So let’s end this week of collaboration talk with something for students. While scanning Twitter last night, I came across the OpenAEC Challenge. This challenge’s goals, methods, and criteria for winning are atypical for a competition. It’s about working together and data exchange, not just proving who’s the next Starchitect. Here’s what the competition brief has to say:
“The OpenAEC is a unique type of architectural competition. Unlike a typical competition, where the criteria for winning is solely based on how successful the final submission is, the criteria for winning the OpenAEC Challenge will be solely based based on how well the participants collaborate, integrate, and build off each other’s ideas.“
To facilitate this, at the end of every two week round (which culminates in a series of peer reviews), participants are required to submit their native files (a .pln for instance) AND an .IFC file so that anyone else can build off the work they’ve done. The more you participant, the better chance you’ll have of winning. This also means that if you come late to the game, you can join in on week 2, 3, etc. and still succeed. Furthermore the awards will be decided by the participants, not some outside jury.
The idea for the OpenAEC Challenge came out of competition creator Ryan Schultz’s interest in the open source movement in other industries, especially the TopCoder community of software programmers. He wanted to see how those concepts of a collaborative ‘outcome’ based model could be applied to our AEC industry. Like many of us in the industry, he sees a revolution brewing. A sea of change centered on openness and inclusiveness. So if you’re a student and want to get involved in the Open BIM movement, look into flexing your ArchiCAD skills in this competition. I have a strong suspicion that after you graduate, if can talk about your experiences with Open BIM and in-depth collaboration with other practitioners, you’ll have a leg up on your fellow job hunters.
The competition starts on August 24th, 2012. Check out the OpenAEC Challenge now!
While the competition is geared towards students, with the hope of professors integrating this into their studios, I believe it is open to anyone. And it’s worth noting that the project, the Flocktown Farm master plan, is a real project with a real client. So that’s pretty great too for a student focused competition.
