The young gerneration contest "lebens(t)räume" (dreams for life) is being organized since 2004 by Vincentz Network, in collaboration with the "universal design GmbH" and "organized by iF". It aims at young people to design for the older generations as well as for disabled people.

An experts jury winning will chose the winning entries and divide a total prize purse of EUR 6.000,00 between the winners. The prize money is awarded at the awards ceremony, held at the trade fair "ALTENPFLEGE 2010" (care for the elderly). During the fair all outstanding contributions will be exhibited in the special display "lebensräume" (habitants).

What's new?

Like every year the competition "lebens(t)räume" is about a special topic. This year the topics are "ambient assisted living" and "human robotics" to which the entries can be contributed in the usual categories "01. universal design" and "02. assisted living".

Participation

Students of all academic design, architecture, marketing and engineering courses worldwide are invited to submit their concepts to lebens(t)räume. Both team and individual projects will be accepted. Graduates of these courses can also submit their work if they graduated within the last two years (reference date is the date of registration).

There is no limit to the number of contributions each participant can submit. However, each entry can only be submitted once and only in one category, but also in other competitions. Participation in the lebens(t)räume award is free of charge.

Entry Criteria

Submission of entry

In addition to the registration, all participants are responsible for the costs of sending their competition entries to iF either via mail or via a forwarding company. The entries must arrive no later than 5 January 2010.

In addition to their registration for the lebens(t)räume 2010, all participants will be asked - after they have registered with my iF - to send a presentation poster as well as a CD for each submitted entry. This presentation poster should serve to represent the essence of the design in the form of description and images. The descriptive language should at least be in English.

Poster specifications:  

o   Format: DIN A1, 84.0 x 59.4 cm

All participants are asked to save the following data on a CD to be send with the poster:

o   Poster: a copy of the presentation poster in PDF file format with a resolution of 200 dpi and a size of DIN A1.

o  Images: 2-3 print-ready images of the design in a high-resolution format: TIFF, JPG (highest quality) or EPS (300 dpi at 100% positioning, CMYK at a size of approx. 120 x 120 mm). The images should not contain any text. The images must also be identified with entry-ID_project title_No.

o   Proof of enrolment (a scan of your student identity card will suffice). If you are a graduate, please provide proof that you graduated within the last 2 years (scan or photo of your graduation certificate). If you hand in a team project, please provide proof of enrolment for each team member.

o   Participants who wish to present their project in the form of movies or videos must provide a link to these items with their registration. If this link is handed in at a later date, it will not be subject to evaluation by the jury. This link should also be provided on the submitted presentation poster, the application must be PC compatible and the movie or video must not be longer than three minutes.

Multiple contributions for the lebens(t)räume 2010 can be sent to our logistic partner K&N in one consignment. All submitted concepts and shipping packaging must be labeled with the entry-ID and the category number. Additionally, contributions must be packed safely so as not to damage the presentation poster. Ideally, cardboard tubes, solid envelopes or boxes should be used. Posters must not be folded or bent.

Deadline for arrival of submissions: 5 January 2010

Categories

01. universal design

In this category, entries may be submitted, which can be used or occupied by users with different skills and abilities. This necessitates a "design for all" and not a just a "design for the elderly".

02. assisted living

In this category concepts of products, architecture and services for people in special situations should be submitted. The ideas should contribute to assist elderly or disabled people leading as independent lives as possible.

Evaluation Criteria

o  Design quality

o  Degree of innovation o Visualization of intended use / interface

o  Target group relevance

o  Requirements and objectives

o  Depth of development Societal relevance / adequacy o Environmental friendliness

o  Principles of universal design

o  Choice of material

o  Functionality

o  Safety o Usability

Registration

Registrations for the lebens(t)räume 2010 are only accepted online. An individual registration form has to be completed for each submitted contribution. Team projects will be accepted. However, all communication will go solely via the person who registered the contribution.

For team projects, all team members must be listed with their first and second names in the field "all designers involved". Later submission of participating designers is not possible. It is important to provide the full name and address of the academic institution at which the project was developed. Additionally, you have to provide the complete name of the project supervisor, the contact person in your academic department or the school's director.

If the project was carried out independently (i.e. without supervision), please provide the name of a contact person in your academic department or that of the school's director. When completing the form, please make sure to provide first names first and then the second names. Do not use any hyphens, except for two-part second names. The first letters of each first and second name must be capitalized.

Confirmation

In the "product information" text fields of the registration form, we need a short description of your contribution, its functionality and design in at least English (max. 650 characters per language including punctuation). The jury will use this short description as a basis for their decision.

If you receive an award, this description will be presented to you again as a basis for the representation in the iF online exhibition.

Use the online registration form to upload one or two photos for each competition entry in the following format:

• Image size: max. 300 x 300 pixels
• Larger images (max. 2 MB) will automatically be scaled down
• Color format: RGB
• File format: JPEG (.jpg)

The images are a necessary part of the registration. Please have these images ready and available before you open the registration form.

After your online registration we will send you an email confirming that we have received your registration. This email will contain an entry-ID for your entry.

The entry-ID is composed of the competition-ID "208" and a five-digit number that identifies your entry and allocates it to your personal data. It is very important that you use this entry-ID for all communication, shipping, product- and packaging labels since we will otherwise not be able to identify the entry.

Please check whether your registration is complete and contains all the necessary data.

Jury

An international expert jury will discuss and evaluate all submitted entries in a dedicated, critical and constructive way. The selection process is not public and takes place in the grounds of the Hannover Messe (Germany). If a jury member is directly connected to one of the contributions, they are no longer allowed to vote. The decision of the jury is legally binding. Legal recourse is excluded.

Service for Award Winners

All successful entries of the lebens(t)räume 2010 competition will receive the lebens(t)räume 2010 label and are entitled to use this logo for commercial purposes.

lebens(t)räume 2010 - exhibition

The special display " lebensräume 2010 " will be planned and implemented by iF. All award winning entries of the lebens(t)räume 2010 will be presented. The special display will be located at the fair ALTENPFLEGE 2010 in Hannover, Germany. For more information on the special display " lebensräume 2010 " please contact: Thomas Bade universal design GmbH phone +49.511.8930044 fax +49.511.8930046 tb@ud-germany.de

iF online exhibition

The iF website has more than 3.5 million page views per month and is one of the most popular design platforms on the Internet. On the iF website visitors from over 100 countries get informed about iF awards and the awards organized by iF for third parties. All awarded contributions are published on the iF website with up to two images and a description for indefinite time.

Prize Money

Among all the winning entries the particularly outstanding submissions will be awarded prize money. The total prize purse for this competition are EUR 6,000.00.

Press

Before, during and after the competition the iF organized extensive press work. iF sends press releases in German and English to the national and international media.

Dates

• last call: 15 December 2009
• Entry for the jury: to arrive no later than 5 January 2010
• Jury: 18 February 2010
• Jury results: from 19 February 2010 onwards
• lebens(t)räume 2010 awards ceremony: 23 March 2010 at 13:30
• Special display "lebensräume": 23 until 26 March 2010