IE University just announced its first competition initiative “Houses for Change,” hosted by IE School of Architectureand Design. The purpose of the competition is to consider housing as an urgent and basic component of improving urban environments for the poor and at risk and to propose viable housing alternatives for those often neglected or left out. Architecture students and recent graduates of architecture, along with peers from other fields forming multidisciplinary teams, have a unique role to play in suggesting solutions and approaches in response to the housing crisis facing many cities today. Registration is free, and the deadline for submissions is December 16. More information after the break.
For the first time in history, more than half the world’s people live in cities. Over 90 percent of urban growth is occurring in the developing world, adding an estimated 70 million new residents to urban areas each year. This is coupled with estimates that about 1/3 of the world’s population are slum dwellers. These settlements may be called different names - slums, villas miseria, favelas, bidonvilles, shantytowns - all have a common denominator of urgency and they are fast becoming the norm in our societies. While urban poverty is a complex situation, the physical environment of housing is one crucial aspect to be dealt with if this problem is to be tackled.
Buildings and projects are place-specific and must take into account not only physical realities, but also cultural, economic, and the social context. Entries are invited for housing that is appropriate and affordable for a specific place (identified by the participating team). The housing must be for an urban area, and therefore address the needs of many. Schemes or units should be designed so the model can be reproduced/ duplicated...(Entries for only one unit or a single family house or for a rural environment are NOT appropriate).
The housing proposed should respond to the needs (geographic, economic possibilities, materials, construction processes, cultural context, etc.) of a specific community or place, selected by the competition entrants. Participants are reminded that the proposal is directed at those in the most fragile economic situations - the poor and disenfranchised- and should selected their community accordingly. The design solution and budget must not assume government subsidies or support.
To take part in the competition, you must:
1. All members of a team must be currently registered students or recent graduates with a maximum of 5 years since the date of their graduation. That is to say, the official graduation date for a Bachelor degree or first Master degree was in 2009 or later. Additionally, no team may have any participant over the age of 35 years old at the time of submission of the competition entry.
2. There must be at least one architecture/design student or architecture/design recent graduate on each team.
3. The maximum team size is six people.
Each participant or member of a team may only participate in one project and may not submit more than one
entry to the competition.
Participants must register between June 27, 2013 and December 10, 2013 and the complete competition proposal must be submitted by December 16, 2013.
The Jury will be made up of the following members:
- Bijoy Jain, architect, founder of Studio Mumbai Architects, India
- Hubert Klumpner, Co-director of Urban - Think Tank and Chair of Architecture and Urban Design, ETH Zurich
- Kimberly Holden, Founding Principal of SHoP Architects, New York.
- Samia Yaba Christina Nkrumah, President of the Kwame Nkrumah Pan African Center
- Yung Ho Chang, architect, professor at MIT and founder of Atelier FCJZ, Beijing
The winning project will be granted with a scholarship equivalent of 20.000 € applicable towards the tuition fees of a master program at IE. It is the intention of IE to construct a prototype of the winning entry. A prototype may be realized, if sufficient funding can be secured and a partner school in the region is willing to assist with the organization and management of the project.
For more information, please visit their official website here.