After several months of challenging designers around the world to think outside the box about sustainability, Dassault Systèmes (DS) SolidWorks Corp. officially announces the first-ever grand prize winners and runners up of the Green Design Contest.

The contest, which kicked off in honor of Earth Day on April 22, required contestants to use SolidWorks® 3D CAD software to design a low-impact airport terminal chair. Contestants developed the chair for a fictitious new green airline to be mass produced for use within an airport terminal. Among other entry rules, the designs had to be tested with SolidWorks SustainabilityXpress, the environmental assessment software included within the license for SolidWorks CAD software. With SolidWorks SustainabilityXpress, contestants were asked to measure the design’s carbon footprint, air and water impacts, and energy consumption throughout the product life cycle. In addition to sustainability tests, every design had to be analyzed with SolidWorks SimulationXpress, an analysis tool built into SolidWorks, to help ensure that the chair design could withstand the stresses of everyday use. ...

A panel of industry and SolidWorks software experts reviewed every design and entry against judging criteria broken up by sustainability, “green” aesthetics, creativity and manufacturability. The panel of judges included Al Dean, Editor-in-Chief of Develop3D and Develop3D Sustainability magazines; Josh Mings, Editor of the popular SolidSmack blog; Solomon Diamond, Assistant Professor, Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth College; and, Mark Buckley, Vice President of Environmental Affairs for Staples Inc. SolidWorks employees that assisted with judging included Stephen Endersby, Simulation Product Manager; Asheen Phansey, Sustainability Product Manager; and Rick Chin, Director of Product Innovation.