The Story
In an effort to create opportunities for designers following the recession, gURROO.com was created to be an independent website platform to host the Innovative Minds design competition. The design competition was a catalyst for innovative design thinking through the blending of virtual and physical architectures. Now the website serves as a blog with articles focusing on strengthening the profession through knowledge sharing. Articles vary from career advice, lessons-learned, architecture tangents, business and design.
Although the Innovative Minds competition is officially retired, 7 international design competitions have been completed. From 2012-2018 there have been participants from 67+ international institutions and 40+ countries. The website has been viewed 40,000+ times. Open source design tools are used whenever possible to develop this website, Inkscape, WordPress and GIMP are used routinely.
The design competition
gURROO hosted an annual international design competition (Innovative Minds Design Competition) in an effort to become a catalyst for creative thinking while rewarding designers for their ideas from 2012-2018. The competition focused on the blending of physical and virtual architecture and how innovative minds can address societal issues. A portion of the proceeds was donated to organizations that influence technological strides in the design community.
gURROO.com supported, buildingSMART alliance (2018 Individual – Public Interest Sector Member), DynamoNodes, Mandrill archi+lab
Participants
Participants in the Innovative Minds Competition have submitted projects from all over the world and from many academic institutions.
Countries
Participants have submitted projects from, Australia, Austria, Bangladesh, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, Crete, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Greece, Hong Kong, Italy, Jordan, Kyrgyzstan, Macedonia, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States of America and others.
Participants from Academic Institutions
Ajou University, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Arizona State University, Bangladesh School of Engineering and Technology, Cal Poly Pomona, Cal Poly State University, San Luis Obispo, Canterbury School of Architecture, Collage of Architecture Myungji University, College of The Holy Cross, Faculty of Arts and Architecture at Technical University, Faculty of Technical University of Delft Building, Fashion Institute of Technology, Feng Chia University, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harvard University, Hongik School of Architecture, Hongik University, South Korea, IUAV University, Izmir University of Economics, Kazan State University of Architecture and Engineering, Montana State University, Northumbria University and The Open University, Norwich University, Ohio State University, Otago Polytechnic, Politecnico di Milano, Poznan University of Technology, RMIT University, Savannah College of Art & Design, School Ecole d’Architecture de Paris La Villette, The University of New Mexico, School of Architecture of Nantes, SKKU University, South China University of Technology, Syracuse University, Syracuse University School of Architecture, Technical University of Crete Architecture School, The University of Melbourne, Tomsk State University of Architecture and Building, Universidad del Valle de México, Universidad Iberoamericana, University Gallaecia, University of Colorado Denver, University of Hawaii at Manoa, University of Hong Kong, University of Idaho, University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), University of Jordan, University of Manitoba, University of New Mexico, University of Nicosia, University of Seoul, University of Skopje, University of Toronto, University of Washington, University of Waterloo, Washington University in St. Louis, Xiˊan Jiaotong Liverpool University, Yaroslavl State Technical University, Ball State University.
icons credit: the Noun Project – Chameleon Design, Icon Fair, artworkbean, Michal Beno, Alex Podolsky, Iconsphere, Creative Stall, Erin Standley, Three Six Five.
