Call for Entries: Eliminate Loneliness Through Design

Architects are challenged to tackle the issue of social isolation through design.

Brief

The “Eliminate Loneliness” competition provides you a public platform to tackle the issue of loneliness and isolation in society through design. We challenge you to set your imagination alight, and consider the systems, spaces, and interactions that could generate meaningfulness and connection in today’s world.

Whether this be on the individual or collective, micro or macro, digital or tangible, product or space, is entirely up to you. We ask you to question the fundamental causes of loneliness, their flows, conditions, and effects. Following the ethos of Bubble, we then ask you to operate across multiple spheres, reaching beyond convention to tackle the issue of loneliness through a creative, design-led solution.

There are very few boundaries for your idea. There is no set scale, location or programme. Your idea could be an object, a room, a building, a street, a city, or bigger. Our prerequisites are deliberately open in order to encourage participation and input from all spheres of design, including architecture, product, interiors, digital, and landscape. Whatever your response, we are eager to receive ideas that encourage connection, co-operation, and engagement.

Submission Requirements

Ideas are to be electronically submitted on three (3) presentation boards, each measuring 420mm x 420mm. While the content of your presentation is your decision, we recommend you include 3D visual images, and schematic or architectural drawings if appropriate. In addition, each entry must submit an idea title and description (max 300 words) in English, submitted in a PDF format. Given the requirement for this project description document, it is envisaged that your three presentation boards will contain minimal text.

Submissions will be judged, and winners chosen, using the guidance of the three following criteria:
IS IT BOLD? Does the idea challenge conventional thinking?
IS IT SMART? Is it effective in tackling the issue of loneliness?
IS IT BEAUTIFUL? Is the idea communicated to a high visual standard?

Prizes

40x FINALISTS will have their submission listed on the Bubble website, and will be included in a Bubble print publication “Ideas for: Eliminating Loneliness.”

A shortlist of winners will be chosen from the 40 finalists, to be recognized as follows:

7x HONOURABLE MENTIONS will, in addition to the rewards offered for being a finalist, be included in our press packet to be sent to leading design websites for publication.
1x THIRD PLACE WINNER will, in addition to the rewards offered to the finalists and honorable mentions, receive a prize of £250.
1x SECOND PLACE WINNER will, in addition to the rewards offered to the finalists and honorable mentions, receive a prize of £500.
1x FIRST PLACE WINNER will, in addition to the rewards offered to the finalists and honorable mentions, receive a prize of £750.

Jury

All submissions to the Eliminating Loneliness competition will be evaluated in collaboration with a jury panel comprised of the following individuals:

David Basulto: Founder and CEO, ArchDaily
Anna Blinova: Art Director, VIGO Industries, New York City
Craig Martin: Professor of Architecture, TU Delft, Netherlands
Rob Roggema: Professor of Sustainable Spatial Transformations, Hanze University Groningen, Netherlands
Tom Jefferies: Professor of Architecture, Manchester School of Architecture, UK

The full brief (here), and further information, can be found on the official Bubble Competitions website here. Follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook for updates and inspiration. #bubbleideas