Bee Breeders Architecture Competitions has announced the London Affordable Housing Challenge architecture competition to design a pilot-phase concept for affordable housing within Britain’s capital city. The Bee Breeders Affordable Housing Challenge series turns its attention to London, tasking participants with devising creative solutions to the complicated crisis in Britain’s capital.

"The city’s property prices have increased at an exponential rate with no signs of stopping, making the act of buying a home a pipedream for all but the incredibly wealthy. As the latest in a series of architecture competitions inviting architecture enthusiasts from around the world to create solutions to the affordable housing crisis, Bee Breeders are searching for innovative and adaptable designs that could be incorporated into London’s iconic skyline," stated the organisers.

London is home to some of the most expensive properties in the world, making access to affordable housing almost impossible to all but the very rich. According to a report by UBS Wealth Management, London homes are the second most over-priced in the world, and closely behind Vancouver in its “bubble risk rating”. London house prices increased by 25% from 2014-2016, mainly due to foreign investment and low interest rates, making it the second-least affordable housing bubble in the world after Hong Kong.

For the London Affordable Housing Challenge, participants are asked to design a pilot-phase concept for affordable housing within Britain’s capital city. In order to be successful, designs need to be easily rolled out to increase the capacity of housing stock, while at the same time with minimal use of land and resources.

Successful designs will be flexible enough to be adapted to any location across the city, and accommodate different inhabitant capacity requirements. No minimum size or amount of residential units per block is defined. As there is no one specified location for this challenge, participants are free to create designs in a London location of their choice, as long as it fits in with the brief of supplying affordable housing to residents.

This architecture competition requires for both prudent planning and out of the box thinking. Winning participants will need to apply unique strategies as well as creative designs to tackle the housing crisis, while at the same time remaining in keeping with the city’s situation and heritage.

Competition Programme

Design a pilot-phase concept for affordable housing within London, which can be easily rolled out to increase capacity of housing stock, and is minimal in its use of land and materials.

No minimum size or amount of residential units per block is defined. The proposals should be flexible enough to adopt to different sizes for various inhabitant capacity requirements.

Designs for the London Affordable Housing Challenge should be able to adapt to various locations across the city. The designs should also be adaptable, allowing adjustments to be made in order to suit different residential capacity requirements.

Eligibility

Competition is open to all. No professional qualification is required. Design proposals can be developed individually or by teams (4 team members maximum).

Language

- Correspondence with organizers must be conducted in English.
- All information submitted by participants must be in English.

Prizes

1st prize: US $3,000 / Publications Certificate of Achievement

2nd prize: US $1,500 / Publications Certificate of Achievement

3rd prize: US $500 / Publications Certificate of Achievement

BB Student Award: US $500 (more details here) / Publications Certificate of Achievement

BB Green Award: US $500: US $500 (more details here) / Publications Certificate of Achievement

The competition will select 6 Honorable Mentions

Publications: The winners will get international art and design media coverage and will be featured on the Bee Breeders website and social pages. 

Certificate: Bee Breeders will also acknowledge the outstanding performance of all winners and honourable mentions with Certificates of Achievement.

Jury panel is composed of Audrey McKee from Renzo Piano Building Workshop in France, Carlos M Guimarães – depA, correspondent of A10 magazine in Portugal, Daniel Jacobs from SHoP Architects, New York City, USA, Gemawang Swaribathoro from OMA, Hong Kong, John Paul Rysavy from SHoP Architects, New York City, USA; And-Either-Or Austin, Texas and Brooklyn, New York, USA. See the competition's full jury panel here.

Key dates for the competition

Closing date for registration: 09 October, 2018

Closing date for project submission: 05 November, 2018 (11.59pm GMT)

Announcement of the winners: 28 November, 2018

Competition brief, photographs and 2D - 3D images of the site can be downloaded from the competition website. Contact Bee Breeders to receive special student rates for group registrations (discount applies for 3+ registrations from one university/school) and to receive further information and support for getting your students involved in architecture competitions. 

World Architecture Community is media partner for Bee Breeders Architecture Competitions. 

All images courtesy of Bee Breeders 

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