Competition Outline

The Google SketchUp Town of Tomorrow Urban Design Competition

Westport, the first town in Ireland to have been modelled in 3D and hosted on Google Earth is running its annual Town of Tomorrow Urban Design Competition for students.

The Brief

The competition is based on the ground-breaking photorealistic 3D computer model of Westport commissioned by the Town Council, pioneers in the use of such 3D digital technology for both urban planning and online tourism.

The competition involves the re-design of the centre of the Heritage Town of Westport using the popular architectural software Google SketchUp.

Peter Hynes Mayo County Manager commented, “Each student or team can choose a section of the town to work with. Their design brief is purposely rather loose so they can take full advantage of the Google design software, whilst enabling them to make the maximum use of their imagination. If previous year’s entries are anything to go by we are expecting some fabulous new ideas on how our Heritage Town could be developed in the years to come.”

Read more about the competition on Google SketchUp's Official Blog

Get Signed Up

To register simply click here

The closing date for registration for next year’s competition is February 29th, 2012.

The Westport3D Google SketchUp models – on either CD, data sticks or via FTP (Sendspace is free) should be sent or delivered to Westport Civic Offices, Altamont Street, Westport, Co Mayo on or before February 29th.

What You'll Need

After registering to participate, you'll need to arm yourself with the necessary tools by following the links below:

You'll also need to pick a section of the Westport town model below. Please choose only one section of the model to work with:

Bridge Street & North-South Mall

Clock Tower & Shop Street Octagon

Tober Hill Octagon & James Street

Once you've downloaded Google SketchUp, get your 3D modeling skills up to speed with video tutorials covering all the essentials HERE

Also, check out this introduction to geo-modeling using Google Earth HERE

Judges

As in previous years we are very privileged to have two eminent judges from the Google SketchUp's head office in Colorado USA.

Awards Ceremony

The award ceremony is scheduled to take place in April. Competitors will be informed via email.

More Information

Contact Brendan P Hafferty: bphafferty@anu.ie