In this competition, we ask you for the ideas concerning how to design the out-door space (the yard) of houses and the equipment necessary for it. Since old times, Japanese people have paid great attention to the spaces out of doors of their dwellings. These spaces are between their own houses and their neighbors’, so they are required to play the role to maintain a kind of ‘harmonious distance’ between them. They have also regarded the private yards as the second interior element of their own houses. Like a painting on the wall, the view of the yard from a window should give people a quiet but an impressive esthetic stimulus. We are expecting the design ideas of the out-door space (the house-yard) based on the understanding of the sense of beauty and order particular to Japanese people and the equipment necessary to realize them. We look forward to receiving such wonderful ideas of out-door-space designs (yard designs) as create better relations with neighbors and make your hometown more beautiful than ever.

Grand Prix: Given to one work that is selected as the best one by the jury.
The Award of Merit and the prize money of 300,000 yen are to be granted to the winner.

Vice Grand Prix: Given to two works that are selected as the excellent ones by the jury.
The Award of Merit and the prize money of 100,000 yen are to be granted to the winners.

Prize for excellent works: Given to five excellent works that could not win the three best prizes mentioned above.
The Award of Merit and commemorative gift are to be granted to the winners of this prize.

(In the case the prize winners want the prize money to be paid in US dollars, the exchange rate of the day when the announcement of the competition results is made is to be applied to the amount mentioned above.)

Jury Chair

Masayuki Kurokawa (Architect)

President, Kurokawa Masayuki Architectural Design Office
http://www.k-system.net/
Professor, Research Institute of Art, Kanazawa College of Art
http://www.kanazawa-bidai.ac.jp/


Jurors
Nobuyuki Awaji
Manager, Exterior Security Building Products, Electrical Building Products Division, Building Products Manufacturing Division Company,
Matsushita Electric Works, Ltd.　
http://www.mew.co.jp/e-index.html

Matsushita Electric Works, Ltd.
Matsushita Electric Works, Ltd. handles a notably wide range of products for a single corporate entity anywhere in the world, including lighting, communication apparatus, electric appliances, housing, electronic materials, and regulating equipment. The market for our extensive range of products ranges from the construction of homes, buildings, commercial/industrial facilities, public facilities, to factories. Under our corporate slogan of “Smart Solutions by NAIS”, we have been pushing forward innovation in our extant business, while working on the creation of new markets, products, and services as themes for R&D and new businesses, attuned to social trends such as the “IT revolution”, “Global environment”, and “Low birthrate/Aging of society”. Within this framework, this Competition is regarded as a proposal to our “exterior” operation within our home construction business.

Kenji Tada
Director of Development,
Shikoku Corp.
http://kenzai.shikoku.co.jp/

Shikoku Corporation
With “Quality of Life” as our corporate goal, Shikoku Corp. has been undertaking innovative product development aiming toward the creation of “pleasant environments kind to both man and nature”.
Starting with the “bloom gate” line of wrought iron gates recreating the craftsmanship of the classic artisan, we have been enjoying a reputation of high quality in the areas of “housing exterior”, “landscaping exterior products” such as archways and garbage stockers, and our extensive lineup of “interior/exterior finishing materials and pavement materials” including the “Sayaka” line of wall plaster containing Bincho-charcoal with its many superior characteristics.

Ken Toyooka
General Manager, Product Planning Department, Exterior Products Division,
YKK AP, Inc.
http://www.ykkap.co.jp/

YKK AP, Inc.
YKK AP, Inc. is a manufacturer specializing in architectural products, and a key enterprise within the YKK Group operating the building materials business under the brand name of YKK AP.

Masaaki Kondoh
Artistic Building Materials Managing Director,
Takenaka Seisakusyo, Co. Ltd.

The application period: June 21, 2004 --- September 21, 2004
The work(s) submission period: July 1, 2004--- October 25, 2004
The announcement of the competition results: Mid January of 2005
Prize Granting: Mid January 2005 --- Late February 2005
(The Award of Merit is to be sent to the prize winners.)

Only the award winners will be notified of the results by e-mails. The results will also be announced on the page of the Competition in our web-site.

No restrictions are set such as your status, jobs, ages, nationalities, etc. And both individuals and groups can participate in the competition.

Fill in the application form in the web-site and send it. Later you will receive your application number and password by e-mail. Please keep the application number and the password for the work submission as they are required when you submit your work to the competition site. You can submit more than one work but you need to make an application for each of your works respectively.

Requirements: 3 pictures and a text

1: The title of the work and its concept
The text file must explain about the material, the production process and the structure taken for your work(s). The language for the explanation about the work must be English. If the applicant has a command of Japanese, he or she should put the explanation in Japanese along with the one in English. (around 200 words/English, around 100 letters/Japanese)

2: An image showing the main design
500 x 500 pixel (only RGB / in JPEG format / within 100kb)

3: A supplemental 3 dimensional image ( with a short explanation about the work’s concept )
An image within 500x500 pixel. GIF animation will also be accepted. (only RGB / in GIF format / within 300kb)

4: A plan showing measurements of the main parts
An image within 500x500 pixel. GIF animation will also be accepted. (only RGB / in GIF format / within 300kb)

*Put the title of the work in the blank for the title.
*Each image to be submitted must have its file name in one byte characters with proper file extension marks（-.jpg/-.gif）.
Examples: compefile1.jpg, compefile2.gif
*Make sure that the mode of the submitted images is RGB. (The images of CMYK may not be shown properly on the web-pages depending on the browser.

The method for the work submission:
The submission and the reception of the works are to be done on the web-site. When you have the required forms, three pictures, and the text-file (Read above) ready to be sent, please complete the registration and submission process for your work(s) following the instruction of the application form for the work submission (Click the ‘Work Submission’ button in the web-site and follow the instruction.) . On receiving the submitted work(s) we’ll send you a confirmation mail. Please note that the works sent as a file(files) attached to your e-mail are not to be accepted.

Important!
1: Don’t put any information on the images from which the applicant may be identified.
2: The images can be in any forms. For example, they can be photos of a model, hand-drawn sketches, 3D computer graphic images, etc. It is totally up to the applicant.
3: The presented works are limited to unreleased ones.

<Concerning Rights>
The copy rights concerning the designs of the works basically belong to their applicants. The preferential negotiating rights for all of the submitted works are, however, to be granted to the competition sponsor (Takenaka Seisakusyo, Co. Ltd.) from the concerned applicants. Hereby the competition sponsor is to have the rights to keep, record, exhibit for free and publicize the submitted works.

<Concerning award-winning works>
In the case that any award-winning work is revealed to be an imitation, a piracy, etc, which possibly impinges the intellectual property rights of other individual(s) or organization(s), the award will be nullified even after its announcement.

<Concerning the treatment of personal information>
None of the personal information put on the application form etc. is to be revealed to any third person other than Takenaka Seisakusyo, Co. Ltd. and DESIGNTOPE. The great attention is paid to the protection of personal information by all concerned with the competition.

Direct inquiries to:
DESIGNTOPE Competition Secretariat

However, details regarding selection standards will not be disclosed. Please refer to the instructions on the registration form and the FAQs regarding questions on application procedure