Have a question about the Design Competition? Post your questions as comments below and we will add the answers to this list.
1. What will I have to submit?
SIDEWALK RACK
Submissions to Stage I are to be presented in the form of a booklet or slide show in an electronic format.
Submission in booklet form shall be a maximum of ten single sided sheets no greater than 8 1/2 inches by 11 inches.
Submissions in the form of a slide show shall be in an electronic format on a compact disc or other common media device, preferably as a Microsoft Powerpoint file, with a maximum of ten slides per submission. Electronic submissions must be mailed or hand delivered to the Competition Coordinator. Email submissions will not be accepted.
The first page of the booklet or the first slide shall include a short text (no more than 250 words) summarizing the Competitor’s design approach. The following information is required for Stage I Submissions:
- Overview of the configuration(s)
- Material and component identification
- Indication of colors and finishes
- Explanation of security strategies
- Illustrations of designs in at least two New York City contexts (at least one in Queens, the Bronx, or Staten Island)
The Stage I Submission booklet or slide show shall not contain any identifying marks indicating authorship other than the Competitor’s identification number on the upper right corner of the front cover of the booklet or printed on the face of the compact disc or other common media device.
The following minimum requirements shall be included in the Stage II Submission and be clearly identified for review by the Jury. The Sponsor, at its sole discretion, shall determine if a Stage II Submission meets the minimum requirements, however, the Submission shall be required to include all of the items listed below:
- A maximum of three panels of drawings shall be submitted to the Sponsors for the Stage II Jury. All drawings shall be mounted on, or drawn directly on, one side of rigid boards measuring 30″ x 40″ (40″ dimension shall be oriented vertically). Panels shall not exceed ½” in thickness, and may not be framed or glazed. The presentation layout is at the discretion of the Competitor, e.g. illustrations may overlap from one board to another. There is no limitation on the use of color or the materials included on the boards within the limitation that no materials project or protrude three-dimensionally from the surface of the board. The panels are to include:
- Vertical sections (including base detail)
- Horizontal section of shaft at full scale (looking down)
- Sections through any mounting device
- Minimum of two perspective views of the parking device or facility in typical New York City context including scale figures and showing the intended relationship between them
- All drawings, text, etc. must also be submitted in digital format (preferably on a PC formatted CD). The digital submission must include TIFF or JPEG images of each drawing and full boards.
- Two prototypes of a basic configuration. The purpose of the prototype is to test the fixture on the streets of New York City for a period of one month. A detailed description of the prototypes shall be provided at the briefing.
IN-BUILDING
Submissions are to be presented in the form of a booklet or slide show in an electronic format.
Submission in booklet form shall be a maximum of ten single sided sheets no greater than 8 1/2 inches by 11 inches.
Submissions in the form of a slide show shall be in an electronic format on a compact disc or other common media device, preferably as a Microsoft Powerpoint file, with a maximum of ten slides per submission. Electronic submissions must be mailed or hand delivered to the Competition Coordinator. Email submissions will not be accepted.
The first page of the booklet or the first slide shall include a short text (no more than 250 words) summarizing the Competitor’s design approach. The following information is required for Stage I Submissions:
- Overview of the configuration(s)
- Material and component identification
- Indication of colors and finishes
- Explanation of security strategies
- Estimated bicycle capacity
The Submission booklet or slide show shall not contain any identifying marks indicating authorship other than the Competitor’s identification number on the upper right corner of the front cover of the booklet or printed on the face of the compact disc or other common media device.
2. Will I be able to sell my designs?
If you are selected as the first place winner in the Sidewalk Rack portion of the competition, all intellectual property rights will be transferred to the City of New York and you will not be able to sell your designs.
The winner of the In-Building portion of the competition will retain the intellectual property rights to his or her design, but must grant to the City of New York and Google Inc. a perpetual royalty-free non-exclusive license for it non-commercial use.
All other competitors will be able to sell any and all rights to their designs to any entity.
3. If I’m a finalist, where will the prototypes be installed?
The prototypes will be installed on a concrete surface in Manhattan and potentially other boroughs.
4. How will I create my prototype?
If you are unable to find a fabricator, the Department will provide a list of potential fabricators to competitors. However, competitors are free to use any fabricator of their choosing.
