This Duel Is Cool

Last-Minute Text Message Invites To A Manhattan Happening

(CBS) 
Each two-member team was given materials including glue guns, exacto knives, foam board and a video iPod to incorporate into their designs. The competition was divided into three rounds: half-hour to sketch, and two 45-mintue sessions to construct models. Mirrors were rigged above the stage where they worked, stage lights blazed down on the competitors, and a curtain separated the teams to prevent any cheating.

A DJ planted in the back of the club played dance, pop and techno while the attendees, mostly in their late 20s and many wearing blue and donning boat-themed hats — at least those who got the text message in time — talked and flirted.

One man admitted to scoping the place for women likely to sleep with him. The sheer number of asymmetrical haircuts and people taking cell-phone-camera snapshots to post on blogs indicated this wasn't a typical after-work happy hour.

Arquitectonica's duo donned grey jumpsuits over their black suits and ties. But the exolayer didn't last long. Soon, the heat and the pressure got to them, and they stripped off the jumpsuits and shed ties.

The crowd cheered. They guzzled Stella and water as sweat poured and glue dripped off their model. The pair from Grzywinski Pons, on the other side of the stage, kept cooler, working more slowly and steadily in blazers, jeans and sneakers.

"I want to root for the underdogs," said Makoto Mizutani, 27, who works at an architecture firm in Brooklyn. "But it's hard because the Arquitectonica guys are sweating and stripping and putting on a good show."

Arquitectonica's design looked like a spaceship amphitheater, mounted on rods that used paper rolls as floating bases that double as a boat dock for attendees.

"We took inspiration from the water strider that holds itself up with air pockets on its legs," said Arquitectonica's Eric Hofmann. "The buoys provide structural support and circulation to bring people up."

Grzywinski Pons created angular, detachable pods that were to work "not so much like islands but an archipelago," said architect Matthew Grzywinski.

A random audience vote of 22 to 17 picked Grzywinski Pons' moveable design as the winner. The prize was some orange water wings — sticking with the underwater theme — and the iPods.

Philip Nobel, a critic who writes for Metropolis and Architectural Digest and has written a book on the reconstruction of the World Trade Center, said the renegade design showdown is good for the firms as it helps them get back to their creative roots.

"Architects are famously fun people who get their good spirits beat of out them by school and harsh jobs," said Nobel, who was a commentator on a Podcast of the event. "Things like this — it's good for them to have fun."