Wildfire Ready Design Challenge

The Wildfire Ready Design Challenge (“the Challenge”) is an interdisciplinary student competition focused on advancing neighborhood-scale wildfire resilience and home hardening through the lens of community adoption in high wildfire risk areas in California. We seek to bridge the gap between academic innovation and real-world implementation by generating ideas that California’s residents and communities can realistically deploy.

By working in teams, participants will develop design concepts that strengthen wildfire resilience while preserving neighborhood character, supporting homeowner acceptance, and reflecting the realities of implementation. Teams will address questions of feasibility. This includes considerations such as phasing, material availability, contractor capacity, homeowner preferences, conceptual cost, policy and code considerations, and potential barriers and opportunities associated with implementation.

The Challenge is sited in Grass Valley, a city in Nevada County which encapsulates many of the wildfire resilience problems facing California at large: aging housing stock, varied neighborhood conditions, diverse socioeconomic conditions, expanding development into the wildland-urban interface (WUI), and growing wildfire risk. It presents a microcosm for the state’s overall wildfire vulnerability challenges. 

For questions about this Challenge, email us at: designcompetition@climateandwildfire.org.

Resources for students:

• Team Registration Form

• Wildfire Ready Design Challenge Kickoff Meeting by David Lawlor

• Wildfire Ready Design Challenge Guidebook

• Wildfire Ready Design Challenge FAQ Doc

• Pre-Recorded Presentations with Subject Matter Experts

  • Wildfire Ready Design Challenge Presentation by Home Hardening Solutions

  • Wildfire Ready Design Challenge Presentation by Frank Frievalt

    • Presentation Slide Deck

  • Wildfire Ready Design Challenge Presentation by Ashley Conrad-Saydah

  • Wildfire Ready Design Challenge Presentation by Derrick Davis

  • Wildfire Ready Design Challenge Presentation by Margot McDonald