The Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art [SMoCA] announces a major design competition and public exhibition, “Flip a Strip.” This innovative project will foster creative new visions for the renovation of the small-scale strip shopping plazas that line the streets of this metropolitan area-and virtually every suburban zone in the country. (Note: this is an idea-generating competition, not a design/build project.) “Flip a Strip” continues SMoCA’s commitment to creating a forum for public issues of both local and national importance and to generating ideas that better the quality of civic life.

The competition is a hybrid, both open and invitational, with a nominal registration fee of $60. Participants must be professional architects with at least five years professional experience. Participants can select one model site from among three sites that have been submitted by city planners from the municipalities of Scottsdale, Tempe and Phoenix, Arizona.Ringed by parking and adjacent to thriving neighborhoods, these strip malls have great potential for adaptive re-use and architectural upgrades. They are an undervalued and neglected building stock. This competition will look at options for making strip malls economically viable, aesthetically interesting and communally meaningful.

Specifications and detailed information will be available through the competition/registration web site. Submissions must be received by mail at SMoCA by 31 March 2008.