There are now only 6 days left to register for the latest Building Trust International Open Design Competition.The competition entitled ‘HOME’ will look into designing affordable, single occupancy housing for the increasing numbers of young and elderly people affected by poverty.
ABOUT THE COMPETITION:
The aim of this competition is to:
– Design a quality, low cost home that will tackle issues of homelessness and homes for the elderly in our society;
– Encourage and reward design excellence at a small scale which integrates function, structure, details and the need for shelter;
– Research, respond to and highlight the unique aspects of designing a home with the constraints of a low budget on an urban site.
– Encourage the employment of sustainable design in all aspects of the proposal and foster understanding of the impacts of housing trends on people’s health and well-being.
COMPETITION STRUCTURE:
This is a single stage competition with the aim of identifying the most appropriate proposal, which best satisfies the general and specific objectives of the contest.
INTRODUCTION:
The challenge is to design an affordable home for an individual. The profile of these users is not defined within the brief “we’re leaving it up to you” but as a guide they could be the elderly, physically or mentally impaired or homeless and looking for the opportunity to stop the cycle of living in debt. Lack of provision of quality small scale housing stock in developed countries often means those that are most vulnerable in our society live in sub-standard living conditions. The HOME design competition hopes to shed light on this and open the doors to designers and house builders that want to make a difference.
SITE SELECTION:
HOME Competition welcomes designs that can be sited in an urban area in any of the countries from the list below:
Norway Luxembourg Israel
Australia Singapore Belgium
Netherlands Czech Republic Austria
United States United Kingdom France
New Zealand Greece Slovenia
Canada United Arab Emirates Finland
Ireland Cyprus Spain
Liechtenstein Andorra Italy
Germany Brunei Darussalam Portugal
Sweden Estonia Bahrain
Switzerland Slovakia Latvia
Japan Malta Chile
Hong Kong Qatar Argentina
Iceland Hungary Croatia
South Korea Poland Barbados
Denmark Lithuania
Once you have decided which area you would like to work in please find a site and situate your project. Building Trust want to know why you think the site could have the potential to offer a home. We understand that it may not be possible to find out every detail about a site i.e. cost, land ownership, etc. However, we do expect a certain level of study into the site conditions that may inform any design decision. It would of course be great if you can give more information regarding cost of land and ownership but it is not a marked criterion.
SUGGESTED PLAN:
1 – Find a site: Within a city (pop100.000+) for example an in-fill site, a warehouse, redundant parking space(s), under transport infrastructure, on top of a building, etc… NB: If you would prefer to suggest a generic home solution, please skip stage 1.
2 – Research: Site and housing solutions (Think both inside + outside of the box)
3 – Test: develop and refine
4 – Propose
SPECIAL CONDITIONS:
The design should be accessible and inclusive, you should display a sensitivity to the access needs of elderly and those with physical /mental impairments. Submissions can be the work of an individual or a group. There is no age limit. However, entrants under 18 years of age must be led or entered by someone over 18 year of age. Interdisciplinary teams are encouraged to enter the competition.
AWARDS:
Professional Category
1st prize: We will pursue funding and planning for the winning design.
There will also be 9 honourable mentions.
Student Category
1st prize: $500
There will also be 4 honourable mentions.
PUBLICATION:
1st Prize, will be published in any subsequent magazine press as well as the Building Trust Website. There will also be a book that will be compiled of the best designs from the professional and student categories.
SCHEDULE:
Competition officially announced – 1st April 2012
Final date for registration and fee payment – 30th June 2012
Closing date for submissions – 31st July 2012
Jury evaluation – 1st – 30th August 2012
Announcement of Winners to be posted on buildingtrustinternational.org –15th September 2012
DEADLINES:
All entry submissions must be sent via email to competitions@buildingtrustinternational.org until 31st July 2012 at midnight (11:59 pm.GMT). Competitors will be responsible for the arrival of their proposals within the corresponding deadlines and no proposal will be received one day after the date previously stated.
If you or any or your friends/colleagues may be interested in the competition please do share with them the link to download the Competition brief:
http://www.buildingtrustinternational.org/HOMEbrief.pdf
But remember there are only 6 days left to register – Good Luck!
buildingtrustblog 
A very worthwhile venture which is clearly needed throughout the world. Once again you are making a difference helping the disadvantaged.