Questions can be submitted to the Competition Sponsor on the Contact page of the Competition Website until December 21, 2007.  Responses will be posted on this page of the website in a timely manner, with preference given to topics questioned most frequently.

Questions can also be mailed to:
New York City Office of Emergency Management
Attn: “What If New York City
165 Cadman Plaza East
Brooklyn NY, 11201 USA

The content or organization of the questions may be modified for clarity. Questions will not be answered individually. All questions are covered by the Conditions governing all materials submitted to the Sponsor. 

Question:
If patent or patent pending products or systems are used in the designs, will New York City claim intellectual property rights over them?

Answer:
All commercially-available products may be employed in submitted designs.  The City makes no claim on the prior intellectual property rights of those products.  However, the majority of the design content submitted for the competition must be original.

With respect to any pre-existing and/or non original materials contained in the design, the Award Recipient shall be prepared to grant to the City, and/or obtain for the City, a perpetual, world-wide, royalty-free license for all uses necessary to publicize the Competition and to effectuate the design.

A revised Agreement reflecting this answer will be sent out to all Registered Competitors and posted on the Competition Website as soon as possible.

Question:
What would be the basic demographics of the estimated 18,000 households needing housing?   How many residential units are family units; and what sizes are these families?  How many couples?  How many singles? How many elderly?   

Answer:
Competitors may consult the Pre-Storm Demographic Profile in the Disaster Scenario section of the Competition Brief for basic demographic data on Prospect Shore. Competitors are not required to account for all 18,000 households in specific detail.  Successful Submissions will address Unit Flexibility as defined in the Judging Criteria.

Question:
Must the Agreement be signed and sent before a Submission is made?  Or when a Competitor is notified as a one of the ten Winners?

Answer:
No Agreement is required to make a Submission. See the Conditions section for details. 

Question:
If I Register as a team and fill in the names of the team members on the Online Registration Form, does that mean that all the team members are Registered?  Or does each team member need to register?  

Though I initially Registered with a number of team members, I am now working alone. Will team Submissions be judged differently than individual Submissions? Is there a way to rectify my individual/group status?

Answer:
Persons listed as team members may not Register as individual Competitors.  Team members are not recognized as Competitors under Competition rules. Those wishing to remove or add team members should contact the Sponsor through the Contact page. The Sponsor will attempt to accommodate all such changes. As the only identifying mark on the Submission will be the Registration Number, the Jury will not distinguish between individual and team Submissions.

Question:
What is the longest duration that people may live in this temporary housing? 

Answer:
The provisional housing may be occupied for up to 5 years. See Competition Overview for details.

Question:
Does each of the ten Winners receive a $10,000 award?

Answer:
Yes, the ten (10) Winners of the Open Competition will each be awarded $10,000 to further develop their Submissions in the Project Development Period. The Competition Jury will also award ten (10) Honorable Mentions of $500.

Question:
Can employees of New York City agencies other than the Office of Emergency Management enter the competition?

Answer:
Yes, employees of other city agencies may enter. Employees of the New York City Office of Emergency Management are prohibited from participation in the Competition.

Question:
Is it possible to submit pages in addition to the nine (9) pages and the thumbnail image?

Answer:
No, additional pages will not be accepted. Competitors should adhere to theSubmission Requirements.

Question:
Do I have to show on my proposal that I have provided housing for all 18,000 displaced Prospect Shore households?

Answer:
Competitors are not required to house all 18,000 displaced households. Though density is a primary concern in the Competition, Submissions will be judged on a variety of criteria. See the Judging Criteria for more detail.

Question:
Must I use only one site or can I propose a housing solution on more than one site in the competition package?

Answer:
Flexibility is one of many Judging Criteria upon which the Jury will base their selections.  Successful Submissions will illustrate a housing solution that could be adapted to multiple sites and site conditions. Also, they will illustrate housing solutions not only at the scale of a single unit, but will convey how a typical agglomeration of units works in a multifamily configuration. Competitors are encouraged to present at a scale which successfully illustrates their unit agglomeration in detail.

Question:
What scale are the AutoCAD drawings? Can they be posted in another format? Will a 3d model be issued? Where is the building height and topographic information? 

Answer:
Competitors should be advised that this is an ideas competition based in a fictional but realistic New York City neighborhood – Prospect Shore. The Competition is intended to generate many innovative solutions for post-disaster provisional housing for a variety of New York City neighborhood settings which may or may not match the particulars of the fictitious Prospect Shore neighborhood. Competitors will decide the level of detail at which they engage local conditions in Prospect Shore. Competitors are not bound by highly specific dimensional criteria, as the best solutions will be applicable in multiple site conditions in neighborhoods throughout the City. 

