The Shelter Care Competition, devised to help communities identify cost-effective shelter care facilities for juveniles, sought to generate new ideas for, and to apply environmental characteristics to, residential facilities. The designs were submitted by university students who incorporated the concept of adaptive re-use as a cost effective measure for providing comprehensive residential services while offering the community a wider selection of potentially viable sites. The shelter care environment was envisioned as a normal, home-like setting to include private counseling spaces, food preparation and eating areas, activity areas, sleeping areas, house-parent quarters, staff office, and storage and utility spaces. The projects chosen as finalists were selected on several criteria: (1) the completeness of the planning process; (2) the appropriateness of the site and structure; (3) the economic development cost; and (4) the projected utility of the spaces. (RC)