Design a better bike rack - win big bucks

The Department of Transportation (DOT) and Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum is offering big bucks to designers to create attractive, functional and well-designed racks for bicycles throughout New York City.
The organizations, supported by Transportation Alternatives and Google, Inc., are looking to offer top designers over $50,000 in honoraria to develop prototype bike racks and an additional $15,000 in prizes.
The competition, for indoor or outdoor racks is divided into stages, including design and fabrication of prototypes. The registration deadline is Wednesday, April 30 for both indoor and outdoor designs.
The process for the outdoor designs is a little more drawn out for the indoor variety, but the exhibition of both winning creations will be on Tuesday, September 30.
Google, Inc. has promised to install the winning entry inside the building it occupies in Manhattan
The impetus for the competition is the city’s goal of making New York a greener place to live. “As we seek to promote cycling as a mainstream transportation option, it is imperative that we provide convenient and secure bike parking,” said DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan.
“Working with Cooper-Hewitt, Google, Inc., and Transportation Alternatives, we hope this competition develops a new generation of on-street bicycle parking that will be more visually noticeable, artistically designed, and unique to New York City,” she said.
A study conducted by the Department of City Planning found that the lack of accessible bicycle parking is one of the main reasons why cyclists choose other means of transportation over riding a bike to work.
Cooper Hewitt’s Paul Warwick Thompson said the competition was a great opportunity for artists, and promotes an environmentally friendly means of transportation. “I’m delighted to be a part of it,” he said.
The current CityRack” design is made of square tubular steel. Many feel that the design is not attractive to cyclists. It is hoped a new design will change this and make bicycling a more mainstream method of transportation.
The goal is to find designs which share the same light, easy to fabricate yet durable design as other public amenities - that can survive in “the city that never sleeps.”
Cooper-Hewitt will present the awards on Friday, October 24, at the Museum’s third annual National Design week, which takes place from October 19 to the 25. Design Week celebrates the important role that design plays in everyday life through a series of workshops geared towards students, teachers, design professionals and the public.
Information, schedules and application forms are available on the web, at https://nycityracks.wordpress.com.