The Life of an Architect Playhouse Competition 2013 is rapidly approaching the end of the beginning. Registration and entries are due in to me on April 15th and even though that is currently 3 weeks away, I received my first completed submission this week! (That is called “getting on it” … even I was surprised.) So after taking a look and making sure all the submission criteria had been met, I thought I had better get my own design out there so that:

a) I don’t get accused of cheating should someone else submit a similar design; and

b) while there have been multiple playhouses built with the same theme before, if they are too similar there is always hesitancy to build them. (for example, we had two lighthouse themed playhouses last year, but they were so different it didn’t create a problem)

c) despite the fact that I am running this competition AND I am designing a playhouse, my design is not part of the competition.

Now that I’ve said what I needed to say, let’s take a look at what I’ve got going on:

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So here is my design for the Dallas CASA Parade of Playhouses event – it’s working title at this point is “The Birdhouse”. I still have quite of bit of work left to do but since I felt compelled (see reasons a,b, and c above) I wanted to at least show what my intent will be. This is, at rough count, the 8th or 9th playhouse that I’ve designed over the last 5 years – so I know what I like. I’m struggling with telling people who might possibly be working on their own submissions why I did what I did – I don’t want to pollute your design process. I will say that the main consideration I am using is “would I want this in my backyard?”

In this case – Yes, I would.

This is a rough 3-dimensional model that I made on my lunch break today – really just trying to get my concept down. I can already tell you that the angle of the roof pitch will change, the spacing of the rafters is off, and the regularly scaled bird houses will slide to the center of the jumbo bird house … all of these things need to be modified to achieve the imagery I want. I will probably adjust the model but like most people, my lunch hour only has 60 minutes in it.

Now that you know what I intend on doing, I would also like to remind you that it’s not too late to register and design your playhouse by April 15th. Really – you can do it, I have faith.

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For those of you who just need a brief refresher, here is the most important information – for a full recap of all the rules, regulations, advice, etc. check out the kickoff post for the Life of an Architect Playhouse Competition 2013 event.

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Who can enter?

This competition will be open to anyone from anywhere – the only entry criteria is the following:

you have to be a living member of the human race.

A good attitude should also be a requirement but that’s more of a personal judgement call.

That’s pretty much it, so there really isn’t a good reason not to participate. Oh, wait a minute … did I forget to mention that there’s no fee required to enter!! It just keeps getting better and better doesn’t it? If I am going to ask for you to flex your design chops to benefit needy kids, I’m sure as heck not going to charge anybody an entry fee.

What do I submit?

All submissions are required to be in electronic form with a file size not to exceed 5MB. For the judging process, you should submit plans, elevations, sections, perspectives … whatever you feel best conveys your design. Whichever drawings you do choose to create need to be arranged 24″ x 36″ and vertically oriented – it is very important that you follow these submission guidelines. I would humbly request that no animations be submitted.

**You are not required to generate construction drawings unless your design is selected as a winner**

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Fill out my online form

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Timeline

Registration starts immediately – fill out the form above and you are good to go!

April 15th (Monday) – design submissions will be due. Deliverable will be a 24″x36″ vertically oriented JPEG or PNG file format emailed to bob@lifeofanarchitect.com (file size not to exceed 5MB). In the case of multiple entries by a single designer (person or group), please send each entry by itself. Do not place any personal information (like your name) on your digital submission – I want to keep things fair during the judging process.

April 19th (Friday) – initial round of judging (by celebrity judges not yet selected) to bring number of entries to be judged to manageable number of finalists will be complete with the finalists announced here on the Life of an Architect website on April 22nd.

April 26th (Friday) – the final judging round will be completed and the winners will be announced here on the Life of an Architect website on April 29th.

May 27th – Winners are required to prepare construction drawings (with possible value engineering considerations) for their entries and submit final construction drawings to the designated contractors. In the possibility that you are unable to prepare your own construction drawings (because you don’t know how, not because you get busy with other things) with a little heads up, I have people who have offered their time and skills to prepare constructions drawings on your behalf. Seriously?!? How many competitions have that offer on the table?

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Playhouses will be constructed and ready for delivery to Dallas CASA by July 30th where they will be installed for display and raffled off.



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Reference information?



If you want, here is a link to every post I’ve written on the Parade of Playhouses (here) some of these posts include the actual construction drawings used to build the playhouse. You will also find past entries to see how presentation boards were assembled, you can look at the two winning entries from last year for inspiration. Everything that you want to know can be found in these previous posts. Use this resource wisely, Grasshopper.

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Who is this playhouse competition benefitting?

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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Legal Stuff

By submitting a design to this competition, you agree to allow Life of an Architect, Bob Borson, and Dallas CASA the rights to use and display your design for the purposes of construction and promotion. Your will still retain the rights to your design and you will receive full credit and recognition for your effort. Just a reminder that this is a charity event and if things go well, your playhouse will be selected and we will build it but we also might have to modify your design to make it a) within budget and b) buildable within certain parameters such as time constraints, material availability, etc.

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That’s it for now – please consider participating. It’s good for the kids, it’s good advocacy, it’s good to show how architects and designer can use their skills to benefit a community … everybody wins.

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