The job of an interior designer incorporates a thorough knowledge of color palette integration, furniture styles and placement, lighting, use of textures, and a good eye for aesthetics and spatial relations. In some instances, the job has advanced to a level where some interior designers are involved in architectural design elements such as the layout of building floor plans, window placement, stairways, escalators, and walkways.

But with public awareness recognizing the need to become more green and energy efficient in today’s society, interior designers are beginning to understand the advantages of becoming familiar with environmentally friendly design materials, techniques, and renewable energy sources.

To acknowledge the importance of green design, the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID) released a set of suggestions for greener home remodeling called REGREEN. The set of guidelines were written to help interior design professionals and homeowners evaluate green products and energy systems for typical homes.

The REGREEN document shows 10 case studies based upon several common remodeling plans that involve the kitchen, bathroom, basement, and other home projects. Many tips and suggestions are given on how to remodel with a green emphasis. The REGREEN guidelines are not hard and fast rules to follow, but act as a starting point to develop a customized plan.

Suggestions for greening a home can be as simple as installing natural linoleum flooring and replacing an old refrigerator with an Energy Star efficient unit to more ambitious green projects for solar panel conversion and solar heating.

If you are an interior design student, or a professional who has been in the business for many years, an understanding of how to go green is definitely a color that should be in your palette of skills.

The 4th IABR ‘Open City’ is committed to display projects that negotiate between the integrating and segregating forces and enable people of diverse cultures and lifestyles to connect and interact. ‘Squat City’ is part of the Rotterdam Biennale and deals with the increasingly common phenomenon of informal urban developments all over the world.

If ’squatting’ can be understood as the process of appropriation by which excluded local actors gain access to the territory and resources of a city, then a new type of activism should focus on the strategies and techniques that allow these informal processes to develop in a more inclusive and sustainable way.

The projects submitted for the Squat City Competition should contribute the agenda of the ‘Open City’ by proposing inventive design strategies and techniques pertaining to informal urban development.

The call goes out to projects from the fields of architecture and urban design that are based on or that support bottom-up practices and that encourage the self-empowerment of local actors, and that help formalize and legalize such developments.

Deadline for Submission: March 27, 2009. Visit the site to learn more about the guidelines, prizes and more.

Welcome to the Spark 2009 Competition, Designers! The Spark Awards is the exciting new competition created to promote great design and designers and encourage people to explore their creativity. Everyone is invited to participate - designers, art directors, architects, design firms, manufacturers, institutions, ad agencies, students and non-professionals may enter, interact and enjoy Sparking.

Graphics, product design, transportation and architecture are just a few of the many design categories accepted. If you or your company create great designs, don’t miss the opportunity to compete in this important event.

To accommodate the greatest possible range of designs and designers, and to lower the initial cost of entry, the SparkAwards are configured as a “two-phase” competition, just like a sports playoff series. In Phase I, entrants upload 3 images of their work and short mission statement to the Spark website.
The Jury reviews the work and selects candidates to compete in Phase II. (Last year the entries were of a very high caliber and most went on to Challenger status.)

There is a double pricing structure for entrants. The Phase I fee is $125 for professionals, $75 for design students. The “Challenger Candidates” selected by the jury have the option to enter the Phase II competition, which has a fee of $250 (students/novices- free in Phase II. Status must be verifiable). Upon payment, this group automatically places in our online show and qualifies for review by the live Jury. Winners of Phase II are awarded either a prestigious Bronze Spark, Silver Spark, Gold Spark or the ultimate Spark! Award.

Late Deadline is Midnight, PST, September 11, 2009. Visit the site to learn more.

i-want-a-print announces the i-want-a-print Emerging Talent Award devoted to promoting the work of art students and/or recent graduates making the transition from the academic environment to professional careers. Finalists will have the opportunity to sell museum-quality limited edition prints of their works with the soon-to-be-launched i-want-a-student-print website, which will handle the production and sales of these editions.

Artists will enjoy profits of up to 9,600 Euros and a resulting exposure. One winner will receive a 1,000 Euros cash award as down payment on future sales. Application is free and easy to follow through with the online submission page. Results will be published mid-June, with the launch of the i-want-a-student-print website.

Deadline for submissions is 15 May 2009. The competition is open to students/emerging talents over 18 years old. Visit the site to learn more.

MAPA created Design 09 to honor architects and students who employ precast concrete to achieve the design and performance objectives of in-design or completed projects. The Design 09 awards program, the first of many to come, showcases innovative and effective use of precast concrete in the mid-Atlantic region.

There is NO COST for submitting a nomination. Anyone may nominate any project that meets the eligibility requirements. Nominees may be completed buildings or projects in design. Design 09 includes two separate competitions: one for projects designed by professional architects and one for students. MAPA created a simple and FREE nomination process that enables all materials to be submitted online in a matter of minutes.

Categories include (but are not limited to): Commercial, institutional, houseing, parking structures, bridges, sustainable design and more. Students at any architecture or design school in the states served by MAPA are eligible for nomination in the Design 09 student competition. Faculty and staff may nominate student designs, or students may nominate their own designs. The categories remain the same in the student competition, but the honorees will be limited to six overall with two first place winners receiving cash prizes of $500 each, two second place winners $250 each, and two third place winners $100 each.

Deadline is 4 September 2009. Visit the site to learn more.

The Design PhD Conference is a collaborative event between ImaginationLancaster at Lancaster University and the School of Design’s Centre for Design Research at Northumbria University. The conference offers an opportunity for PhD students, Masters students, recent graduates and businesses to meet, exchange knowledge and ideas, and learn about the latest developments in design thinking, methods and research projects.

ImaginationLancaster is a creative research lab at Lancaster University that investigates emerging issues, technologies and practices to advance knowledge and develop solutions that contribute to the common good. We offer a PhD programme and MA courses in Design: Management and Policy and Sustainability, Innovation and Design. Both courses prepare students for roles in the fast changing, multifaceted and interdisciplinary world of design in modern society.

The School of Design in Northumbria University, with more than 1200 students and almost 100 staff, has an international reputation for innovation and real world creativity. Northumbria University’s international reputation in practice-based design education and its links to alumni such as Jonathan Ive, Senior Vice President of Industrial Design at Apple, complements the internationally recognised practice-based design research emphasis of Imagination.

Keynote speaker is Alastair Fuad-Luke, and the theme for the event is “Sustainability, Innovation and Design.” PhD students are invited to submit an A2 poster representing the key elements of their doctoral research in relation to the conference theme. Deadline is the 30th of March. For details, guidelines and other information, visit the site.