Dwell, our favorite home-grown design magazine, is running a competition to decorate apartments in the Infinity, the Arquitectonica/Heller-Manus/Tishman-Speyer project near the Embarcadero. Sounds like fun. Anyone gets to compete. But there are a few caveats. No walls get moved, no floor plans will be altered, no turning two apartments into a duplex with double height ceilings. No changing the kitchens or bathroom specs, either. This from a magazine that's never seen a wall it didn't want to move. Budget? $75K. Entries require presentation boards, samples, and a spec binder. Prize? Zero. Nothing:
Winners will receive special recognition as part of The Infinity promotional materials, as well as within the Sales Center for the development and in the model unit, for a period of time to be determined by Sponsor. Each of the three winners will be given a budget of $75,000 for the purchase of furniture and other items necessary to implement the winning design. This budget is not a cash prize, and none of this amount is to be paid to any winner. The entire budget of $75,000 will go towards furnishings and other materials for the condominium, and no cash award is provided to the winners nor shall winners receive any compensation for any assistance winners may provide to Sponsor in implementing the winning designs. Winners may be asked to assist in coordinating implementation with The Infinity’s designers, but Sponsor or Sponsor’s designees will have the ultimate, final decision-making authorityNot a penny for the winners to defray the cost of putting the presentation together. Designers are understandably annoyed at such hubris and vent in the comments section of Bustler:further evidence that Dwell does not advance design culture in any meaningful way but rather commodifies it in the most literal wayOooh. Ouch. That hurt.
· The Infinity Design Challenge [Dwell]
· The Infinity Design Challenge [Bustler]
· The Infinity [Tishman-Speyer]