About
Swiss Re Tower in London, the Capital Gate in Abu Dhabi or the Eiffel tower in Paris, what do these buildings have in common? Correct, they all have a steel skeleton. The Swiss Re Tower, also known as the Gherkin among Londoners and others, stands out because of its steel glass construction. Due to global effort it became a creative and fascinating building. But in the architecture world small details are important. Even though the connection of the steel beams worked very well, the looks of these connectors are not the most beautiful. This connection is called star-shaped node. It is ideal for the construction itself but architecture-wise not the most excellent artwork. In this contest, we want to face this problem and therefore, want you to participate in our “untie the knot”-contest to create a more ideal and beautiful steel beam connector. Do not forget to pay attention to the facts down here and on the Background Information page.
What is the contest about?
The contest is about the generation of new and innovative ideas on how steel bars can be connected with each other in an appealing way from the design perspective and still fulfilling all technical requirements.
The contest is addressed to professional engineers, students, hobbyists, (industrial) designers and everyone who is interested in the topic.
Find here the detailed challenge description.
Idea Submission
The submission of ideas is really simple. You can enter your idea with the help of an easy-to-use submission procedure that is self-explanatory.
For the submission of an idea, please complete the following steps:
1. Get informed about the topic of the contest:
Read through the information provided on this page
2. Develop your idea!
3. Specification of idea
• Title (Give your idea a clear title)
• Description of your idea
• Add further attachments to your idea (optional)
• Add Tags (optional)
4. Submit your idea
All ideas should be as detailed and comprehensible as possible. Please upload a detailed description, appropriate photos, sketches, or videos to fully illustrate your idea.
Entries can be in German and in English.
Important Dates
Start of the contest: 5th July 2016
End of submission: 3rd October 2016
Jury Meeting: 20th October 2016
Announcement of winners: End of October 2016
Evaluation
As a registered user you can indicate your evaluation of an idea by assigning 1 to 5 stars to each criteria of the idea. The criteria are:
Thoughtfulness
How well is the idea thought through?
Presentation
How well and clear is the idea presented?
Degree of innovation
How innovative and new is the idea?
Design
How appealing is the design of the idea?
The average rating is displayed within the idea pool. With your rating you help the jury to select the winners for the best ideas.