We need your ideas!
The International Owl Center is looking forward to building our own facility. We face some significant design challenges and are looking for your ideas to help us address them. Enter the contest, share your ideas and you could win a cash prize!
History
The International Owl Center can trace its origins back to Alice the Great Horned Owl. Alice was "hired" in 1998 to do educational programs on behalf of the Houston Nature Center, the trail head for the Root River Trail in Houston, Minnesota, before it was even built. She was the star of the show by the time it was constructed in 2001, so it was only logical that one of the center's events focus on Alice.
The International Festival of Owls began as a simple hatch-day party for Alice in late winter 2003 and rapidly grew, attracting visitors from around the country to the small town of Houston (population 979) despite winter temperatures. It soon became obvious that it was the only event of its kind in North America, and that people wanted to learn more about owls. This overwhelming interest fueled the development of the International Owl Center, a separate non-profit organization dedicated to making the world a better place for owls through education and research.
The Owl Center opened its doors in an historic storefront in Houston in 2015. The storefront has allowed the organization to grow and expand, but its limitations (a single restroom, limited seating, a single program space, one acoustic space, no suitable place for the owls to live on-site) now mean that it is time to move forward.
The Owl Center has nearly finished acquiring the site of its future home at the entrance to Trailhead Park. It's time to think creatively about what the new facility will look like, how it can meet a wide variety of needs, and how it will lay out. Register for the architectural design concept contest to submit your ideas!
The International Festival of Owls began as a simple hatch-day party for Alice in late winter 2003 and rapidly grew, attracting visitors from around the country to the small town of Houston (population 979) despite winter temperatures. It soon became obvious that it was the only event of its kind in North America, and that people wanted to learn more about owls. This overwhelming interest fueled the development of the International Owl Center, a separate non-profit organization dedicated to making the world a better place for owls through education and research.
The Owl Center opened its doors in an historic storefront in Houston in 2015. The storefront has allowed the organization to grow and expand, but its limitations (a single restroom, limited seating, a single program space, one acoustic space, no suitable place for the owls to live on-site) now mean that it is time to move forward.
The Owl Center has nearly finished acquiring the site of its future home at the entrance to Trailhead Park. It's time to think creatively about what the new facility will look like, how it can meet a wide variety of needs, and how it will lay out. Register for the architectural design concept contest to submit your ideas!
What we want to build
MAIN BUILDING:
- Approximately 14,000 - 16,000 square feet
- Use LEED principles (without being certified)
- Design to minimize bird strikes from inside and outside
- Large program room that can be split into one small and one medium room
- Online program room
- Gift shop
- Area to display children's owl art from around the world
- Offices
- Prep room
- Storage
- Smaller aviaries for handled education birds with direct access to program spaces, not viewable by the public (attached to the main building, but outdoors)
- Two-part display aviaries, part climate-controlled and part exposed to ambient weather, for owls that need climate control in summer or winter (attached to the main building, for the public to view)
- Walk-through display aviaries (in the park, for the public to view, outdoors)
- Must keep out humans and climbing/digging predators
- Must allow water to flow through or around
- Should be visually appealing
The questions to address
Because this is a highly specialized facility focused solely on owls, there are some pretty specific needs as well as significant challenges that will require creative yet practical thinking. The Owl Center is hoping to find people with great ideas to address the following issues:
*Keep the gift shop staff office adjacent to the gift shop
*Keep the gift shop storage adjacent to (or inside) the gift shop
*Allow staff access to the education bird aviaries from either side of a split program room as well as the online program room
*Allow direct access to the education bird aviaries from an attached garage that houses the Owlmobile van
*Allow a circular flow of visitors
*Routes visitors through the gift shop when they enter and when they leave
*Has restroom access at the entrance, before paying admission, as well as from the rest of the building after visitors have paid
*Provides a slightly darkened interior room for groups of people to view owls in two-part display aviaries attached to the building
- How can there be large aviary roofs that are partially solid and partially open to the weather, with open portions of the roof screened against mosquitoes and black flies, yet can handle and shed the winter snow load?
