VMA Spring Build-Off Winners Announced

By Grey Lupindo

The Virtual Museum of Architecture held its Spring Build-Off at the Builders Brewery Sandbox at Builders Resource (127, 131, 22).    The theme was Homes of Feudal Japan.   Colorful cherry blossoms and flying kites added a festive note to the competition.    The first picture, taken by SL photographer Sanfroggy, shows an overview of the competition area.
 

       This Build-Off was very different from past competitions.   Djinn Dasmijn, Co-Director of the VMA, said, “This has been one of the Virtual Museum of Architecture's most unique build-offs yet. ... Builders had asked for something off the wall, different, non-Western. Well, how better to be non-Western than to go East.”    

       There were a total of 10 entries, five in the Pro category and five in the Novice.   The number of entries was intentionally kept smaller for this event so that the builders could have more room and prims to use for the houses.   Many of the homes featured traditional Japanese gardens, rice paper walls, bamboo, and beautiful murals.   The photographs taken by Sansfroggy show the exterior of the First Place winning entries in each category.  The winners Pro Category were 1^st - Celestine Ghiardie   (House 4);  2^nd - Terra Tepper  (House 2); and 3^rd -  Granelda Oh (House 1).   The People's Choice Award also went to Granelda Oh.    Also building in the Pro Division was Rottin Dean and Sandi Glas.    

 

           The winners  in the Novice Category were 1st - Winter Nightfire; 2^nd -  Rage Quintessa; and 3rd - Vencat Boxen.   The People's Choice Award went to Winter Nightfire.     Bartimaeus Brandenburg and LunaEnigma also built in the Novice Category.     

           An Honored Sponsors Village was designed and built by Garvie Garzo.  In addition to Builder’s Brewery, which donated the use of the sandbox and provided other assistance, the Build-Off was sponsored by  XD – Gadgets, Creations for Parkinsons, Ashira's Aerie,  [zED]ge-NeticS, MeadowWorks,   Lucid Design, MrMultiWriter, Smiling Faces Entertainment, Look REAL w/Starla Farella, Top Jobs,  DRUM, and Affection Island.     

           On Sunday, March 3, the Museum held an awards party, complete with entertainment.   Twostep Spiritweaver, DRUM, Mr.Multi “Mic” Writer, and Ed Lowell performed.    The viewing time was limited at Builders’ Brewery because the event was being held on their sandbox.   However, Djinn Dasmijn hopes to find another location where the Homes of Feudal Japan will be able to stay longer to allow more SL residents to view them.

Grey Lupindo

Virtual Museum of Architecture - Fall Build-Off

The Virtual Museum of Architecture (VMA) held its annual Fall Build-off on Builder’s Brewery, located at Builders Resource (111, 30, 22). Djinn Dasmijn was the Build-Off Coordinator. The theme was Art Deco, a style developed in the 1920’s and 30’s. During a whirlwind 48 hours, competitors designed, built, textured, and tweaked their creations. The aim of the competition was to see who could create the most functional and appealing Art Deco commercial building. There were two categories: Novice and Pro, for residents who had previously sold builds. When the building ended on Sunday, SL residents voted for their favorites.

Djinn Dasmijn stated, “I am impressed with the quality of builds our competitors come up with at each build-off.” There are two large competitions held each year, with a different theme each time. This was the first time the Art Deco theme had been used. Dasmijn said a small contest was held to select the best Art Deco trophy. Because the Build-Offs are so popular, Dasmijn may be adding smaller events throughout the year.

There were 21 competitors this year, 10 in the Pro category and 11 in the Novice. The variety and quality were amazing. Among the builds were restaurants, department stores, a theater, and even a dolphin sanctuary. Some of the builders created notecards about their inspiration or method of creating the piece, which I found very interesting. Camden McAndrews, for example, first built a 1:32 scale model of his structure.

One competitor, Darkforest Dean, took time out to talk about his build and allowed me to photograph him. He placed a radio that he had made inside his structure, and the radio served as the inspiration for his build. Another builder, Levi Ewing, built a tall, luxurious “Flag Ship” store to symbolize the richness of the 1920s and capture the mood of the carefree lifestyle people were experiencing then.

Morgan India created “The Hindenburg Club”, a sky harbor/bus station redesigned into a “high-class speakeasy”. India’s entertaining notecard explained the problems faced by executives of Dirigible-Omnibus Harbor, Inc. that resulted in this structure. India’s real inspiration for the build was a hangar at Lambert Field and by Art Deco icons, such as the Paramount Theater in Oakland, CA [1931], the Musical Hall in Kansas City [1932], and the Gold Ballroom of the Overlook Hotel.

A very unique design was the Mariposa Dolphin Sanctuary, built by Enoch Kips. This two-story structure had a second floor observation walk where you could watch the two rescued dolphins swim. Movies were well-represented in the competition, too. A great corner theater was built by Deo, while Simi Firehawk’s stucco, glass and gold structure included Casablanca posters and pictures of movie stars inside.

The end of the competition was celebrated by a dance DJ’d by Etoile in the exhibitor’s area. The Winners were announced at an Awards Gala on Monday, October 24th, from 7:00–9:00 PM SLT, on the competition sim.

The winners of VMA's Fall Build-off 2011 are:

Novice Category:

1st place: Jolie Serendipity, 2nd place: Arteer Oliva, 3rd place: 2Rottin Dean

Pro Category:

Tied for 1st place: Terra Tepper and Marcan Aridian , 2nd place: Hideo Inaka, 3rd place: Granelda Oh

People's Choice Awards:

Novice: Camden McAndrews, Professional: Granelda Oh

Grey Lupindo