CityRacks Design Competition 
From this page: “The Stage I Submission booklet or slide show shall not contain any identifying marks indicating authorship other than the Competitor’s identification number on the upper right corner of the front cover of the booklet or printed on the face of the compact disc or other common media device”.
From http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/html/bicyclists/cityrackdesigncompform.shtml:
“After registering, you will be assigned an identification number via e-mail as well as detailed competition materials”.
When will competitors be emailed this number?
1_Could an artist/designer submit two or more designs as an independent?
2_Could an artist/designer be a part of more than one design team?
3_If the answer to #1 is Yes, would this require one or two registrations?
In the registration form at the NY DOT website there’s no option to select participants’ ‘Country’. Although this competition is declared as an international open competition!
Anyway, I couldn’t register as I didn’t any option there to declare myself or my team as an international participant who is not a citizen or resident of the USA.
Would you please clarify or solve this problem….?
ohcan7
1_Could an artist/designer submit two or more designs as an independent? — For the separate portions of the competition (Sidewalk Rack and In-building), you are allowed to register only as part of one team for each portion, whether that is made up of 1 or multiple people. For example, Team 1 for the Sidewalk Rack portion could be composed of member A, B, and C. A, B, and C are not allowed to be part of any other team or register individually for the Sidewalk Rack competition. But A could be part of the same team OR a completely different team OR register individually for the In-Building competition. Full details of the competition guidelines can be found under Downloads.
2_Could an artist/designer be a part of more than one design team? —
See answer to question 1.
3_If the answer to #1 is Yes, would this require one or two registrations? —
If you register as part of different teams for the Sidewalk Rack competition and the In-Building Competition, then you must submit a separate registration for each respective team. If you register as the same team (or individual) for both competitions, you need only submit one registration, but make sure to check both Sidewalk Rack and In-Building when registering.
must
In the registration form at the NY DOT website there’s no option to select participants’ ‘Country’. Although this competition is declared as an international open competition!
Anyway, I couldn’t register as I didn’t any option there to declare myself or my team as an international participant who is not a citizen or resident of the USA.
Would you please clarify or solve this problem….?
Yes — we will resolve this.
I filled the form but I was not able to submit it.
It appeared a message with written “you have reached an outdated address. Choose an address from the list below”.
Are there any problem with subscription?
When will you solve them?
Thanks
When registering for this competition, I am directed to a page (http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/html/bikeped/cityrackdesigncompform.shtml) with the title, “This page is not available”.
How can I receive a confirmation that I have successfully entered my registration for the competition?
Out of curiousity, what are the dimensions of the steel tubing used in the current cityracks design? Has this tubing been satisfactory?
When is the date of delivery of projects and the deadline for registration. Thanks
Is there a delay between registering online and recieving the competition email with the number and information? If so when should we expect to recieve a confirmation email and the information?
Registration Questions:
After submitting your registration form, you will be directed to a page that says, “Thank You For Filling Out This Form.” That means your registration is complete. You do not need to click “Continue” at the bottom of the page.
Confirmation of registration will be e-mailed shortly after registration. There was a small confirmation backlog, but confirmations should now be received within 2 days of registration. If you register on April 28, 29, or 30, you will receive confirmation of your registration the same day.
Registration Number:
Your registration number will be provided no later than May 2, 2008.
Dimensions of the steel tubing used in the current CityRacks:
The rack is composed of a thick tubing with an extra stout 2″x2″ (0.25″ thick walls) square structure.
For those of us outside NYC, could full specifications of the CityRacks be given? Namely, I would like to know height, method of installation (which I presume is a sunken length of continuous tubing), width, and finishes? I´d love to see a picture, but in the DOT section about what CityRacks look like, there´s just a verbal description. Thanks!
Can you tell me more about the clause regarding the “transferral of all intellectual property rights” for the winner of the Sidewalk Rack competition. Is this automatic or is it only subject to the winner accepting the prize? I am sure many designers share my concern regarding this clause. Thanks
Are the competitions opened also to students or at least one of team members must be graduated?
As the submission require illustration with context of the New York city, and to be fare to non US / New York citizen, could you please provide photos of the mentioned area?
Considering the rule “The bicycle should not have to be lifted off the ground more than 6 inches to access and be secured to the rack”, can the bike be raised via a mechanism, rather than lifted by hand more than 6″ off the ground?
