2022 Healthy Homes Design Competition
Design competition for young professionals and students specialized in built environment
win a prize of 5000 EUR
THE CHALLENGE
Urban population in our major cities is rapidly growing, increasing the demand for dwellings and thus, the prices. This will likely lead to the “urbanization” of the suburbs, where many people will be willing to move to get affordable housing, areas with suboptimal outdoor air quality. Apart from that there is a need of designing new houses and redesigning existing ones in a new way to meet the demand of different type of users, to comply with the necessity for comfortable, sustainable and resilient buildings and not least, to provide the users with quality of life and enhanced wellbeing.
Reducing the environmental impact buildings have on our planet is a well-recognized issue among both practitioners and researchers. It has a large influence on the way buildings are designed today and will certainly continue to inform future developments in efforts to mitigate climate change. An equally important issue lies in understanding how buildings affect people’s health and wellbeing.
With this design ideas competition we want to stimulate the minds of young and future building designers and engineers to identify innovative solutions that help create good indoor air quality, adequate thermal comfort and stimulating light and acoustic environments in dwellings also taking into account energy efficiency and e.g. climate resilience.
PROCESS
ABOUT THE COMPETITION
The REHVA“Healthy Homes Design Competition 2022” encourages and challenges students and young professionals working within the field of building and buildings service systems, operation and construction to explore the theme of healthy living – and to create a deeper understanding of indoor environmental qualities as well as exploring the impact of future climate changes.
The award celebrates and promotes excellence in projects with focus on people’s health and indoor climate solutions in their living environments and at the same time balancing energy use.
The award encourages projects that celebrate the privilege of being a student or young professional; with curiosity and with the willingness to think “out of the box” in the approach to the indoor environmental dimension of future living.
THE PROJECT
Imagine you have a plot in a Rotterdam, on the edge of the city, close to an industrial area; but still you and your team mates are determined to create an above average healthy & comfortable apartment complex for 20 households, that tunes in with present day challenges. What would you build on that plot? How would you shape a new way of living at this suboptimal location? How will you make the best out of it? And how would you make this dwelling complex healthy and comfortable but also energy efficient and climate resilient?
As a healthy home, the focus of the project is on the indoor environment – the health and well-being of the occupants. The indoor air quality as well as thermal, acoustical and visual comfort play an important role in the design. The project should present the solutions applied to achieve the best level of comfort, in terms of indoor climate and daylight. A specific focus should be set on the contemporary and future challenges faced by both designers and end users e.g., related to climate change. Also, the design should tune in with the specifics of the (virtual) building site.
The healthy home of the future is expected to be also sustainable and resilient to climate change. Sustainability can be seen in many different aspects, mainly related to the environment, the economy and the society. The project should use the most appropriate level of technologies according to the building use, considering hybrid ventilation, active and passive solutions where possible and have a clear sustainable direction in its energy consumption while maintaining high indoor climate quality. The buildings and systems should also be ready to adapt or resist to the climate challenges of tomorrow.
LOCATION
Coordinates of the competition site: 51.894450 N, 4.385560 E
Impression of the site:
Location description: North Western edge of the Madroelpark in Pernis-Rotterdam
The project is planned for an area that is on the edge of the Rotterdam metropole in a semi-industrial, informal area that allows for new construction to happen without large impact on existing ecosystems. Pernis is up and coming as more and more people discover that this is a location with an atmosphere of its own, still not too far from downtown Rotterdam (20 minutes by metro or waterbus) with housing and land prices that are 30-50% lower than elsewhere in the region.
The area is now in use as soccer field. The soccer club that at present uses the field is planned to be relocated elsewhere. The Northern part of the upper soccer field and surroundings is the location for our competition.
A drawback of the location is the fact that the area as a whole (and our building site) is surrounded by highways, busy waterways and industry (incl. petrochemical industry). This implies that outdoor air, external noise and light pollution are issues that should be taken into account when planning and designing new buildings.
The location is outside the present winter dyke; this dyke will stay as it is. The implies that the design should anticipate on periodical flooding of the plot (assume a maximum flooding height of 1 meter above the level of the present soccer field).
For more information about the site and the surrounding area’s:
For the competition a residential complex of at least 20 apartments has to be designed. The maximum height (this includes items attached to the roof) that is allowed is 18 meters above the present level of the field. Aim for one structure (volume) that at its highest point has a total of 5 floors including the ground floor.
The apartments should be diverse in character and size, allowing for households sized 1 to 6 people across all age groups, some also with included studios/workspaces (anticipating on people working from home). Gross floor area of the apartments should vary from around 60 m2 to around 200 m2.
At least 10% of the net floor surface of the building should be projected for communal use by all households. Specific functions that are communal: to be suggested by the design team.
The rest of the area (the other half of the soccer field and other plots now used by the soccer club that layout outside the red indicated area of photo 2) is planned to be used (later in time) for new terraced houses with a maximum height of 9 meters (not part of our competition).
A maximum of 33% of the site of 64 x 45 meters (see photo 2) can be used for the footprint of the apartment complex. At least 33% of the site should be designed for general, public use of the outdoor space; the rest of the plot can have any use; this part of the plot ideally should be designated for use that stimulates healthy, sustainable and climate resilient living.
