Who loves houses? Everyone. Everyone loves at least the idea of living inside their very own abode. Thusly, since I think you know that everyone also loved competitions, it’s always a fun time to look at the results of a housing design competition. Here’s one! This one’s held yearly by D3 and is called “Housing Tomorrow.” We’ve got the top five concepts right here, all of them housing, all of them hot, all of them architecture-tastic.
Seriously get your love eyeballs out because this competition calls for architects, designers, engineers, and students to bust out their dogs and apply their brains to residential urbanism, architecture, interiors, and designed objects. Make it awesome.
Designers: Entrants into D3 Housing Tomorrow 2010
First Prize: Home Spun: Water Harvesting Prefab Urban Housing for the Great Lakes Region by Liminal Projects, USA This project employs concepts from the Small House Movement which attempts to minimize the ecological impact homes have on the Earth by making them really small. This particular set of houses is constructed of lightweight carbon fiber and is capable of harvesting, storing, and processing water from rain and snow. Also they look like giant barrels, a look which has grown on me VERY quickly.
Second Prize: Hongquiao Station: Living within the Shanghai Subway System by Rafael Luna, USA A very complex project that basically boils down to reacting to the fact that about 50% of the world’s population living in cities. Through the subway system connecting with food, shopping, and entertainment systems, a singular structural logic is created with a flexible infrastructure in mind. Wild, yes?
Third Prize: Smallness: Rescripting Collective Housing in Shenzhen by Qili Yang, China Similar to the second prize project, this “Smallness” project focuses on urban density, studying specifically Da-xin Village, a natural town center in Shenzhen, China. To develop the area without neglecting the existing urban context, this project adds 30 percent more livable area, expanding the floor ratio from 2.7 to 3.6 at the site.
Special Mention – High-Density Housing: Double Stuff by Richie Gelles & Viktor Ramos, USA More mega-housing, this time lifting it up on some transparent legs so as to not make it look as terrible as modern skyscrapers. Go go awesome architecture!
Special Mention – Medium Density Housing: Eco-Chrysalis for Newcastle-Upon-Tyne by Paul Jones, UK Very similar (in a transparent way) to the other “special mention” project, this is an upward-looking housing structure that’s a lot more gorgeous than our everyday block-square apartment buildings.
Check out the rest of the entries at http://www.d3space.org/.
