stephanie.ogilvie@roanoke.com 981-3352

Cool. Different. Revolutionary.

Those were the buzz words overheard at Tuesday's launch of an international competition of environmentally friendly homes, which are scheduled to be built in Roanoke next summer.

The folks organizing this C2C Home design and construction competition want to stress how big this is for our region and the world.

"This is HUGE," said Georganne Bingham, executive director of the Art Museum of Western Virginia.

"We will be the envy of other communities across the nation," said Roanoke City Manager Darlene Burcham in her opening remarks.

What are they so excited about?

Ideas. Big ideas.

It's about creative building ideas, neighborhood revitalization and economic development all at once.

C2C Home is soliciting ideas on how to take the ecological, social and economic standards introduced in the book "Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things" and then testing them in the real world.

Essentially, it's a challenge to design homes that use solar energy and synthetic materials that replenish the Earth or can be infinitely recycled. In plain speak, that means designing homes that are safe, affordable, energy efficient and aesthetically cool.

A group of five international architects and visionaries will judge the entries in January. Next summer, organizers hope to build 10 to 30 winning designs on five Roanoke parcels donated by groups including the Roanoke Redevelopment and Housing Authority and Old Southwest Inc. The number of homes constructed will depend on funding. The logistics of building as many as 30 homes on five parcels were not available Tuesday.

Alexander Garvin, one of the jurors and a noted Yale professor and author, described the competition in publicity materials as "the first new idea in community building in nearly 100 years."

Why Roanoke?

"Roanoke is the perfect place," said Roanoke architect Gregg Lewis. "It's a small enough community with people who are engaged - people who have a deep understanding of the landscape and environment around us."

Lewis is managing the C2C operations with his wife and business partner, Jennifer Smith Lewis, both of SmithLewis Architecture. He took the Roanoke Regional Housing Network's long-discussed idea of launching a housing competition and injected the vision of William McDonough.

McDonough is the "Cradle to Cradle" co-author who's alarmed at the pace of environmental destruction and our culture's throw-away mentality. Based in Charlottesville, McDonough wants to eliminate the concept of waste altogether. He believes we can develop products that can be infinitely recycled and practically used - such as an edible grocery bag.

McDonough was named 1999 Time Magazine "Hero for the Planet" and received Presidential Awards for Sustainability from both Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. McDonough is sought after by world leaders for his ideas, and he views this competition as an opportunity to introduce his concepts to a wider audience.

Usually commanding hefty speaking fees, McDonough donated his time in order to present his ideas to the crowd of community leaders at Jefferson Center on Tuesday.

He boiled down his goal to the following statement, which earned applause:

"Our goal is a delightfully diverse, safe, healthy and just world, with clean water, clean air, clean soil and clean power - economically, equitably, ecologically and elegantly enjoyed."

The competition's major sponsors include the city of Roanoke and BASF, the chemical company that manufactures thermal insulation approved for use in sustainable designs. Partners include the American Institute of Architects, Environmental Design + Construction, Green- Blue and the American Society of Interior Designers.

Organizers have applied for foundation grants and hope they can form even more partnerships for the construction process. Details about how much funding would be necessary or what will happen to the completed homes were not available Tuesday.

Lewis considers the competition a huge local and international collaboration, one where you could have a designer from Istanbul, Turkey, working alongside builders from Botetourt County on a house in Gainsboro.

"This is a project the community as a whole can rally around," Lewis said. "We all have a role to play in it."