“The Future of Making Things”
Submission deadline: April 17, 2015
Semifinalist interviews: April 22–April 24, 2015
Proposal selection date: May 1, 2015
Installation completion date: November 2015
Autodesk Pier 9 Workshop
Pier 9
The Embarcadero
San Francisco, CA 94111
www.autodesk.com
More information on the Edge Competition call
For over 30 years, Autodesk has empowered creative makers with the means to develop ground-breaking projects. Today, Autodesk continues this legacy by producing the tools for the world’s preeminent creators to push the limits of digital design and fabrication. Dedicated to digital craftsmanship, Autodesk’s Pier 9 Workshop pairs leading designers, architects, roboticists, craftspeople and experts across many fields, with world-class machinery and software. By supporting creative communities like Instructables.com, the Pier 9 Artists in Residence Program and key partnerships in industry and academia, Autodesk recognizes the crucial role collaboration plays in the future of design. Building from this, Autodesk is seeking proposals from teams for an outdoor installation to be designed and fabricated at the Pier 9 workshop and sited on the San Francisco Embarcadero between Piers 9 and 15.
Design objectives
This project will be unlike most traditional public installations in that it is expected to actively inhabit the installation space. Applicants may propose to do this with any combination of the following strategies:
– Responding to the site conditions and spirit of Pier 9, a unique workshop wherein an engaged community shares the groundbreaking projects they make by hand and with state of the art digital fabrication tools. (Integrating additional site-specific aspects into proposals is encouraged, including elements that may relate to the history, environment, demographics of the installation area.)
– Incorporating digital or physical modes of interactivity
– Creating visually stunning work
The review committee welcomes submissions in the areas of sculpture, architecture, new media, furniture and other arenas of design. Regardless of medium, the selection will be based on an interest in supporting a project that visitors will recall as memorable, meaningful or inspirational.
The project must relate to the theme of “the future of making things,” specifically the synthesis between design processes and design software, and between hand tools and digital tools. We are interested in projects that dissolve these boundaries and either erode or highlight edges. The proposal should include a plan to integrate digital fabrication at some stage of the design process, and an aspect of this must be visible in the finished work.
While the use of certain digital fabrication tools should play integral roles in the project, technology should not replace or overshadow the role of content. More specifically, the overall meaning or intention behind your proposal must be comprised of more than an enthusiasm for technology.
For more information about the location, logistics, expectations and support for this project, please see the full call available here.
Proposals may be submitted online via Slideroom here.
The full announcement for the Edge Competition project is available here.
About Pier 9
Autodesk’s Pier 9 workshop is a state-of-the-art facility on the San Francisco Bay that supports multiple opportunities for artists, designers, and other professionals to push the boundaries of digital fabrication technology. The primary objectives behind these partnerships are to produce innovative work, to share that work with the D.I.Y. community, and to connect creative individuals with Pier 9’s unique set of tools and resources.
