Summary

Our world is changing fast, while ambitions and challenges match in importance. In this context, design can play a huge role. How do we imagine the world to be? What range of possibilities have we not yet discovered? What’s non-architecture for a world in crisis? In 2020 we started the second phase of competitions to address the issues of tomorrow.

Brief

The competition calls for alternative housing models to disrupt the real estate market in a scenario of prolonged social distancing. We ask for creative approaches to architectural design, departing from a given users program and extension.

Social Distancing: Housing Block is part of a competition series, developed to imagine new dwelling models through a variety of creative architectural designs and feasible innovation. Considering the limits of the current housing market, what could be the domestic architecture of the future?

According to the United Nations, the world population is expected to grow by almost 25% in the coming thirty years. Such growth will most likely occur in urban areas, where the housing shortage is already becoming an urgent issues. Additionally, a large part of existing and future buildings will be destined for residential use, leaving a huge impact on the way people live, experience and affect cities. In this context housing models have been frozen into standardizes solutions that leave little or no room for innovation. Such solutions are often perpetrated as a conversation, missing a wide range of unexplored opportunities,

The COVID-19 outbreak showed how our way of living can quickly change, while dwellings suddenly became the main stage for this transformation. Imagining a society where social distancing is the new normality, how should housing models change? How can we introduce a valuable change in the established model, to disrupt the real estate market and benefit dwellers, the environment, and the city? Social Distancing: Housing Block aims to answer these questions.

Eligibility

The competition is open to all, from every age and background, working in groups or individually. Teams can be formed by a maximum number of 5 people. The registration fee is paid per team, regardless of how many members form it. Personal information of all team members can be uploaded during the submission procedure of the final drawing.

Prizes

• Winners (2 Prizes)
  • 1,000 euros worth in gift cards from one of the major online shops chosen by the winner.
  • Publication in the Non Architecture Competitions book and website.
  • Reviews in digital magazines and several architecture blogs.
• Honorable Mentions (6 Prizes)
  • Publication in Non Architecture Competitions book and website.
  • Reviews in digital magazines and several architecture blogs.
• Editorial Pick (Minimum 6 Prizes)
  • Publication in the Non Architecture Competitions book and website.
• Finalists (Up to 46 Prizes)
  • Publication in the Non Architecture Competitions Journal.
• Special Prize
  • The organization might establish additional special prizes and awards during the competition development and in the evaluation phase.