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Contests / Multifunctional Urban Structure Design / Brief

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What should i do now?

  • Read the brief
  • Download the material files (if available)
  • Upload your design
 

CONTEST TYPOLOGY: SINGLE - PRODUCT DESIGN (What’s this?)

  • upload phase
  • community vote
  • client choices

 

 
 
closed
17 Dec 15

192 entries

 

BRIEF


Summary

calzavara and Desall invite you to a new contest of product design looking for the future design of its own structures. This new design will be the future product and the product of the future: a new concept of urban structure, combining street furniture with ambient intelligence and new telecom network design.


Company description

Founded in 1966 as a sole proprietorship, calzavara became S.p.A. in 1979. From a small artisan company of the seventies it became a medium-sized company with a workforce of over one hundred employees with more than 20% of the latter being graduated. Today, calzavara is a world leading company in the design and manufacturing of structures for telecommunications with an extensive range of traditional and innovative products. The company offers “turnkey” services and innovative systems referred to the TLC & Broadcasting industry, to the alternative and renewable energy industry, to the light technology industry and to the field of smart solutions and safety. The automotive and medical sectors are, finally, the new frontier that calzavara has successfully addressed.


What we are looking for

This brief is also available in Italian ( Download ).

calzavara is looking for new ideas and design for multifunctional urban design structures which will host network antennas and related hardware inside urban environments, serving also as decorative and/or functional elements. They will provide “smart” functionalities, such as info points, lighting, urban watches, info traffic, parking meter, bus stop info, tourist info panels, etc. while serving as support for hosting antennas. Take into consideration the new needs of the urban people of today and think of urban furnishing elements that embed innovative features.


Guidelines

For the correct realisation of your proposals, keep into consideration the following guidelines:

Product typology: you are invited to design a multifunctional urban structure, devoted to hosting network antennas. Antennas can either be concealed inside the structure or be visible elements of the structure design. See the Material files for some examples of multifunctional structures.

Style: the new structure will have an innovative design, suitable to be installed inside urban areas, city centres, city squares. It could be part of street furniture, such as an “improved” street lamp, or a solo decoration element or an urban sculpture installed inside a city square or a decoration structure standing out from a roundabout. There isn’t any indication about specific geographic areas in which these structures will be installed, so designers should feel free to choose their own style.

Features/functioning: in addition to hosting the network antennas on the top part, the structures should also provide some “smart” functionalities: they might embed info panels, displays with traffic information, parking availability or other type of information. Think also of the emerging needs of the urban people and think of innovative services and functions for these structures. While choosing which functional elements or devices to employ (for example watches, displays, etc.), consider items already available on the market.

Technical information
Sectors, antennas and equipment boxes
The structures you design will host 3 sectors. The sectors are units made of 2 antennas and 2 equipment boxes each. Below is a short description of the two different elements:

Antennas
Consider each antenna as a box with the following size 300x160x70mm (HxLxW). Antennas are supposed to be installed on the top part of the structure in order to get the best network coverage possible. Every sector has 2 antennas that can either be installed at the same level or one over the other.
We remind you that antennas might be concealed inside your structure or be visible elements in the structure design, playing an important role in the aesthetics. At all events, antennas must be placed in the top part. For more info, please refer to the Material files attached.

Equipment boxes
Each antenna has a respective equipment box that sends in the radio signals. The equipment box measures 400x360x180mm (HxLxW). Each sector has accordingly also 2 equipment boxes. Unlike antennas, equipment boxes can be installed at the base of the structure (for example inside a technical cabinet) or they can also be installed behind or below the respective antenna.

As already mentioned, the structures will host 3 sectors each, that is 6 antennas and 6 respective equipment boxes. In order to better design your structure, keep into consideration that the network coverage shall be on the 360°, so adjust the orientation of the antennas of the sectors accordingly. Usually antennas are mounted in a uniform configuration at 10-15 metres of height on a single pole, each antenna placed at 120°.
For some installation examples, please see the Material files attached.

Overall structure height: the whole structure will have a height ranging between 10 to 15 metres and shall host the antennas on the top level. You can reach the maximum height with a pole or with a part of the main structure.

Notes for installation and maintenance
While designing your structure keep into consideration that technicians will perform ordinary maintenance on the antennas and on the equipment boxes, accordingly you should provide an easy access to both and some clearance space around.

Materials
In case you want to cover the antennas, only employ materials that allow the radio propagation, such as polycarbonate and fiberglass. No steel materials should be placed in front of the antennas.
Structures are usually made of hot galvanised steel. Decorative panels and surface panels will be screen-printed with decorations; screen-printing is preferred to drilling or carving the surface material. Make sure all materials you employ are UV resistant and weatherproof. Do not use glass or wood.

Lighting
The structures you design shall employ LED technologies. You can use light effects to emphasize some design features or create some new visual effects. Structures could also serve as urban lighting elements for the street lighting.

Values to convey
In your design draw inspiration from the following values: disruptive, technological innovation, attention to details, high quality, contamination of ideas and cultures.

Deliverables
To better evaluate your proposals, include at least one rendering of the project in a 3/4 oriented view on white background and another render with an urban environment setting (emphasizing light effects if they are expected). In order to give an idea of the overall size, internal volumes and structural features, include some quoted measures in your presentation images. Please attach a .ZIP archive containing a 2D drawing with floor plan view, elevation view and sections views (scale 1:50 and 1:20). Don’t forget about the abstract and description to give further info about your projects. You can submit as many entries as you like!


Timeline
Upload phase: 02nd September – 17th November 2015 (1.59 PM UTC)
Community Vote: 17th November – 24th November 2015 (1.59 PM UTC)
Client Vote: from 24th November 2015


Eligibility and submission
Participation is free of charge and open to designers and creative talents of any nationality aged 18 years or older. Participants can present one or more projects, but only the projects published on the www.desall.com web site, via the upload page related to “Multifunctional Urban Structure Design” will be accepted.


Award
1st: €2,500
The selection of the winner by calzavara will be the result of an unquestionable evaluation and it will take into account originality, feasibility and consistency with the brief presented.


License fee
For the duration of the option right, the Client offers an extra chance to all participants setting a price of Euro 1,500 (one-thousand-five-hundred) for the purchase of the license for the economical exploitation of the projects not-acknowledged as the winning proposals.

For more info, please login and read the Contest Agreement from the upload page.

For some inspiration, check out the Inspiration Desk 09.03.2015 on our Blog.


Language

Since we are an international Community, all texts provided with your uploads (abstract, description, tags, etc.) should be written in English.


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Desall required files

Minimum 1 image, up to 5.
Recommended dimensions: 960 x 720px (player size) ; allowed format: .jpg , .gif , .png; color mode: RGB;
allowed resolution: 72 dpi ; max file (for each one) size: 1 mb.


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