Remember when Iron Chef Sakai added trout to the ice cream machine? Who does that? If you are like me, you weren’t wondering what that concoction tastes like, but instead wishing that architects and designers would compete directly against each other in front of TV Cameras, drafting and building models, competing for the title of Iron Designer (or Iron Architect perhaps). Bonus: Gregg Pasquarelli of SHoP Architects would serve as the chairman.

While this fantasy will have to wait, a slightly different Iron Designer Challenge is really happening on June 17^th (6-8:30) and for a virtuous cause: a fund-raising goal of $90,000 will help fund students at the pre-college Urban Assembly School of Design and Construction. Teams of professionals from influential firms (Gensler, Perkins+Will) will be partnered with students to design large emergency shelters for Haiti and Chile. One will emerge victorious (and be crowned Iron Designer), but it’s all about the cause(s).

Mr. Pasquarelli won’t be the chairman, but he will be acting as a judge, along with Parsons Dean Joel Towers, and David Burney. The event will be held at the School for Design and Construction with a live audience (including you?), music and an open bar (classy!). I can’t wait to find out what the “secret material” will be!

The criteria:

1. Overall aesthetic quality of the structure

2. Appropriateness of shelter for intended climate and event

3. Structural ingenuity

4. Use of the “Secret Material”

5. Teamwork and performance

6. Student participation

7. Overall spectacle 

The awards to be given out by jury:

The Iron Designer

Structural Ingenuity

Best Use of the Secret Material

People’s Choice Award (voted on by audience)

Gregg Pasquarelli of SHoP Architects, via New York Observer

Material List for Iron Designer Challenge

Chairman Kaga, Iron Chef

by Jim Wegener

posted in Events

tagged Chairman Kaga, Gensler, Gregg Pasquarelli, Iron Chef, Iron Designer, Perkins+Will, Secret Material, SHoP, Urban Assembly

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