Yesterday, the Open Architecture Network announced the winners of the 2007 AMD Open Architecture Challenge, and the SL-based Studio Wikitecture group won two awards for its design submission!
For those who aren't familiar with the Studio Wikitecture project, it is an open enrollment group dedicated to exploring the potential of SL as a vehicle for open, collaborative development of architectural design, in both real and virtual worlds. As part of this, the group created and submitted a design for a health clinic/telecommunications center in one of the most remote regions of Nepal. (This was known as the Asia Challenge.) The design was developed inside SL using the standard SL building tools, augmented by and integrated with Web-based tools for discussion forums, design backup, etc. Although the Studio Wikitecture group was founded by professional architects, participation was not at all limited to architects. (I have no training or formal skills in architecture, and yet I was able to make what I feel was a significant contribution.)
Anyway, the design we submitted won third place in the Asia Challenge. In addition, it won a special Founders Award for "embracing a truly collaborative way of working using online crowd sourcing and Second Life as a way to create a highly participatory design approach."
But as successful as this submission was, the Studio Wikitecture project is still in its infancy when compared to what it could be. Realising abstract design ideas as SL builds was definitely one of the bottlenecks in the development process. If there are any builders (or non-builders, for that matter) out there who find these ideas interesting, check Studio Wikitecture out. The simplest thing to do is to join the group so you'll get group announcements. If you want to find out more, check out http://www.studiowikitecture.com and http://studiowikitecture.wikidot.com. (The content is spread over two different Web sites for historical reasons.) In-world, visit Architecture Island (89, 89, 24).
Hope to see you there!
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