The Berkeley Prize competition, offering a $5,000 prize fund, marks the 30th Anniversary of the UNESCO Convention that established the World Heritage Center and its work to document cultural and natural landmarks throughout the world.

"When architects strive to create lasting monuments, some become part of the significant cultural heritage of our age. These successes seem to embody the most socially important values of a city, region, country, or even the world. Other attempts are only the reflection of the vanity of the designer or client and pass into oblivion. Worse, they become a permanent blight on the environment. As an architect, specifically, how can your work simultaneously embody the social values of one place, a particular culture, and universal human concerns?"

Details: http://www.berkeleyprize.org/

thanks trace i was informed by your thread and i win........ i get to semifinalist .....

The 2005 Berkeley Prize Essay Competition has been announced. This year's 'question' concerns the Public Place:

What makes a place truly public? Go out into a community that you know well and find an exceptional, built example of one such place. In most likelihood, among other attributes, this place will embody the traditions of local culture and be a reflection of the world at large. Describe this place in a way that makes it a compelling demonstration of how other places might remain similarly vital to their own communities. Be both evocative and specific in your tribute to this place.