by Whatsblem the Pro

Image: EcoLogic Design Lab

The winning entry in the 2013 Burning Man Airport Terminal and Pilot’s Lounge Design Competition has been announced; the design chosen by a panel of judges was submitted by architect Ross Smith of San Francisco.

Thomas Rettenwender of EcoLogic Design Lab, the firm that judged the contest, writes:

“After reviewing all the submitted projects received from around the world (including Shanghai, Austria, Canada, San Francisco, Hamburg, Columbus, Holland, … ) the judges had a difficult job of selecting the winning projects. Every single entry had interesting concepts and ideas to review and evaluate. Conditions in the Blackrock Desert are extreme, many projects may have been just to beautiful to subject to this degree of abuse ! Usually architects/designers want their buildings to fly, the concern of course is that the structures flyaway. The ability to assemble the structure under winds and sand storms made the designs with fewer parts stand out. There was also the desire to find an iconic shape that looked impressive from the sky and from the ground. After several weeks of review about ten projects were brought to the Burningman Headquarters, Market St. San Francisco and over the course of several hours of bagels, coconut water and vicious debate the final projects had to be selected – Our wish, however was to see all these projects being built – flying, blowing, flapping, tumbling, shining, rising up across the playa – and we hope the designers out there continue to pursue this goal. Good Luck and Congratulations to all entrants. We are grateful for the participation. We were very impressed with all the hard work they put in to the entries. It was an honor to review the designs.”

Image: EcoLogic Design Lab

Ross Smith’s design won accolades from the judges for its iconic shape, which will be easily recognizable to pilots from the air; it’s canny re-purposing of its own shipping containers as anchors; the lightweight, easy-to-install design; the small number of parts, and the mobility of the ‘wings,’ which can be dropped to shelter the interior in case of dust storms.

The rest of the competition results have been posted at EcoLogic Design Lab’s website.

The competition was judged by Thom Faulders, Eric Corey Freed, Michael Twing, Steve Ramseur, Thomas Rettenwender and Luke Lukoskie.