Important Dates

Early Birds Registration      55* USD ends March 21

Regular Registration           75 USD ends April 21

Late Registration               100 USD ends May 21

Queries period ends April 30

Submission Date June 12, 2022 @ 11:59 pm

*Residents of Lebanon younger than 33 years of age get a massive 85% reduction on registration fees

Competition Brief

The competition is to propose the  International train station for Beirut

Beirut and Lebanon in the XXI century do not have neither Trains, nor metro/Tube. Yet historically trains were operational from the late IXX century till the early seventies. They reappeared for a short period in the early nineties over shorter lines, and that was it. The allocated spaces for the railways and the stations are there. For the past 30 years there was never any official or serious plan to re-install trains in Lebanon.

That’s why Dar[e] is proposing this train station, more so it is an International train station. We want to dream, and we want to dream big. We want to be connected to the world.

This station will include the following:

2 international trains platform terminal with a length of 250m

And 4 local train platforms with a length of 150m (not a terminal, but trains going in opposite directions)

Besides these two requirements all the program is left to the participants to propose and implement.

The proposal should fit within the various terms of Green, sustainable, low energy, zero energy or nearly zero energy buildings, bio-climatic Project. Depending on the source, these definitions will take at least one of the following four points into account:

• The Embedded energy of the construction materials
• The Energy consumed within the construction phase
• The Overall lifespan energy consumption or (running energy consumption)
• End of life or the energy needed for demolition, decommissioning or recycling

This competition is looking for projects that will provide two points:

• maximum users’ comfort, in this case travelers, while using minimum energy and natural resources.
• Choosing materials that have low embedded carbon

Deliverables:

Two A1 sheets + 1 A3 Sheet

Besides the architecture presentation, sheets should contain the following

• The clear and detailed passive design strategies. One important note for the Beirut Summer weather is how would you deal with the humidity.
• A short text explaining concisely and clearly the passive design strategies.
• A table showing the proposed program
• A table showing the expected active energy by simple calculations

Not part of the Jury process each team will submit one visual (A3) as the main image for their project to be used as the project cover page. This image can be the same as in the main submission or it can a new addition.

Important note: Participants are advised to be careful about the all-digital presentation, and the actual size of the file to be submitted. Rely on texts that are large enough to be clear without the need to zoom in. Similarly, for the technical drawings and their relative scale and details, these should be as clear as possible without the need to zoom in.

Judgement criteria

1. Entries are judged anonymously; a number is assigned on registration visible on all submitted materials
2. As long as they abide by the program the Entries are judged individually and anonymously for their:
   1. Creative and innovative architectural design approach/concept, (40%)
   2. Passive Sustainable environmental design approach and proposal for how travelers’ comfort is reached (50%)
   3. Overall visual presentation & clear explanation (10%)
3. Regarding the sustainable environmental design approach to reach travelers’ comfort and reduce running energy, entries are expected to tackle the following fundamental points and present them in a concise and clear way (more graphic, less text)
   1. Passive design solution
   2. Material choices
   3. Cooling/heating strategies
   4. Proposal for active systems
4. Only for the active systems participants are expected to show some basic values of energy through simple calculations.
5. Participants are NOT required nor expected to do energy simulation nor solar simulation, or any other software simulation. Similarly, No Energy calculations are expected.
6. Since all entries are digital, judgment will also be only digital, based on the shared presentation template size, participant should take this seriously into account when planning their text sizing and their overall submission.
7. Participants are expected to show through night/day and seasonal sketches how the station will behave in terms of providing travelers comfort with minimal energy (Passive design).

Terms & Conditions

1. This is an open idea competition, there are no intention to build the project.
2. Competition is open to anyone, with no age limits or educational and professional background.
3. Entries can be made individually or by teams not exceeding four (4) participants.
4. Teams or individuals can submit more than one entry, as long as the entries are duly registered during the allocated time period and submitted before the deadline June 12th, 11:59pm Beirut Time (GMT +3:00).
5. All submissions are done electronically there is no paper nor model submission required.
6. Registration fees and dates are as follow
   1. Early bird registration (till March 21)                                    55 USD
   2. Regular registration (March 22 till April 21)                         75 USD
   3. Late registration (April 22  till May 21)                                100 USD
7. Residents of Lebanon, that are younger than 33 Years of age at the time of submission (born after June 12 1992) get an automatic 85% reduction on registration fee payable in either USD or LBP at the daily rate
8. To claim the 85% reduction all team members should abide by both conditions of age and residency. In case of wining and failing to prove this, the entire entry will be disqualified.
9. Payment can be done by
   1. Local money transfer
   2. Debit or credit cards using Whish

10. The prizes are in cash USD

    1. 1000 USD Winning entry

    2.  600 USD first runner up

    3.  400 USD second runner up

11. After registering participants can ask for clarifications by emails till April 30. After this date all questions (anonymously) and answers will be posted on the page.
12. Registration is final for the specific team members. No addition or removal can be made after registration.
13. Registration payment is final and no reimbursement will be made regardless of any reason.
14. All correspondences for queries and, or for technical assistance are done through Dar[e] email competition@dar-e.org
15. Anyone directly affiliated to Dar[e] cannot join the competition.
16. It is strictly forbidden to get in touch with any jury member, explicitly to communicate details about the competition and or the team registration number. This will result in automatic disqualification.
17. It is strictly forbidden to mark the submission sheets with anything that might reveal the team (logo, picture, names). This will result in automatic disqualification.
18. Participant are not allowed to show, communicate and, or advertise their entries on any digital mean on any social network , including the metaverse, as well as minting pfp and nft, before the official results are out. Doing so will result in automatic disqualification.
19. While retaining your full ownership rights, yet by submitting your entry, you grant Dar[e] the perpetual full and unconditional right to use your entry in any form that fits their present and future goals for, among other archiving, exhibiting, digital publishing, hardcopy publishing, promotion, promoting future similar events, or disseminating knowledge and knowhow in the field of energy reduction, comfort studies and sustainable environmental design, locally and or internationally.
20. Entrants retain their right to mint their entries, turn them into nft or pfp, but only once the results are out.
21. Entrants accept and agree that the jury final decision is final and non-appealable, and that it is the combined and agreed decision of all the jurors together, where Dar[e] coordinated the process.
22. It is the sole Participants responsibility to acknowledge any external source used, may it be a figure or a text reference. Failing to do so and if noticed within the judgment process will result in automatic disqualification. Dar[e] declines any current or future responsibility if such an incident occurs.
23. By registering and participating in the competition, participants agree to all the terms and conditions of the competition.
24. The competition language shall be English, and all submission shall be in English

About Dar[e] role

1. Dar[e] is an official Lebanese NGO registered at the Ministry of Interior under number 35/2019, its goal is to Encourage, Support and Promote Sustainable Environmental Design. Among the methodologies used to reach the goal is through Architecture Competitions as this one.
2. Philippe H. Saleh is the Founder and Current President of Dar[e].
3. This is a competition for ideas, there is no intention for neither the winning project nor any of the other submitted projects to be built.
4. Dar[e] is launching and managing the competition. Dar[e] will also coordinate the judgement process between the various international and local jury members, without taking part in the actual judgment process.
5. The only activity Dar[e] will do for the composition is checking that all entries have followed the brief, and submission are complete having all the requirements