Discarded Dreams: Used Mattress Design Competition

Discarded Dreams: Used Mattress Design Competition

Hosted by Rubicon National Social Innovations and Architecture For Humanity

Architecture for Humanity and Rubicon National Social Innovations are pleased to announce the launch of our latest design competition: Discarded Dreams: Used mattress competition

| What can you do with a million mattresses? |

Mattresses are our friends. For years, mattresses selflessly serve our sleeping pleasure. We should all be grateful for our mattresses; after all, most of us were conceived on one. Why, then, are our mattresses being abandoned in dumps and left to the seagulls? Every year in the U.S. 40 million mattresses get thrown in the trash. Don't our mattresses deserve another chance? The problem is, the nature and construction of mattresses has made them difficult to dispose of. They often end up in landfills because they cannot be broken down and their component parts are hard to utilize. Until now.

| Challenge |

Architecture for Humanity and Rubicon National Social Innovations invite entrants to create innovative ways of converting used mattresses into useful products. The competition aims to encourage entrants to form groups capable of creating a consumer product, instructions detailing how to make the product, and a plan for production on a larger scale. Entrants must create designs that take into account the volume of mattress waste generated each year. Groups are encouraged to utilize local resources, including existing manufacturing facilities and other waste products.

| Schedule |

September 1st: Competition Opens
December 5th: Deadline for registration and submission.
December: Jury Review
February 2009: Announcement of winners!

| Prizes |

1st place: $1000
2nd place: $500
3rd place: Amazing Rubicon Bakery baked goods delivered to your door!

The winner/winners will also be invited to collaborate with Rubicon to design and execute a method of collecting and converting the mattresses into their value-added product, and potentially distributed for commercial use. This would be a unique opportunity to help an emerging social enterprise develop a product line with 100 percent reclaimed materials, create green-collar jobs, and support individuals in moving out of poverty.

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It sounds like a gag, but the curbs and thrift stores of America will be the quarries of our re-new-able creativity. A competition well-suited to Memphis folk creativity and material reality.