AWARDS

Cash prizes totaling $8,600 will be awarded to the winning students, the faculty sponsors, and their schools.

First Prize
Team/Individual: $2,500
School: $1,500
Faculty Sponsor: $750

Second Prize
Team/Individual: $1,500
School: $1,000
Faculty Sponsor: $500

Third Prize
Team/Individual: $500
School: $250
Faculty Sponsor: $100

Winners will be spotlighted in industry publications and the MCA Newsletter. Photo images of the entries may be used.
 

Design Challenge

This unique metal in construction competition challenges the entrant to design a new Maritime Museum and Historical Center of Chicago. The facility will serve Chicago-area residents and visitors of all ages by providing interactive displays and programs, classrooms, a research library, and a restaurant. This facility will be a visitor center to Chicago’s beautiful lake shore park system and an education and research center. It will highlight the remarkable maritime history of Chicago and Lake Michigan and the adventure of seafaring on the Great Lakes.

The center will include exhibits about small craft and displays for salvaged parts of large historic vessels. In addition, Lake Michigan’s geographical, anthropological, and economic history will be displayed.

Finally, the center will include programs utilizing its location on Northerly Island as a resource for interactive research and teaching.

The Site

The project will be located on Northerly Island, a 91-acre peninsula along the Lake Michigan shoreline just south of downtown Chicago. The island has a unique history of its own. It was conceived by architect and planner Daniel H. Burnham, who imagined Northerly Island as one of a series of manmade island parks stretching from Grant Park on the north to Jackson Park on the south and providing breathtaking views of the lake and city skyline.

Northerly Island was one of the sites of A Century of Progress, the 1933–1934 World’s Fair. Throughout the 1930s and 1940s, Northerly Island featured pathways, trees, grass, and a beach. In 1947, the park was converted to a small airport known as Meigs Field, which remained in use until 2003.

Today, Burnham’s vision is being restored by a master plan to turn the northern half into an area for active use and the southern half into native landscape, restored shoreline, and woodland habitat.

Objectives

This facility will allow visitors the opportunity to learn about and celebrate Chicago’s seafaring history by presenting its rich maritime heritage and connection with Lake Michigan and the other Great Lakes. Chicago’s history is intimately tied to the lake. Its human history begins with the Native Americans who first inhabited the area, to the early settlers who shaped a city out of a swamp into an international center of commerce and industry.

The museum will exhibit this maritime history through the display of artifacts ranging from Native American handicrafts to items from important vessels and famous shipwrecks. Hands-on programs will also teach visitors boat building and seamanship.

Materials

The project must utilize metal as a prominent, creative, and structural element in the design. It should underscore the flexibility, efficiency, and beauty of metal in responding to the unique requirements of this facility and the sustainable qualities of metal.

This facility should utilize state-of-the-art sustainable building strategies as defined by the USGBC’s LEED building guidelines integrating site, water, and building initiatives into the design. Entries should carefully evaluate the opportunities offered by the site, the Chicago climate, and the building program in order to design an energy-neutral facility.

Jury

The jury comprises respected architects who are experts in the design of structures that use metal. Architects and planners from the Chicago Park District and representatives of the following firms have been invited to participate:

Legat Architects
Nagle Hartray Danker Kagan McKay Architects Ltd.
OKW Architects, Inc.
Valerio Dewalt Train Associates

Format of Entries

Entries must include no more than three firmly mounted 20 x 30-inch illustrations. Each presentation must be titled, have a graphic scale, and north arrow. Entrants′ names are to be affixed to the back of the presentation. Entrants′ name, school, and faculty sponsor must not appear on the front of any board.

Unacceptable presentations include those mounted on wood or glass and those that are oversized, unmounted, or three-dimensional.

All presentations must use media suitable for black-and-white reproduction.

Please number posters in the order that judges should view them. (Example: 1 of 3, 2 of 3, 3 of 3)

Please also provide a CD of your presentation to assist in judging and reproduction as necessary.

Please note: Entries cannot be returned under any circumstances. Upon receipt each entry becomes the property of MCA. Students submitting original material for the competition should make reproductions before submitting the project.

Required Drawings

Drawings that must be included in the entry are:

site plan: depicting traffic patterns, land use, landscaping, if any, and amenities.
site and building sections: transverse and longitudinal, showing physical and visual relationships.
exterior perspectives
building plans
one interior perspective
two large-scale, detail drawings: one illustrating use of metals in the design and one that describes an internal detail (furnishing, fixture, etc.) Photos of models are encouraged. Do not submit models.
Project Submission Form
and Project Information Form

Each project must be accompanied by a completed project registration/submission form and a project information form. Both are included in the brochure. The forms should be placed in an unsealed envelope and taped to the back of the first board.

Project Description

A brief description of the most important features, such as choice of building site, design concept, and sustainability initiatives of the project should be enclosed with the project submission form.

Shipping

Entries must be shipped in boxes with sturdy wrapping. All entries must be received at MCA headquarters by 5 pm, November 10, 2008.

Ship to

MCA Student Design Competition
Metal Construction Association
4700 W. Lake Avenue
Glenview, IL 60025

Inquiries and Information

Those with questions about the competition can reach MCA at 847/375-4718, fax 847/375-6488, or e-mail mca@metalconstruction.org.

Registration

Projects may be the work of an individual or team. Faculty members may wish to enroll all or part of their studios or classes in the competition. Students who wish to enter on their own must have a faculty sponsor.

Eligibility

Competition is open to upper-level (3rd year or higher) and graduate students in accredited schools of architecture. Each entrant must have a faculty sponsor. Submissions are to be principally the product of work in a design studio or related class.

Evaluation

Criteria for judging will include successful and creative use of metal in design solution and accommodations and solutions to the functional, environmental, and architectural needs and concerns involved. Key elements in the evaluation of the project will include:

creative use of many forms of metal in meeting both design and functional requirements
effectiveness in meeting the requirements of those who will use and work in the facility, in addition to the community, landscape, climate, and structural requirements
efficient implementation of mechanical, electrical, and external support systems
consideration given to preserving and improving the surrounding environment.
 

PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS
 
Building (does not need to be on a single floor)
 
Lobby and Display Space
 2,000 sq ft
 
Gift Shop
 1,000 sq ft
 
Public toilets
 1,200 sq ft
 
Library
 2,500 sq ft
 
Large Vessel Gallery
 15,000 sq ft
 
Small Craft Gallery
 8,000 sq ft
 
Miscellaneous Galleries
 6,000 sq ft
 
Multi-purpose Classrooms
 3,000 sq ft
 
Auditorium/Lecture Hall
 2,000 sq ft
 
Research Center
 2,500 sq ft
 
Offices
 2,500 sq ft
 
TOTAL
 45,700 sq ft
 
 
Outdoor Space
Docks for permanent ship displays and 20 visitor slips

Outdoor program space:
5,000 sq ft (Adjacent to classrooms and docks)

Staff parking: 25 spaces

Shuttle bus drop-off area
(Visitors will park in the existing lots adjacent to the Shedd Aquarium and use a shuttle bus or walk) 
 
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