The Salvation Army joins the U.S. Green Building Council this year in hosting USGBC's 2010 Natural Talent Design Competition. Entrants will design an affordable, 800 square foot green home for an elderly client in the Broadmoor, New Orleans neighborhood. Winners will be announced after the top four entries have been constructed, inhabited, and evaluated.

The Salvation Army and USGBC recognize that financially vulnerable individuals, families, and neighborhoods are particularly in need of the benefits that sustainable design and green building practices bring. This partnership challenges entrants to design homes that demonstrate both short-term and long-term affordability, a high quality of life for their residents, and replicable strategies that contribute to our understanding of how to build affordably, efficiently, and with minimal impact on the environment.

The Competition:

Entries are requested for the design of an affordable single-family home that meets the requirements of USGBC's LEED for Homes Platinum-level certification and contains between 720 and 880 feet of living space. The client for each home will be an elderly individual or couple in the Broadmoor neighborhood of New Orleans. The home must be designed with this client in mind, as well as guests and future homebuyers. Four home designs will be chosen: two student designs and two emerging professional designs. To arrive at these four homes, panels of judges in each USGBC Chapter will pick one student entry and one emerging professional entry for competition at the national level. A national panel of judges, including residents of the Broadmoor neighborhood and builders and designers from both New Orleans and elsewhere, will then choose four designs from the pool of local winners.

The four teams will be brought to New Orleans (max 2 individuals per team) to finalize designs with the potential resident.