A new international design competition calls for all engineers, architects and students to develop innovative solutions to tackle the mammoth task of housing every Indian. Developed under the initiative 'India Next' by UltraTech Cement, the competition - titled Building For A Billion - will receive entries under two categories: Category I – Housing (Urban Poor) and Category II – Housing (Rural Poor). 

The Initiative:

A vision to house every Indian by any yardstick is both an ideal and a mammoth task to achieve. But achieve it we must. The growing issue of homeless people in India is one that needs to be tackled on a war footing and any talk of India being a developed nation before giving its every citizen a safe shelter is but a sham. 

We believe shelter is both a fundamental right and privilege that each Indian should have. 

Such an ambition requires enormous political will and, the PMAY is a step in that direction. But the government can’t do it alone. This is the time when we need inspired and consistent collaboration between our nation builders, the engineering and architectural fraternity and the government to make the seeming impossible possible. 

The competition "Building for a Billion" is but one such call for a seminal collaboration.

Competition Category

Competition Category I – Housing (Urban Poor)

As our cities grow each of them has a diverse narrative of migrants who make the city their home. This category of the competition invites the participant to investigate this changing narrative of the city and envision the future form of the home for these billions.

Please also refer to Outline: PMAY – Shehari

Competition Category II – Housing (Rural Poor)

The issues facing housing in rural areas are distinct. Unlike urban areas, space is not a constraint. Lack of budgets, unavailable professional intervention and an increasingly irrelevant typology has resulted in most housing in the rural areas of India being impermanent and unreliable structures. Here, basic amenities like sanitation and water supply are far removed. The competition seeks to encourage participants to look at contextual, sustainable and affordable alternatives to this issue.

Please also refer to Outline: PMAY - Gramin

Competition Challenge:                                           

Innovative, contextual, viable, sustainable and most importantly inclusive solution for housing, along the lines of the Government's Pradhan Mantri Was Yojana. The competition entries are invited in two sub-categories for each of the two categories:

UNBUILT (Proposed) Settlements:
This segment invites entries for effective housing on urban or rural parcels which have been proposed or are ideas that offer solutions to of the criteria mentioned as part of the PMAY outline. The proposals can be already envisioned plans or ideas that have been generated as a response to this competition.

BUILT Housing:
This segment calls for entries that are built solutions for the problem of housing for the forgotten strata of the society. These can be projects that have been built within the last five years. Existing national or international (within the specificity of the competition brief) examples in mass housing which have been executed can be submitted as the primary idea.

In both the above cases, the proposals must be adapted to a specific site in India, with context to its surroundings, climatic conditions etc. The solutions should be seen as a mass housing response sited on a specific identified parcel.

Eligibility:
Professionals: Architects & Engineers (Civil/Structural)
Students: 3rd, 4th, & 5th Year (Individuals and Groups)

Registration: Free
Submission deadline: January 14th, 2018

Prize Money: 15 Lakhs (23,292 USD)

Jury panel will be announced by December 31, 2017. 

You can start your registration from the competition's website and send your submissions before January 14, 2018 via this link. Download competition brief from here. If you have any questions about the competition and registrations, send an email to [email protected] or [email protected].

All images courtesy of Building For A Billion

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