Corridor Reuse Design Challenge for Students and Professionals with 2,500$ Prize Money

Scout Ltd invites students and professionals to participate in the "Corridor Reuse Design Challenge"; a competition that aims at exploring innovative interventions and design responses to one of the most typical and overlooked elements in large civic buildings -- the corridor. Intended to serve as egress for large flows of people during concentrated periods of time, corridors take up a large portion of a building’s footprint yet oftentimes are forgotten.

Challenge Description

The challenge invites creative thinkers to imagine the future life of school buildings and civic buildings that have outlived their original use. Adaptive building reuse is critical to the future development of communities and serves as an opportunity for new ideas and uses.

The competition will be grounded in Bok, a repurposed vocational school in South Philadelphia where classrooms have been converted into creative maker’s spaces, small offices, and studios, but the massive 14’ wide corridors remain unchanged. These spaces are the core of the building and have great potential to enhance community, connectivity, productivity, and interaction. Designers are challenged to reimagine the use of underutilized corridors - the ‘streets’ of buildings.

Proposals can be small scale, large scale, programmatic, communal workspace, furniture, retail the possibilities are endless! This can be a small portion of one floor, can extend an entire corridor, or ideally is something that can be replicated on different floors or in different buildings similar to Bok. Applicants are encouraged to be bold and creative!

Eligibility Criteria

• Competition participants will be judged and awarded in two separate categories: ‘student’ and ‘professional’. All undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral level students who are actively enrolled in a school for the duration of the competition (December 3rd, 2018 - February 4th, 2019) may participate in the student category. If you are a student who is also working professionally you still qualify for the ‘student’ category if you are an actively enrolled student. Participants not enrolled in a school or university during the time of the competition may enter in the professional category. Any team with a mix of students and professionals must submit in the ‘professional’ category.

Awards

A $2,500 prize will be awarded to one winning student team and a separate $2,500 prize will be awarded to one winning professional team.

Proposals Requirements

Proposals should abide by Basic Building/Architectural Regulations:

[1] Historic Regulations

Bok is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, meaning there are certain features inside the building that cannot be altered or removed. Careful yet creative approaches to the adaptive re-use of this historic building are valued. Your project must be historically sensitive to interior features including:  

• Terrazzo floors
• Marble and ceramic tile walls
• Plaster crown molding

[2] Fire Regulations

1. An egress path of 4 (minimum) must be maintained at all times
2. Existing paths of egress (doors to rooms, bathrooms, and stairwells) must be maintained
3. Exit signs may not be obstructed 
4. No obstructions to existing sprinkler heads. Additional sprinklers are required for new walls taller than 6ft or areas with an enclosed roof
5. Use of extremely combustible materials is prohibited

Read more about the challenge requirements and regulations here.