Oculus 2008 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 Winter issue. The theme:

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.

08.01.08 Winter 2008-09: Competing for Space

08.08.08 Call for Entries: Park(ing) Day
On Park(ing) Day — launching on 09.19.08 — people will reclaim parking spots for a single day, transforming them into vibrant, functional, public spaces. The NYC Streets Renaissance in partnership with the Trust for Public Land will reserve 50 spots this year, and they are seeking architects, landscape architects, designers, and artists to help bring inventive installations to the streets by building collaborative Park(ing) Spots. Projects will be a partnership between the designer/firm and an NYC community group; they should reflect the social, cultural, and aesthetic context of the community in which they are built.

09.05.08 Call for Entries: Social Habitat and Development Competition
The Colegio de Arquitectos of Ecuador invites architectural design professionals to participate in this international competition as part of the XVI Quito Pan-American Architecture Biennale to be held 11.17-21.08. All participating projects will be published in the Biennale catalogue. The BAQ/2008, in partnership with the Department of Housing Development and Management of the University of Lund, Sweden, and under the Program PROMESHA created the award to acknowledge efforts to improve the lives of the most vulnerable urban populations within a sustainable framework, and to provide better living standards and an improved quality of life.

09.15.08 Call for Nominations: Richard H. Driehaus Prize
The $200,000 prize, administered through the University of Notre Dame School of Architecture, is awarded annually to an outstanding architect or firm whose work applies the principles of Classicism, with respect to sustainability, in the built and natural environment. Practicing architects, firms and their representatives, as well as industry leaders, architectural students, and classical enthusiasts are encouraged to submit nominations for consideration for the 2009 laureate.

09.15.08 Call for Entries: From the Ground Up: Innovative Green Homes
This competition seeks to provide a new model for formerly vital, urban residential neighborhoods through the creation of sustainable, affordable housing. Selected teams will work on infill sites, proposing designs for a 1,100- to 1,500-square-foot, single-family home to be built in the Near Westside neighborhood of Syracuse, NY. The goal of the competition is to create innovative designs for cost-efficient, green prototypes sensitive to the scale and composition of the existing conditions, while providing a new vision that is legible to a wide array of existing and potential residents.

09.19.08 Call for Submissions: P/A Awards
The P/A Awards recognize unbuilt projects demonstrating overall design excellence and innovation. Architects and other design professionals practicing in the U.S., Canada, or Mexico may enter one or more submissions. Proposals may be for any location, but work must have been directed and substantially executed in offices in any of the three countries. All entries must be commissioned by paying clients for execution. Winners will be honored at a celebration in NY in January 2009, and published in the January 2009 issue of ARCHITECT.

09.19.08 Call for Architects: Smithsonian Institution African American Museum Design
The Smithsonian Institution is calling for initial ideas to build the newest museum on the National Mall, which will be dedicated to black history. The National Museum of African American History and Culture is scheduled to open in 2015 and officials hope to name an architectural team by spring 2009. Submissions will be narrowed down to between three and seven firms for a design competition. Congress has pledged to provide half of the museum’s $500 million cost, with private fundraising to cover the balance. The Smithsonian is encouraging minority architects to participate, but teams submitting proposals are not required to include minorities.

10.01.08 Call for Entries: Make Some Green Competition
Keeseh Studio invites students and design enthusiasts to pursue ecodesign that utilizes waste material. The goal is to promote “upcycling,” or the use of waste material as raw material for other products or processes, by generating innovative designs and redefining the standards of environmental sustainability. Three entries will win media coverage of their product or process and one will win a cash prize of $1,000.

10.15.08 Call for Entries: 2008 Beyond Green High-Performance Building Awards
The Sustainable Buildings Industry Council SBIC will recognize initiatives that shape, inform, and catalyze the high-performance building market, as well as the real-world application of high-performance design and construction practices. Award winners will present their projects in January 2009 in Washington D.C., in conjunction with an awards reception. Winning projects will also receive a plaque, be published on the Whole Building Design Guide website, in SBIC’s newsletter, and included in SBIC technical guidelines and publications.