exhibited at the 2008 AIA National Convention in Boston.

03.31.08 Call for Entries: Promosedia International Design Competition: Caiazza Memorial Challenge 2008
Architects and designers under 40 and students are invited to submit indoor chair designs made predominately of timber. The competition seeks unpublished, original, and technically feasible designs with due attention to ergonomics, function, materials, and the requirements for mass production. The First Prize of €3,500 will be awarded and up to two special recognition awards (€500 as expense reimbursement). Prototypes will be made of the winning entries and they will be on display at the Promosedia2008 — International Chair Exhibition.

03.31.08 Call for Submissions: Flip a Strip
The Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art has launched a national design competition and exhibition calling for visionary renovations of the small-scale strip shopping plazas found throughout the U.S. Aimed at inspiring new ideas and creativity, the initiative is billed as an idea-generating competition, not a design/build project. Three cash prizes will be bestowed. Participants must be architects with at least five years professional experience and are asked to develop a model that makes strip malls “economically viable, aesthetically interesting, and communally meaningful.”

03.31.08 Call for Entries: Deborah J. Norden Fund
The Deborah J. Norden Fund, administered by the Architectural League of New York, awards a total of up to $5,000 annually in travel/ study grants to students and recent graduates in the fields of architecture, architectural history, and urban studies.

04.20.08 Call for Ideas: 2008 Storefront / Control Group White House Redux Design Competition
What if the White House were to be designed today? In celebration of this election year, the Storefront for Art and Architecture in association with Control Group, seeks designs for a new residence for the President. The best ideas, designs, descriptions, images, and videos will be featured in a month-long exhibition at Storefront in July 2008. All three winners will be flown to NY to collect their prizes at the opening party.