Announcement for the First Annual Architecture and Design Competition
in Second Life
Impressum
Presse
presse@sl-award.com
Sponsoring
sponsorship@sl-award.com
Topic
of the Competition:
Seeking the coolest, most spatially interesting and
aesthetically
independent pieces of architecture from the
inhabitants of Second Life. It can include all
buildings: from big to small, spaceships, underwater
constructions, villas, fully landscaped and designed
islands, complex high rises. Decisive are creativity,
innovation, features, style, and spatial qualities.
Goal of the Competition:
The competition should create a large public forum in
the real world for all architects and designers who
have made exceptionally innovative and artistic
creations in Second Life.
Participation Limits:
There are no limits for participation
Jury :
A highly qualified, independent jury of designers and
architects will award prizes to pieces of architecture
from residents in Second Life. A detailed list of jury
members will follow in the course of the project.
Deadline:
September 1st, 2007
Hall of Fame:
The results of this competition will be documented in
a book, and a Hall of Fame will be established.
High-caliber architects and architectural theorists will also contribute
to the book.
In addition, the prized buildings will be presented in an exposition in
the "real world." It goes without saying that in Second Life
there will also be a museum built, in which the winners' constructions
can be
visited. This competition will take place annually and will come to include
Fashion and Design.
Background:
Computer games have stopped copying the world, and instead the world seems
now to function more and more like a computer game. The aesthetic and
cultural
consequences seem to put the old question of the utopia in architecture
in a new light. This light consists of pixels, yearning and fantasy. While
in the real world architectural utopias play only a small role, the digital
worlds of computer games, including Second Life, have become the actual
venue for this
(and other) utopias. Freed from practical necessities and economic and
technical obligations, a new architecture has established itself that
will not remain inconsequential for the real world.
Though there are still technical limits of the 3D programs in Second Life,
they shouldn't distract one from seeing the aesthetic and cultural developments
that are in the course of forming. When Archi-CAD first came into the
market, architecture pros could of course recognize whether a building
had
been planned with CAD. With the newest programs, like Catia, all thinkable
forms are possible. But do they therefore give us unlimited, new utopias?
We will see in the coming years how individually the SL-architecture will
develop, or how connected it will stay
with the ideas of the real world.
What matters in Second Life is the architectural function of the building.
Even if one cannot enter them, like the CAD renderings, in a physical
way, the communication happens on many levels: aesthetic, linguistic,
musical, and finally with virtual buildings, which one could also call
walk-in plastic
sculptures. This alone is something that real architecture sometimes can't
achieve any more. Here, "architecture happens" and creates in
this way, as contradictory as it may seem, "real places." Only
through the "beyond human" physicality in Second Life –
one can even fly as an avatar or teleport oneself – are new
spatial connections made. The exciting question is:
Which relation does the real architecture (-culture)
have to this development and vice versa – on all
levels?
The Application Procedure
For the participants in this contest we ask for the
following information:
Name:
Address (In reality. This will be used only for the contact between the
organizer and the participant.This address will not be published); Second
Life Address; Pictures of submitted buildings as JPG or PDF; Pictures
of the Avatar; Short description of the submission.
The Initiator:
Stephan Doesinger (aka drdoesi) is a conceptual artist and architect living
and working in Munich. He is also Art and Creative Director for many magazines
and books. His second book on his works, "Learning from Sim City,"
will be published by Revolver Verlag in a
few months.
www.doesinger.com
Second Life and Linden
Lab
Second Life is a 3D online world with a rapidly growing population from
more than 100 countries around the globe, in which the Residents themselves
create and build the world which includes homes, vehicles, nightclubs,
stores, landscapes, clothing, and games.
The Second Life Grid is a sophisticated development platform created by
Linden Lab, a company founded in 1999 by Philip Rosedale, to create a
revolutionary new form of shared 3D experience. The former CTO of RealNetworks,
Rosedale pioneered the development of many of today's streaming media
technologies, including RealVideo. In April 2003, noted software pioneer
Mitch Kapor, founder of Lotus Development Corporation, was named Chairman.
In 2006, Philip Rosedale and Linden Lab received WIRED's Rave Award for
Innovation in Business. Based in San Francisco, Linden Lab employs a senior
team bringing together deep expertise in physics, 3D graphics and networking.
Note to editors: Second Life® and Linden Lab® are registered trademarks
of Linden Research, Inc.
Linden Lab is not involved in the competition and is not judging it or
responsible for prizes.