Are there any specific guidlines regarding the location of the in-building parking? Should it be inside the building itself? In the parking lot? Maybe something which is hanged out from the windows? Etc…
thanks,
Yuval
Can you tell us how much the existing bike rack costs to manufacture, as well as install ? Also I was curious as to how many people it typically takes to install one rack.
Registration Update
If you registered on or before 21 April, you should have received an e-mail confirming your registration. If you registered after that you will receive a confirmation e-mail within 24 hours of having registered.
Registration numbers will be e-mailed to competitors by May 2.
aybnyc re: Rack Installation
The current CityRacks cost $250 to manufacture (information which can be found in the Contestants’ Handbook in the “Downloads” section of the website).
We will provide more details about the actual installation process shortly.
uv2008 re: Guidelines for the In-building Parking
Please see the Contestants’ Handbook for the in-building competition in the “Downloads” section of this website.
kamdyn re: <6″ lift requirement
Please keep in mind that for these bike racks to be installed in large numbers on City sidewalks, the costs need to be kept low, both in terms of initial installation and maintenance. You could include mechanical lifts or other “moving parts” in your design, but that can drive up costs on both ends and could adversely impact the jury’s evaluation of your design.
The <6″ requirement means that it should not have to be lifted more than 6″ off the ground by hand. However, to clarify, if a competitor chooses to design a vertical rack whereby the front or rear tire, for example, may be much more than 6″ off the ground, that is acceptable so long as some part of the bicycle is within 6″ of the ground.
1004mtz re: Student Competitors
Student competitors are more than welcome. There are no educational requirements for entering.
heyv re: CityRacks specifications
The specifications of the current rack have been posted to the website and photos will be available shortly.
khajorn re: Illustration requirement in an NYC context
We will provide examples for use by competitors residing outside of New York City and will post them at this site by May 2.
Hi there, can you tell me how the winner of the competition transfers his or her intellectual property right to NYC? As I will be submitting my design, I want to know my IP Rights before I submit them to you.
Thanks
I am a non American , so I’ll be sending my submission through currier . Kindly tell me what to write on the envelope in oder to secure my identity .
Can I submit the same design for both the inside and outside portions of the competition?
If NYC takes over the rights to the design and the designer gets no royalties beyond the prize money, does NYC also assume any and all liability for the design?
The bike box descriptions provided by the competition refer to three main types of boxes: the “2 Parallel (3×7)” the “2 Perpendicular, (5×9)” and the “5 Perpendicular (6×9).” Do the numbers refer to the number of bikes which can be accommodated by the box, meaning “5 perpendicular” holds 5 bikes arranged perpendicular to the rack?
Are the current racks used the same design as the ones recently installed on Atlantic Ave in Brooklyn with three bolts on both legs?
Is it only the winning entry that has to give up the copyright/ patent for the design or do all submissions have to turnover the design rights to NYC?
Regarding the in building bicycle storage facility, is there any other information on the existing Google bike storage room available? Pictures would be really helpful… Anyway, I have the following questions:
1. Are there only two solid walls in the room? And if so, what are the other two walls made out of?
2. Are there actually four entrances of the room?
3. On what floor is the room situated? Is there a direct entrance from the ground floor?
4. The text “Cage with sliding door”, does that refer to the wall or the existing bicycle storage?
Thanks
“The Competitor shall also make a presentation of their design and concept to the Jury.”
This mean that the ten selected competitors should travel to NY. Who will cover the travel and accomodation costs?
The new 2008 NYC Cycle Map doesn’t have them and the new ‘way-cool’ Union Square bicycle parking shelter doesn’t have them. So where can I get a map or database showing the location of all NYC CityRacks installations throughout the five boroughs?
I think I have read through everything and I still don’t see where we submit our entries too. If I am doing a booklet (non digital), where do I submit and is it postmarked by the 9th or IN by the 9th? Is there a mailing address?
On page 2 of the “In-Building” Description a floor plan is shown with dimensions. Please provide some additional information regarding this site:
1. Please clarify the extent of the “Cage with Sliding Door.”
2. Please identify if any of the walls are exterior walls.
3. Please confirm height from floor to underside of structure above and if there is currently a suspended ceiling.
4. Please provide some additional context, given that the design must fit within this area. Example: Where is the main building entry? Is there a main corridor along one side of the room?
