Most cities have them: old buildings that are both important historical landmarks and antiquated eyesores. Dupont’s “Changing the Face” competition aims to solve this problem by redesigning existing buildings while maintaining their historical significance, using Dupont products like color-changing LED lights. According to the Changing the Face website, ““In every country, in every city there is building that has unique emotional meaning for the community. A building with an important public function, controversial design, a great location, problematic conditions makes it a perfect subject for a global brainstorm about its future…This international “open ideas” competition aims at inspiring architects, designers, builders, students… across borders to design a new face for an existing building, and think creatively about innovative applications of DuPont materials and solutions in their projects.”

The 2011 Changing the Face competition is focusing on renovating the Pushkinsky Theater in Russia, a “well-known cinema hall located at Pushkin Square, in the heart of Moscow, built in 1961 to annually host the famous Moscow International Film Festival.”

One of the leading submissions for the competition was put forward by Sanzpont Arquitectura, and proposes a façade of RGB LED lights covering the entire front of the building. It’s still uncertain who will win the competition, but we’ve got our eye on this design; RGB LEDs are one of the most effective architectural lighting tools available, and we’ll root for any design that includes them. Registration is still open for this exciting competition…any takers?