"It is just as desirable to build a chicken house as it is to build a cathedral." —Frank Lloyd Wright

So opens the Poultry Project's 2010 Chicken Coop Design Competition, a call to farmers, designers, architects, artists, and locavores to design a chicken coop for use in urban and suburban backyards. The ideal coop should integrate "aesthetics with utility," helping chickens thrive so they can lay some eggs.

The winners will receive two cash prizes of $500 and $250, and the winning designs will be modified for use in Uganda, where the Poultry Project and TASO, a Ugandan organization) help AIDS orphans start small poultry businesses where they can earn money selling eggs.

The requirements of the coop are well detailed on the Poultry Project's competition site, including nesting zones, perches, and a light source. For more detailed guidelines and an entry form, click here.

You shouldn't need to look much farther for inspiration than the venerable Silkie Bantam chicken, pictured below (he's like a Muppet, my dream hen).

Image courtesy of Happy Hens.