Prospect Shore maps are available as downloadable AutoCAD files and PDF format (in the Competition Materials) and can be used as a reference. Topographic data and building floor counts are also available in the CAD files. These materials are also available in hard copy by special request.

The AutoCAD files posted on the Competition Website are in Release 14 format. Use of the CAD drawings is not required for submission. The CAD drawings are identical to the maps provided in the Competition Materials in PDF format.

A 3d model of Prospect Shore will not be issued for the competition. Building height and topographic information are included in “2Day_(-002).dwg.” On a layer called “Buildings – number of floors” competitors will see an integer representing the number of floors for each structure. Competitors may assume an average floor height of 12’-0” for the neighborhood, but will not be bound by this assumption. Topographic information for Prospect Shore is included in this file and represented by 2’-0” contours.

The AutoCAD files are drawn at full scale. The CAD files are posted with the units set to “decimal”, and this setting should not be modified. Measurements taken under this setting are quantified in feet. For example, in “1Day_(-003).dwg”, on the west side of Prospect Shore, measure the width of Sixth Street between Bayard and DePeyster. You will get a result of 36.0.  This means that, on this block, Sixth Street is 36 feet wide from curb to curb.

Question:
I have registered but have not received a registration number. When can I expect to receive the registration number?

Answer:
If you registered online - Competitors who completed the Online Registration Form on or before December 7, 2007 will receive an e-mail confirmation of their Registration and their Registration number. Confirmation is not immediate, and will be sent out periodically throughout the Registration Period but no later than seven (7) business days after the close of Registration.

If you registered by mail - Competitors who mailed a completed and signed Registration Form on or before December 7, 2007 will be mailed confirmation of their Registration and their Registration number no later than seven (7) business days after the close of Registration.

Question:
Where can I obtain a hard copy of the Registration Form and/or Competition Materials?

Answer:
You can download and print the Competition Materials and hard copy Registration Form from the Competition Website. Please see the Registration instructions if you intend to register by mail. Hard copies of the Competition Materials may only be requested by mail at the address listed below:

NYC  Office of Emergency Management
Attn: “What if New York City…”
165 Cadman Plaza East
Brooklyn NY, 11201   USA

Question:
I am a student living outside of the United States. Can I enter a Submission for this Competition?

Answer:
The Competition is open all individuals 18 years or older residing in both the United States and abroad. Please see the Conditions section for more details.

Question:
I have specific questions about the dimensions of structures and features of the Prospect Shore neighborhood. Where can I obtain this information?

Answer:
Competitors are not bound by highly specific dimensional criteria, as the best solutions will be applicable at multiple site conditions in neighborhoods throughout the City.  

The Competition is intended to generate many innovative solutions for post-disaster provisional housing for a variety of New York City neighborhood settings which may or may not match the particulars of the fictitious Prospect Shore neighborhood. 

However, neighborhood maps are available as downloadable Autocad files and can be used as a general reference. Topographic data and building floor counts are also available in the files. These materials are also available in hard copy by special request.

Question:
Is water considered an option for construction?

Answer:
All areas and features represented in the fictitious Prospect Shore neighborhood may be considered for the Design.

Question:
What restrictions do I need to be aware of with respect to the Project Description (page nine of the Required Submission)?

Answer:
The Project Description must be submitted in PDF format (not applicable to mail submissions) and limited to one page using 12 point font (or handwritten equivalent if submitting by mail). Competitors are responsible for ensuring the legibility of the text in the layout of their Project Description. Please see the Submissions section for more details.

Question:
My classmates and I always form a team when entering design competitions and plan to do so for this Competition as well. However, I have another concept that I wish to submit on my own. Can I be associated with two different Submissions?

Answer:
No, a person may be registered only once, either as the person under whose name the Registration Form is submitted (the Competitor) or as a team member listed on a Registration Form submitted under another person’s name. Review the Conditions section for details.

Answer:
Competitors are not expected to investigate regulatory details. Only the information included in the Competition Materials should be considered when developing Submissions. Knowledge of, or adherence to, existing regulations is not one of the Judging Criteria for the Open Competition. 

At the beginning of the Project Development Period, the Technical Advisory Committee will review the ten Winning Submissions and will advise the ten Winners on any potential legal, technical, regulatory, or funding hurdles which might need to be addressed in order for their Winning Submissions to feasibly be implemented. The Winners will then decide whether or not they wish to modify their Submissions based on that review.

Apart from its review of the Winning Submissions, the Technical Advisory Committee may consider whether certain existing regulations and programs need to be modified in order to facilitate the deployment of innovative Provisional Housing solutions.