Car parking is allowed on the plot but for not more than 10 (partly communal) cars in total. But the whole site should be designed to be (first and for all) pedestrian and push-bikers friendly. Assume car access from the East side of the plot.
CATEGORIES
There are two prize categories: one for teams that consists of students only and one for teams that consist of young professionals.
In each prize category there will be appointed three nominees by the jury of the design competition. These 6 teams will be invited to come to the CLIMA 2022 conference in Rotterdam, the Netherlands (accommodation paid for two members of the team; with free access to the conference). After a presentation of the six projects during the conference, one winner for each category will be appointed by the jury. The two winners will be announced and celebrated during the closing event of the CLIMA conference.
WHO CAN PARTICIPATE
STUDENTS
The award is open to any registered student of architecture or engineering – as individual or (better) as team representative. At least one of the team members must be attending a university in a REHVA member country. All team members must be students at least during the year 2021 and/or 2022. We encourage the participation of multi-disciplinary teams, that consists of students of different backgrounds (architecture, building physics, HVAC technology, etc.)
YOUNG PROFESSIONALS
The award is open for young professionals with a maximum until the age of 35 years (included) – as individual or (better) as team. At least one of the team members must have their address in a REHVA-member country during the design competition period. We encourage the participation of multi-disciplinary and -competence teams including e.g. architects, HVAC specialists, building physics consultants and IEQ specialists, building product manufacturers, contractors and energy or/ outdoor environment specialists.
We encourage the participation of multi-disciplinary and -competence teams including e.g. architects, HVAC specialists, building physics consultants, building product manufacturers and energy / outdoor environment specialist.
CRITERIA
The jury will evaluate the projects in accordance with the following criteria:
- How the project is researched and documented
- How the project addresses contemporary and future challenges in general
- How the project addresses challenges specific to the proposed building site
- How the project convinces in terms of enhancement of the health and comfort of future occupants
- How the project convinces in terms of estimated energy efficiency and climate resilience
- The overall level of experimentation, creativity and innovation
- The overall graphic presentation of the project, how the project presents itself
- Affordability and replicability, how accessible is the solution compared to available technology and products
- For the nominated projects the oral presentation is also included in the criteria.
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REGISTRATIONS OPEN
After the registrations, the teams will receive detailed information on the project submissions.
The jury evaluation is performed online, thus the projects can only be submitted digitally and only by the person who has registered (the team contact person).
All documents and presentations must be inEnglishand will be disseminated by REHVAand delivered to the jury members before the design competition.
The deliverables will include a poster (landscape orientation), which will be presented on the website.
If your project is among the nominees, the team will also need to prepare an oral presentation of the project and3-5 minutes video presentationfor online communication.
Submissions of projects will open on October 1st, 2021 and will close on March 1st, 2022.
Registrations will cose 2 weeks prior to the closing of submissions.
FURTHER DETAILS REGARDING THE SUBMISSION MATERIAL WILL BE SHARED PRIOR TO THE SUBMISSION ONPENING.
BEFORE REGISTERING PLEASE NOTE THAT:
Students
- must be enrolled in University at least during the year 2021 and/or 2022
- at least one team member must be attending a University in a REHVA member country
Young Professionals
- must be maximum 35 years old (max. turning 36 in 2021)
- at least one of the team members must have their address in a REHVA member countryduring the design competition period
JURY
Stefano Cognati (jury chair)Associate professor at Politecnico di Torino, Italy
Karel KabeleVice Dean for Development and External Relations, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Czech Technical University in Prague, Czech Republic
Jelle LavergeAssociate Professor at Ghent University
Susan RoafProfessor at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh
Jakob Strømann-AndersenDirector of Innovation and Sustainability at Henning Larsen
PRIZES
All teams that participate will receive a certificate for their participation.
All the projects will be exhibited on the Healthy Homes Design Competition website.
In each prize category there will be appointed three nominees by the jury and the 6 nominee teams will earn a chance of getting published in the REHVA Journal.
All nominee teams will get 3 days accommodation during the conference and free access to the CLIMAconference (a maximum of two group members), where the two winners will be announced. Travel costs to and from Rotterdam are not covered.
The two winning teams will each receive € 5000.
REHVA is not liable for tax payments etc. in the participant’s local country.
HOW CAN WE HELP YOU?
What is the final possible date for registration?
Registrations will be open until January 15th 2022 (2 weeks prior the closing of the project submissions).
Is the winner project going to be actually built?
No, the Healthy Homes Design Competition is an ideas competition, therefore the project will not be actually used for the site.
Is there a participation fee?
No, there is no participation fee.
Is this competition strictly for Engineering and architectural students?
No, this competition is cross-sectorial and it addresses students and young professionals pecialized in built environment.
Therefore the only eligibility requirements are:
For students
- must be enrolled in University at least during the year 2021 and/or 2022
- at least one team member must be attending a University in a REHVA member country
and for young professionals
- must be maximum 35 years old (max. turning 36 in 2021)
- at least one of the team members must have their address in a REHVA member country during the design competition period
Are PhD students allowed to participate?
Yes, PhD students are allowed to participate in either of the categories.
