Google Earth, SketchUp Team With Guggenheim – Global Design Competition
The Soloman R. Guggenheim Museum and Google are marking the museum’s golden anniversary in an appropriate way by joining together on a global design competition inspired by the building’s master architect, Frank Lloyd Wright.
“Throughout the Guggenheim’s 50th anniversary year, one of our most important goals is to engage new and ever-broader global audiences to understand and appreciate art and architecture,” says Richard Armstrong, director of the Solomon R. Guggenhiem Foundation and Museum. “Our collaboration with Google is certainly providing us with a technologically exciting means to do just that.”
Design-It: Shelter Competition invites the public to use Google SketchUp and Google Earth to create virtual 3-D shelters located anywhere on earth map. The competition recently started on June 8, Wright’s birthday. You can get started by downloading the Google Earth, Google Maps, and Google SketchUp programs on the competition website. Next you must pick a location for the structure via Google Earth Maps. Participants can then use SketchUp 3-D modeling software to design a 100-square-foot live/work shelter, submit their completed entries to the Google 3D Warehouse, and then to the competition’s website.
Once the competition ends, the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture will select 10 student finalists, in addition to the public online voting from September 7 thru October 10 to find the Grand Prize winner. Simultaneously, an knowledgable jury featuring the likes of architect Neil Denari, Newsweek architecture critic Cathleen McGuigan, and Pentagram partner Lisa Strausfeld will choose the Juried Prize winner.
Two winners will be announced on October 21, the 50th anniversary of the museum’s opening. The champions receive airfare and 2-night accommodations for 2 in New York, where they’ll receive private tours of the Guggenheim and Google Earth Maps offices, and Google SketchUp Pro licenses. The Juried Prize winner also gets $1,000 to spend during their junket—or perhaps to save for a real project. Check out some of the images that are coming in, amazing!
