About the Challenge

This year marks the 4th annual CGarchitect.com Architectural Visualization Competition (AVC). As the only competition of its kind in the industry, the competition strives to uncover undiscovered talent through a series of challenges and qualifying competitions spanning two months.

Competitors will stretch their imaginations and skills to demonstrate their prowess in the art of architectural illustration and animation. While the winner of the competition will receive an all expense paid trip to Mundos Digitales 2008 in La Coruna, Spain to present their work, the goal of this competition is to promote architectural illustration and encourage its advancement through community participation and critiques.



2008 Challenge Introduction

Between Orzán Bay and the Artabrian Gulf lies the Tower of Hercules, the oldest working lighthouse in the world. The Tower was built in the 2nd century under the emperor Trajan to guide ships on their way to the British Isles in search of tine, copper and iron. The architect was Gaius Servius Lupus, from Coimbra, who devoted his work to the god of war Mars, as can be read in an inscription at the foot of the Tower. Legend also has it that Hercules cut off the head of the giant Gerion and built the Tower over his tomb. The lighthouse first lit up two thousand years ago and became a reference point for sailors and a compulsory stop for travelers. The Tower of Hercules has therefore been selected by the Spanish Historical Heritage Board as Spain's official candidate for World Heritage.

Each of the competitors selected for this year's competition will be tasked with the challenge of creating a rendering and architectural film featuring an imagined interpretive center placed on the site around the tower of hercules.

Competitors will be judged by the members of the CGarchitect community as well as a panel of expert judges. A final critique will be provided by our expert judges for the top 5 finalists in the competition.

The winners of this year's competition will be announced at the CGarchitect.com Awards ceremony during the 2008 Mundos Digitales conference in La Coruna, Spain. The winner of the competition will present their work to the conference attendees and receive worldwide notoriety.


Competition Rules Summary

The rules this year have changed slightly and will encourage community and competitor interaction throughout the competition. There will still be a qualification round where a group of competitors will be selected to compete in the competition. The number of competitors will be determined by the scores of the qualification round. The qualification round will consist of a mini-challenge and a submission of two portfolio images. Those selected from the qualification round will then have two mandatory challenges to complete, works in progress posts and peer critiques, that will all be scored to help determine the winner of the competition. Seventy percent of the final score will be based on technical abilities and successfully telling their story, with the remaining thirty percent being based on providing regular progress updates, making peer critiques and meeting several pre-determined mini-challenge deadlines.


Good Luck to all of this year's Competitors!