Bee Breeders has announced the Rome Collective Living Challenge competition, tasking participants with designing a concept for affordable housing in Rome that fits the ideals of a co-living lifestyle.

This competition is a chance for architecture enthusiasts to conceive an entirely new way of living, one that experiments with the concept of low-income housing as a collective.

Participants can select any appropriate theoretical site in Rome, keeping in mind that this is not a simple matter of rolling out hundreds of new tiny apartments in Rome’s already unaffordable city centre, but rather a chance to re-imagine a way to house its residents and build more communities within the hustle and bustle of Italy’s capital.

The Rome Collective Living Challenge is open now until April 19, 2019, with winners of the US $6,000 prize to be announced on July 4, 2019.

Competition info

Rome is one of the least affordable cities in the world due to a number of reasons. The lingering influence of corruption, mixed with a market flooded with so-called “micro-apartments” - tiny properties with just 10, 7 or even 4 square metres of floor space - has created quite the predicament for those looking to live in Rome on a budget.

As major cities are becoming less affordable, they are also becoming more lonely, with individuals feeling more isolated and separated from each other than ever. The concept of collective living has existed for hundreds of years, and is only just beginning to re-emerge in western societies. Communities are created through intentional architecture which creates shared spaces in which residents interact in numerous different ways, from sharing meals and socialising to sharing the burden of child care.

For the Rome Collective Living Challenge, participants are tasked with designing a concept for affordable housing in Rome that fits the ideals of a co-living lifestyle. This competition is a chance for architecture enthusiasts to conceive an entirely new way of living, one that experiments with the concept of low-income housing as a collective. Rather than rolling out hundreds of new tiny apartments in Rome’s city centre, collective living could offer something more than just an affordable place to live; a community to live in within the hustle and bustle of Italy’s capital.

Designs should be minimal in their requirements of land and materials so that they could potentially be rolled out across the city to increase housing stock capacity. No minimum size or amount of the residential units per block has been set, and proposals should be flexible enough to adapt to different locations, sizes, and inhabitant capacity requirements.

There are no pre-selected competition sites and so participants are free to choose any appropriate theoretical site in Rome. A key factor that participants must keep in mind for the Rome Collective Living Challenge is that this is not a simple housing solution - rather it is a new concept in community living, and would need to be developed following the co-living principles. 

Eligibility

Competition is open to all. No professional qualification is required. Design proposals can be developed individually or by teams (4 team members maximum). Correspondence with organizers must be conducted in English; All information submitted by participants must be in English. 

Prizes

Total prize fund: $6,000

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 (more details here) / Publications Certificate of Achievement

The competition will select 6 Honorable Mentions.

Publication: 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: 16 April, 2019

Closing date for project submission: 06 June, 2019 (11.59pm GMT)

Announcement of the winners: 04 July, 2019

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. 

All images courtesy of Bee Breeders 

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