5. Some walls are rendered as fencing, others as glass, others as solid. Please clarify.
6. Please confirm if any or all of the walls can be removed. Are any of these bearing walls?
7. The room tag “Stair/C103” is within the space dimensioned. Is the actual stair inside this space even though it is not shown?
Thanks.
1) There is a submittal requirement for a perspective image of selected locations. Can we get some photos or images of these locations to create this rendering?
2) For the in-building scenario, is the configuration of the room critical to maintain, or are the dimensions of the overall space flexible?
The guidelines only mentions copyrights, but what about patents? We plan on applying for design and utility patents worldwide for both the outdoor and indoor competition. For the questions below let’s assume that we have already been issued patents for both the outdoor and indoor bike racks.
1. With design patents you can have patents on designs that look similar. For example, one design patent may be of a unique looking cup with a handle, while another design patent may be of the same unique looking cup without a handle. One benefit with design patents from our perspective is that it’s easier to assign ownership for a specific design, while still retaining ownership of our other designs that may have a similar look. For the outdoor competition we plan on submitting a series of designs that have a similar look. So my question is if our series of designs wins can we choose to transfer the ownership (copyright and design patent) of only one of the designs and still retain ownership of the others?
2. In regards to the question above, if we are unable to retain ownership of the other designs then we most likely will drop out of the competition. The guidelines mentions that even if one were to win the competition it does not guarantee that their design will be used. So, if we drop out of the competition and when the competition ends, is there someone we can talk to about the possibility of still using one of our designs?
3. And what about utility patents? We have no problem with transferring the ownership of the design patents, since this competition seems to be focused on the visual aspects of the designs, but we would like to only grant a license to use the utility aspects of the designs, is this doable?
Can we submit more than one design per team?
Will all the submitted designs be displayed for the public to see? If so, when?
1. Are the Jury members active bike riders themselves? Do they use the current bike racks routinely?
2. In Stage I all competitors are anonymous, which I believe is to prevent bias during the selection process. But, then why in Stage II is the anonymity lifted? Bias can still occur especially since the 10 finalists must make a presentation to the Jury.
Can we get an actual picture of the current bike storage room (with bikes in it) at Google’s office?
Can you describe Google’s bike storage room further? I have read the information located in the “download” section of this site and would like to better understand the facility. Where do the existing doors lead / what is the function of adjoining rooms? Additionally, what are the current circulation patterns of the room and do they need to be upheld? What are the existing partition types? What is the ceiling height?
I was wondering if we could affect the ground plane, such as dig into the concrete, in areas with sidewalks eager to accommodate racks. Or whether we could be a part of the concrete pouring process since a lot of the bike racks will be reclaimed car parking spaces that would need to be repaved? Would that be a cost effective approach for the city?
This is a continuation to my first set of questions regarding ownership (copyrights and patents).
1. The guidelines for the indoor bike rack mentions that a perpetual royalty-free non-exclusive license may be granted to any third party vendor or contractor. So I just want to clarify does that mean that the third party vendor or contractor can manufacture and sell our design to anyone and we receive nothing in return?
2. We’re interested in the manufacturing of the bike racks, particularly the indoor one, would that be possible?
3. Since the ownership issue isn’t clear to us if we were to win first place in either the outdoor or indoor categories, do we have the right to forfeit the first place award/prize and retain ownership of our submitted designs if we can’t negotiate satisfactory terms?
1- Will some one be at delivery location on Saturdays?
2- Can the booklet smaller then 8 ½” x 11” have a fold out = to 8 ½” x 11”?
3- Can the pages be of different media color & texture to show the design?
4- Does the cover with just your identification number count as one page?
5- If the booklet is stapled or bound can the author choose the location?
6- Can we put our name on mailing or shipping label for first stage or will it just be our identification number & address. Thank you
What are other acceptable formats for slideshows besides Powerpoint?
I am thinking of submitting a PDF. Will this be acceptable?
Out of curiosity, would a quicktime be allowed as well?
Thanks!
The winning sidewalk design will be owned by the City of New York, so does that mean the bike rack will NOT be used outside of NYC?
Can the powerpoint we submit be be animated
to brettlsnyder: PDF, Powerpoint or Quicktime are all acceptable media.
to o1111111111: Correct.
to kk730: Yes.