Winners in Sportables Design Competition Announced

The Winners have been chosen in the Architecture for Humanity's Sportables Design Competition sponsored by Google Sketchup, where designers were challenged to "create a highly demountable, portable sports product library, product development studio, and futsal (soccer) play area. "

First Place Winner was Toby R. Keaton :"This brilliant and carefully thought-out compact module is easy to transport and deploy, but also provides incentives for the participants to take ownership in this great community resource, and utilizes simple, available materials."

Keaton describes it as "a highly transportable, transformable, & multi-functionary facility, built using sustainable practices that stores & dispenses sports equipment to the youth of Capao Redondo, Brazil. The unit is constructed using a standard 16 feet (4.8768 meters) trailer modified with recycled construction waste including discarded lumber, plywood, corrugated metal, and pipes.

It is also self sufficient in the collection & storage of water & electricity. When the MSU is deployed, it becomes a miniature recreation center which houses special balls, uniforms, goals, a flexibly configured soccer field, and other equipment which can be loaned out the children of the neighborhood. The MSU also offers supplementary employment to the community with both social service positions and work in an adjacent transportable workshop.

Jonathan Stahl won the Founders Award for his shipping container based proposal:

"The entire [s]table can be packaged in two shipping containers. These can be transported easily using already existing road, sea, and possibly air avenues. Upon arrival, the containers can be unpacked and assembly can begin. Building elements are pre-engineered and pre-fabricated (to the extent that can fit within a container), allowing a simple, fast, and efficient construction on site using basic tools."

See them all on the ::Open Architecture Network

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Architecture for Humanity: Kate Stohr Speaks