SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NYSE:AMD) and Cameron Sinclair, winner of last year’s TED Prize and founder of Architecture for Humanity, today announced the first ever Open Architecture Prize at the annual TED Conference. The $250,000 Open Architecture Prize is the largest prize in the field of architecture and is designed to be a multi-year program that will draw competition from design teams around the world. Each year, a winning design will be selected from a field of low-cost, sustainable design projects and built in a selected community. The first project for the Open Architecture Prize will be an “e-community center,” a centralized building equipped with internet connectivity solutions designed to enable an entire community to access the transformative power of the Internet. The winning designs will be built as part of the prize and in alignment with the 50x15 Initiative, a program founded by AMD to connect 50 percent of the world’s population to the Internet by 2015. “The Open Architecture Prize delivers on Architecture for Humanity’s vision of encouraging collaboration and challenging designers to reach beyond the traditional bounds of architecture to develop innovative solutions that improve global living conditions,” said Dan Shine, director of the 50x15 Initiative, AMD. “The creative designs developed in this competition will contribute to the 50x15 Initiative’s ambitious goal of connecting 50 percent of the world’s population to the Internet by 2015.” After the winning designs are built, the plans will be made openly available through the Open Architecture Network, an open source online gathering place created to fulfill the wish Sinclair was granted through last year’s TED Prize. The network was unveiled yesterday at TED 2007 by Sinclair and a number of project supporters, including AMD, Hot Studio, and Sun Microsystems, Inc. It brings together architects, designers and community organizers to freely share blueprints, ideas and resources for improvement projects in areas affected by geo-political, environmental or economic hardship. The Open Architecture Network is hosted on Sun’s Sun Fire™ servers based on AMD Opteron™ processors at AMD’s global headquarters in Sunnyvale, California. “For far too long many great award-winning designs have gone undeveloped,” said Cameron Sinclair, executive director and co-founder, Architecture for Humanity. “Through the Open Architecture Network we unveiled yesterday and the Open Architecture Prize we are announcing today, we are not only challenging the creative world to design innovative structures, we are going one step further and implementing the winning solution to positively affect thousands of lives.” In addition to technology expertise and a diverse portfolio of innovative connectivity solutions, the 50x15 Initiative brings significant experience in assessing regional technology problems and deploying relevant solutions to Architecture for Humanity’s project. This expertise is essential in developing the competition criteria, as well as determining which design will empower a community to the greatest extent possible. About 50x15 The 50x15 Initiative, launched by AMD in 2004 at the World Economic Forum, is a bold and far-reaching effort to develop new technology and solutions that will help enable affordable Internet access and computing capability for 50 percent of the world's population by the year 2015. More than just goodwill, 50x15 is about fostering long-term economic progress and investment within high-growth markets in ways that benefit a wide range of people and businesses. For more information, visit www.50x15.com. About AMD Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE:AMD) is a leading global provider of innovative processing solutions in the computing, graphics and consumer electronics markets. AMD is dedicated to driving open innovation, choice and industry growth by delivering superior customer-centric solutions that empower consumers and businesses worldwide. About Architecture for Humanity Architecture for Humanity is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization that seeks architectural solutions to humanitarian crises and provides design services to communities in need. Currently it is involved in the reconstruction of homes on the Gulf Coast, rebuilding after the South Asia Tsunami and the construction of healthcare facilities in Sub-Saharan Africa. For more information, please visit www.architectureforhumanity.org. About the Open Architecture Network The Open Architecture Network is an online, open source community dedicated to improving living conditions through innovative and sustainable design. For more information please visit: www.openarchitecturenetwork.org. About TED and the TED Prize TED is an invitation-only event where the world’s leading thinkers and doers gather for inspiration and insight. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design -- three broad subject areas that are, collectively, shaping our future. Each year, TED features 50 of the world’s most fascinating people. TED presenters run the world’s most admired companies and design its best-loved products; they invent world-changing devices, and write best-selling books. They are trusted voices and convention-breaking mavericks, icons and geniuses. Now in its third year, The TED Prize honors three extraordinary individuals with a wish to change the world, $100,000.00 (one hundred thousand dollars) in support of the wish, and the support of the TED community in making the wish come true.
