The trade & commerce across the works are bustling despite the pandemic push. The innovation of shipping containers is somehow the only way cross-border trade happens especially in the case of waterways. Trade previously had been much organic package sizes, but now the size definitions help not the only manufacturer to anticipate their capacity and cost, but it has boosted logistical speeds tremendously. 

There are some great things especially when we see in the context of this breakthrough in freight delivery. But at the same time, it brings a lot of this waste because of the decaying of these containers due to loss in serviceability and use. There are especially two key takeaways in this story, emphasizing two sides of the shipping container story. Let's look at them objectively.

Qualities

Starting with the good side, shipping containers bring modularity that is unparalleled which has boosted trade largely. A quality that the construction industry has severely ignored in the past. No matter how much we demand customization, urban living pushes for modular construction in a lot of ways at least in spatial planning (eg. Apartments, Condos). The quality of modularity is unavoidable when the rise in housing demand is so high and time is crucial. 

At the same time, shipping containers bring a downside of generating waste by frequent decommissioning. They are costly to dismantle hence finding alternative uses is a great way to address the excess waste generation. At the same time bringing down construction costs for design projects. How can we use these qualities to our advantage to deliver better habitats to our people as architects?

Issue

Rising rents in urban areas and shrinking the quality of living is a huge problem urban areas face. The biggest components of this cost are - 1. Land Prices (Which are impossible to change) or 2. Construction cost (Which can be brought down through various strategies) And modular construction may be the only known way that can do it.

The prices can not only be offset by faster construction but quicker making times as well. This is the biggest reason, despite the availability of containers in a port city, it can be a point to explore manufactured housing as a concept especially for dense urban areas.

Brief

The design brief is to design a student housing concept made of 15 shipping containers. Devise the spaces and the requirements based on how many people ideally can this shipping container setup can fit. Please note the housing concept has to be made out of shipping containers primarily. If you wish to create extensions, canopies, bridges, made of other materials (Like timber, steel, concrete) you may do that, but only limited to 15% of the surface area of these 15 containers only. The size of the container can be any of the two 40' x 8' x 8'6" and 20' x 8' x 8'6". You can include plinths, columns, or frameworks made of other materials.

The container setup will be placed on vacant land leased for a certain duration or deck on the water like the Urban Rigger - by BIG or on a structural grid to keep land below accessible for other use - to mitigate the rising land cost. Space efficiency matters the most, hence effective utilization of inside and outside spaces is a must. Please note no more than 4 containers can be stacked on top of each other. They are designed only for laying horizontally. 

Objectives

Quality of Living: How can we deliver a better quality of living in such constrained structural and spatial limitations.

Spaces: How well indoors and outdoors are managed with access equitably distributed to this rental student housing. 

Container Utility: With limitations, there are some strengths to using containers, how well the design utilizes these strengths.

Replicability: How well the design (interiors and exteriors) can be replicated across different conditions and places? 

Site

The site is kept modular and unrestrained for this challenge. With their submission participants will require to submit their footprint area of the space they are required based on their design. This will compare space efficiency with the quality of living. There can be secondary structural elements added to the design for resilience.

How to submit?

Read all the competition rules and details from the sidebar, and hit register. You can pay the entry fee and book your registration right away. The additional resources directly unlock as soon as you register on your dashboard. Once you are ready with your project - begin uploading from the dashboard and follow this tutorial to submit. You can add your team members to your project while submitting it. 

Rules

You have to deliver an architectural outcome on the following site, based on the given outlines. 

• Recommended number of sheets/presentation images/boards: 3 (Three) of size [ 2800px x 3500px ] in portrait digital format (JPEG only).

Minimum 3 (Three) & No maximum sheet limit. Each image should be less than 15MB. (Do not submit PNG format)

Minimum requisite submissions are sheets/boards + Cover image containing:

• Site plan (Compulsory)

• Key conceptual sections x 1 (Minimum)

• 3D views x 4

• Additional cover image of 2000px x 1000px

• Write an article/story in the Journal section# of the project (of about 700-1000 words) answering the questions given in the Additional Resources.

#Journal Section appears midway in the project submission portal. More instructions in the additional resources.

Resources

This competition contains additional resources that contain a set of files useful to complete the competition submission. This folder is made available on your profile dashboard automatically as soon as you register.

This additional resources folder of this competition contains: Submission Format files in PSD | AI | InDD, Sketchup Model of the Containers, and Guide to Journal Section + Questions.

Base rules

+ The competitions are open for students and professionals from all the disciplines of design.

+ The team limit for this competition is 4 members maximum per team.

+ You can register more than one team but they have to be registered separately. 

+ Ensure that the final sheets submitted do not include your name or any other mark of identification. 

+ Your submission is linked to your UNI user account which stands as your identification.

+ This is design ideas challenge only. There is no built commission/realization associated with the problem.

+ In case of publication in yearbook we will reach out separately for selected entries.

Pro tips

+ Use exploded views to discuss multi-leveled conceptual models better.

+ Mention sheet number on the corner of every sheet.

+ Plagiarism of any idea/form/design/image will be disqualified with a notice.

+ All the sheets or images will be viewed on a digital device. e.g. Laptop screen or projector. Uploaded sheets or images will not be physically printed for evaluation. The submission hence should be prepared for digital viewing only.

+ Submit JPEG images only. (PNG will not function)

Judging Criteria & Judges

The entries will be judged by an international jury of the competition on the following criteria:

Presentation: The fundamental to a good entry is a visual delivery of ideas.

Concept/Idea: Quality of thought and intent in the pre-design phase.

Spaces/Programme: How the spaces are calculated and ordered. 

Design Outcome The final architectural outcome of the solution.

The judging panel can also add other criteria based on their internal discussions - which will be in line with the problem statement. Participants are advised to fulfill the above-given criteria first in their design. Names of the jury panel will be announced soon.

Yearbook

Winners of this competition will get annually published with us in our e-yearbook and annual publications. 

Timeline

Registration Closes: 29 Mar 2021

Submission Deadline: 30 Mar 2021

Result Announcement: 27 May 2021

Prizes

Prize pool of worth 18,000$

First Prize: 5000$ (For students and professionals)

Runner Up: 6 x 1000$ (For students and professionals)

People’s Choice: 4 x 400$ (Open for all)

Honorable Mention : 12 x 450$ Each

Download competition brief here and learn more about the competition on this page. 

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