Cool Abu Dhabi Challenge 2021 | Win Upto Total Prize of $100,000: The Department of Municipalities and Transport (DMT) Calls for Entries from Eligible Participants Across the Globe for its 2021 Challenge. Deadline: 12th May, 2021 See Eligibility,
Benefits, Judging Criteria, Prizes, Requirements, Application Guidelines
and
Procedures.
The Department of Municipalities and Transport (DMT) of Abu Dhabi
invites you to participate in a global creative ideas competition, the
Cool Abu Dhabi Challenge 2021, to improve outdoor thermal comfort in
public spaces by mitigating the impact of the Urban Heat Island Effect
in the city.
The winning entries will represent the most original and innovative
ideas that attempt to reduce Heat Island Effect in a prototypical urban
site in Abu Dhabi through design interventions or material and
scientific innovations. Entries are not limited to architectural design
interventions and are encouraged to work across scales, technologies,
systems, and materials.
About
Outdoor
thermal comfort conditions influence several choices that inhabitants
make every single day — to walk to a local shop, take public transit,
cycle, eat outside at a restaurant, talk with colleagues, friends, and
neighbors or simply go to a park. One of the critical issues in
designing outdoor spaces is considering human thermal comfort. Making
people more comfortable allows them to enjoy and spend more time in
outdoor spaces and be a part of a thriving city. Improved thermal
comfort in public spaces not only results in less time spent indoors and
consequently, reduced energy consumption but also valuable outcomes
emerge such as wellness, enjoyment, and safety. It helps develop a sense
of belonging, an identity for the design and increases peoples’ level
of satisfaction.
For an extreme climate such as Abu Dhabi’s, the
harsh conditions felt across significant months of the year certainly
reduce the feasibility of such external activities taking place. It
restricts peoples’ choices and impacts subsequent health outcomes.
The
prize-winning competition entries shall holistically address the
challenges, more specifically Heat Island Effect through design,
engineering, scientific, anthropological, and material and planting
propositions. While maximising passive means is preferred, rational use
of efficient active and mechanical systems for public space comfort is
strongly encouraged.
Climate sensitive and people-centric
approaches should form the core focus of the design. In addition to the
technical dimension of the intervention, and its aesthetics should also
drive people’s desire to interact and occupy public space.
Eligibility.
The
competition is open to all; but is specifically looking for designers,
architects, engineers, landscape architects, material scientists,
educators, researchers, students, artists and/or inter-disciplinary
teams from across the globe, to contribute.
Prizes.
- Total prize money of $100,000 USD will be distributed to up to ten winning entries (each winning entry will receive $10,000).
- Winners may earn the opportunity to present their concepts to Abu Dhabi policy-makers.
Selection Criteria.
- Visionary: An original idea that creatively advances the agenda of the competition.
- Anticipatory: Flexible and forward-thinking strategies enough to succeed, now and in the future.
- Replicate: Solutions that can be applied across multiple scales and not be specifically tailored to a particular site.
- Robust: Enough scientific evidence that the solution is reliable in reducing the Urban Heat Island Effect.
- Local: Appropriate for Abu Dhabi’s specific climate needs and social-cultural conditions
How to Apply.
Only
one proposal per registration is permitted per entry. Participants are
allowed to register multiple times if they wish to participate in the
competition with several different proposals.
Deadline
12th May, 2021.