- What options exist to allow visitors to walk in and out of the walk-through display aviaries without allowing insects to come in?
- What kind of perimeter fence will work to keep out people and climbing and digging animals, yet allow water to pass from one side to the other, while still being visually appealing?
- What floor plan can accomplish all of the following:
*Keep the gift shop staff office adjacent to the gift shop
*Keep the gift shop storage adjacent to (or inside) the gift shop
*Allow staff access to the education bird aviaries from either side of a split program room as well as the online program room
*Allow direct access to the education bird aviaries from an attached garage that houses the Owlmobile van
*Allow a circular flow of visitors
*Routes visitors through the gift shop when they enter and when they leave
*Has restroom access at the entrance, before paying admission, as well as from the rest of the building after visitors have paid
*Provides a slightly darkened interior room for groups of people to view owls in two-part display aviaries attached to the building
- What could the exterior of the main building look like while fitting into our community and our regional environment, be environmentally friendly, energy efficient, low maintenance and still be unique and attractive?
What we plan to do with the entries
The goal of this contest is to gather a variety of inspired ideas we can use in our future building plans rather than to find an architectural firm to hire to design our future building. A panel of judges with varied backgrounds (architecture, building, owl educators, committee members) will review the entries for great ideas that will be rewarded with prize money.
At a later time we will hire an architect to develop the gathered ideas into a viable building plan.
At a later time we will hire an architect to develop the gathered ideas into a viable building plan.
How to enter
Individuals and/or teams may register. Entrants may be professional architects, firms, professors, students, graphic artists, animal experts, or any member of the general public with inspiration, residing anywhere in the world. Entrants do not have to address all the questions above, but may focus their efforts on the portions of the project for which they have a passion. Participants must register to enter this contest by midnight CST on Saturday, October 31, 2020. There is a non-refundable $15 registration fee. Once you register, you will be sent an email containing the full rules, site map (as a pdf and as an AutoCad file) with and without photo backgrounds, and a detailed contest design guide that includes specific aviary requirements. Participation is limited to 200 registrants.
By entering this contest you agree to allow the International Owl Center non-exclusive rights to use or reproduce any of the images or ideas contained in your entry (even if it does not win a prize) as needed to publicize the contest results and move forward with future planning. By entering you also grant the International Owl Center permission to use your name in conjunction with this contest. Click here to register online.
Entries are due January 31, 2021 and must include:
Entries will be judged based on their practical and creative ability to address the issues listed under "The questions to address" above. Design ideas will be valued over graphic representation.
$5,000 in prize money will be awarded at the discretion of the judges. Entries that have multiple great ideas will receive more prize money than entries with only a single exceptional idea. All worthy ideas (as decided by the judges) will be showcased in a virtual exhibition.
Prize winners will be notified by April 30, 2021
Please note that prize money may be subject to tax in the entrant's country, and any taxes are the winner's responsibility.
CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE WINNING ENTRIES
By entering this contest you agree to allow the International Owl Center non-exclusive rights to use or reproduce any of the images or ideas contained in your entry (even if it does not win a prize) as needed to publicize the contest results and move forward with future planning. By entering you also grant the International Owl Center permission to use your name in conjunction with this contest. Click here to register online.
Entries are due January 31, 2021 and must include:
- A synopsis of major design concepts (two page maximum), in English
- Your choice of visual representations of your ideas for our future facility
Entries will be judged based on their practical and creative ability to address the issues listed under "The questions to address" above. Design ideas will be valued over graphic representation.
$5,000 in prize money will be awarded at the discretion of the judges. Entries that have multiple great ideas will receive more prize money than entries with only a single exceptional idea. All worthy ideas (as decided by the judges) will be showcased in a virtual exhibition.
Prize winners will be notified by April 30, 2021
Please note that prize money may be subject to tax in the entrant's country, and any taxes are the winner's responsibility.
CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE WINNING ENTRIES
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International Owl Center
126 E Cedar St. Houston, MN 55943 (507) 896-OWLS (6957) [email protected] 501(c)(3) organization EIN #45-5503365 |
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