April 10

MEDIA ADVISORY

SUBJECT:  Design Village Competition at Cal Poly's Open House April 19-21

CONTACT:  Ray Ladd, College of Architecture and Environmental Design
       (805) 756-7432 or rladd@calpoly.edu Student contact:  Ben Ross, Event Coordinator
       (805) 549-0208 or  design_village@hotmail.com Contact during competition:  Ben Ross at           (805) 801-7229 cell phone

WHAT:  Design Village is a competition in which students from colleges
and universities across the western United States design shelters at
their home campuses, then transport all of the required materials to
Cal Poly's Poly Canyon, where they build structures that suit the
year's theme and inhabit them for the three days of the event. They are
judged on craftsmanship, cost efficiency, excellence in design,
suitability to the theme -- "Upside Down" this year -- and public
response to their creativity. It is sponsored by Cal Poly's College of
Architecture and Environmental Design, with students from the college's
departments organizing the competition.

WHEN:  At about 8 a.m. April 19, the teams begin the one-mile hike up
Poly Canyon, carrying their materials. Competitors must attempt to
complete construction by nightfall. The public viewing day is April 20,
with free shuttles running 10 a.m.-4 p.m. The public can view the
judging of the entries 10 a.m.-noon. The presentation of the awards
takes place at 11 a.m.
April 21.

WHO:  More than 120 students in 21 teams from 13 colleges are expected
to participate. New this year:  Cal Poly's landscape architecture
students will represent the college with an installation in Poly
Canyon's geodesic dome.

WHERE:  Poly Canyon is easily accessible from the northeast portion of
the central Cal Poly campus, about a mile up Poly Canyon Road.
Admission and shuttle rides to the site are free. The shuttle pick-up
location is in the parking lot at the corner of Poly Canyon Road and
Perimeter Drive. Visitors may also walk to the site.

A QUOTE FROM THE ORGANIZER:  "We invite the public to come see what the
spectacle of Design Village is all about and to see what the students'
creativity allows them to build with their own hands," said Ben Ross,
student director of the competition. "You'll see students from all over
the West turning the entire Design Village 'upside down.'"

MISCELLANY:
· Design Village originated as a competition to design
disaster-relief shelters.
· This is the competition's 30th year.
· Village sources predict the appearance of a hanging landscape
from the roof of the geodesic dome.

WEB SITE:  For more on the College of Architecture and Environmental
Design's Open House celebration, visit www.calpoly.edu/~caed/.         
       
ACCESS FOR NEWS COVERAGE:  Members of the media with credentials should
exit Highway 101 at Grand Avenue. Follow the signs north to Cal Poly
and pass through the traffic checkpoint. At the end of Grand Avenue,
turn right on Perimeter Drive and then right on Poly Canyon Road. Media
vehicles with credentials will be allowed access up the canyon. Those
without credentials should enter campus from Highway 1 at Highland
Drive and park near the shuttle location noted above.

IMAGES:  The students have created a compact disc -- available upon
request -- that includes multi-media elements (some from past years'
events), a poster-flier, still pictures, a short "movie," a canyon
contour map, directions and other files.

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