VANCOUVER AFFORDABLE HOUSING CHALLENGE

Vancouver is located on the west coast of Canada and is the most populated city in British Columbia. It regularly appears on lists of the best cities in the world for liveability and quality of life, and was the first city ranked in the top ten for ten consecutive years according to the Economist Intelligence Unit. However, this has also made Vancouver one of the most expensive cities in the world, often appearing along the likes of London, Hong Kong, and San Francisco as one of the least-affordable cities on Earth.

COMPETITION ORGANISERS

The Vancouver Affordable Housing Challenge is tasking participants with designing a solution to the city’s current housing crisis. They are encouraged to consider designs that are both flexible and capable of accommodating different unit sizes including families, single professionals and couples.

There is no set competition site, size or height requirements, and so participants are encouraged to be as creative as possible in the solutions they design. The jury will be looking for projects that challenge typical ideas of housing, design, and the community at large, while at the same time maintaining a practical element that could potentially see these designs realized.

Vancouver is located on the west coast of Canada and is the most populated city in British Columbia. It regularly appears on lists of the best cities in the world for livability and quality of life, and was the first city ranked in the top ten for ten consecutive years according to the Economist Intelligence Unit. However, this has also made Vancouver one of the most expensive cities in the world, often appearing along the likes of London, Hong Kong and San Francisco as one of the least-affordable cities on Earth.

The recent impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is only set to make things worse, as the Bank of Canada recently cut interest rates dramatically, encouraging Canadians to stop saving and start buying. This has further pushed up house prices even further as demand far outpaces supply.

Vancouver struggles with incredibly strict zoning laws that make almost every type of housing illegal in most city neighbourhoods, other than single-family detached homes. No apartments or townhomes alongside escalating fees, red tape delays and planning approval processes that undervalue the underhoused and resulted in a depleted housing stock that cannot match buyer and renter demand.

Awards

3 winning proposals, 2 special award recipients and 6 honourable mentions will be selected. Bee Breeders will award a total of 6,000 € in prize money to competition winners as follows:

• 1st Prize – 3,000 €
• 2nd Prize – 1,500 €
• 3rd Prize – 500 €

+ 6 honourable mentions

ARCHHIVE Student Award – 500 € + 50 € gift card at ARCHHIVE BOOKS
AAPPAREL Sustainability Award – 500 € + 50 € AAPPAREL.com Gift Card

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.

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
Bee Breeders is committed to selecting the most qualified industry professionals to comprise its jury panels. Jury panels consist of architects, in addition to professionals from other professional backgrounds that are relevant to the competition topic, to guarantee the most objective competition results.

You may find the invited jury list from previous competitions here – https://architecturecompetitions.com/guest-jury

Key dates
Closing date for registration
03 MAY, 2022

Closing date for project submission
14 JUNE, 2022 (11:59pm GMT+0)

Announcement of the winners
19 JULY, 2022

Competition Q&A deadline: 10 May, 2022

IN ORDER TO GUARANTEE EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES TO ALL COMPETITION PARTICIPANTS,

NO NEW QUESTIONS WILL BE ANSWERED AFTER THIS DEADLINE!

相關連結：

• VANCOUVER AFFORDABLE HOUSING CHALLENGE 溫哥華可負擔居住挑戰
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