Prefab 20/20
Prefab 20/20 2009: John Benjamin Photography
PREFAB 20/20 - Visions for 400-square-foot homes
An International Open Ideas Competition, Presented by Azure Magazine
Dating as far back as the 17th Century and widely popular in the early 1900s, cost-effective prefabricated housing is not at all a new concept. The increasing demand in today’s market for modern/contemporary design and sustainable housing options has renewed the appeal and desire for a new generation of prefab solutions. Prefab 20/20 challenges you to bring forth exciting and attractive housing alternatives: your solution will amplify the advantages of its production, assembly, and logistics, without loosing sight of its social implications. Your solution will showcase quality urban living space on a compact scale, and eliminate the social stigma of utilitarian prefabricated home of the past.
We believe quality and good design are pragmatic steps towards a sustainable future. Compact living space requires a level of discipline and environmental sensibility that ought to be endorsed. Small space living means living smart!
Winner:
Ecomobi: modular housing system
mobius architects (przemek olczyk, wojtek gawinowski, wojtek sumlet)
krakow, poland
2nd:
PODS
Blackwell Architecture (Shawn Blackwell, Kate Fretz )
Vancouver, Canada
3rd:
thick-skinned regionalism
daniel preusse, bo yoon, matthew fajkus
london, UK
Click here for the Designboom article
CONCEPTUAL BACKGROUND
Bespoke, site-specific architectural design has been highly valued throughout history; it dominates the popular notion of domestic architecture. While one might argue that the meaning of “prefab housing” falls short in this context, prefab housing does offer an entire different set of ambitions: sustainability through efficiency, economy, and quality through volume, to name a few. This concept is increasingly relevant to our imploding cities of today and tomorrow.
With Prefab 20/20, we take the position that compact living space, combined with the advantages of pre-fabrication techniques, is a strategy designers can employ in response to the ever-growing population that makes up the urban fabric around the world. Through Prefab 20/20, you will help break common perceptions of density and social stigma created by prefab solution that came before.
Moreover, prefab structures can be viewed from a social perspective as a communicative platform that breaks down boundaries and allow communities, city officials and designers around the world to share new ideas about sustainable densification. After all, urban density is a supranational phenomenon.
YOUR CHALLENGE
Your challenge is to propose a free-standing, prefab dwelling unit for a footprint no more than 400sf (37.5sm) in an urban setting anywhere in the world. Fit for two adults, its basic program shall include sleeping, bathing, cooking, living, working/studying, and storage areas. Entrants are free to deviate from the basic program but justification must be included.
See also Design Considerations.
WINNING ENTRY
The winning entrant, selected by our jury, will receive a $1,000Cdn award. The first two runners-up will each receive a $250Cdn award.
PRELIMINARY JUDGING CRITERIA (100 POINTS TOTAL)
Overall Concept / Program / Design 40
Prefab Concept / Creativity / Adaptability 25
Sitting / Social Dimension 25
Climatic & Ecological Concern 10
JURY
Oliver Lang, MAIBC
Lang Wilson Practice in Architecture Culture
Oliver Lang, a registered architect in Germany, America and Canada, is co-founder of Lang Wilson Practice in Architecture Culture (LWPAC) with Cynthia Wilson. LWPAC has designed and built projects in Canada, China, Chile, USA and Spain, and has won several awards such as the Lieutenant Governor’s Medal of Excellence, the AIBC Innovation Award, the 2008 Governor General’s Medal in Architecture and the ACSA Faculty Design Award. Lang holds a Diploma Ingenieur in Architecture from Techische Universitatet Berlin and a Master of Science in Advanced Architectural Design from Columbia University. He has taught at Columbia, Princeton, UPenn, SCI ARC and UBC.
George Wagner
School of Architecture of Landscape Architecture, University of British Columbia
George Wagner has done extensive research on urban forms and their ideological implications, contemporary Japanese architecture and the relation between architecture and modernity. His writings have been published in journals such as Perspecta, Bauwelt, AA Files, Canadian Architect and Harvard Design Magazine. He is also the editor of several books including Tokyo from Vancouver, Thom Mayne: The Sixth Street, Stanley Saitowitz: A House in the Transvaal and Barkow Leibinger Architects: Werkbericht 1993 – 2001 Work-Report. Prior to teaching the professional Master of Architecture at UBC, Wagner taught at Rhode Island School of Design, Harvard University Graduate School of Design, Yale University, Cornell University and Rice University.
Maged Senbel
School of Community and Regional Planning, University of British Columbia
Inspired by the ongoing quest for environmental and social justice Maged Senbel’s research traverses the space between architecture and planning, between design and public decision-making. Specifically, his research focuses on participatory processes that contribute to producing better sustainable designs. Prior to teaching Urban Design at UBC, Senbel taught at the University of Utah where he launched and directed the Westside Studio, an interdisciplinary teaching and research centre in Salt Lake City’s lowest income and highest diversity neighbourhoods. The project brought together students from architecture, urban planning and business. He was named Professor of the year for the College of Architecture and Planning at University Utah. He is also an associate at Studio Senbel Architecture + Design, Inc.
Michael Geller, MAIBC, MPIBC, FCIP
The Geller Group
Michael Geller Michael Geller is a Vancouver based architect, planner, real estate consultant and property developer with four decades of experience in the public, private and institutional sectors. He is president of The Geller Group, which comprises Michael Geller & Associates Limited (MGAL), Laneway Cottages Inc. and Geller Properties Inc. His firm has been active in urban planning and real estate consulting, overseeing significant developments in the South Shore of False Creek and Bayshore areas. Most recently his firm has been involved in developing laneway housing around the Vancouver region. Geller is also a frequent contributor to the Vancouver Sun on issues of architecture and urbanism. From 1999-2006 he served as president and CEO of the SFU Community Trust, where he was responsible for SFU's “UniverCity”, the sustainable community development project adjacent to the Burnaby Mountain campus. Currently, he also serves as an Adjunct Professor at SFU’s Centre for Sustainable Community Development.
Kristina Lee Podesva
Artist
Kristina Lee Podesva is an artist, writer, and curator based in Vancouver, Canada. Her research interests concern the production of space and subjectivity in urban settings. She is the founder of colourschool, a free school within a school (UBC where Podesva completed her MFA) dedicated to the speculative and collaborative study of five colours (white, black, red, yellow, and brown) and cofounder of Cornershop Projects, an open framework for engaging with economic exchange. In between things, she is assistant editor at the Fillip Review, a Vancouver-based critical theory and art magazine. She is, most recently, the inaugural Artist in Residence Program at Langara College Centre for Art in Public Spaces.
Duane Elverum
Emily Carr University
Duane Elverum is assistant professor and academic advisor at Emily Carr University where he teaches in design and sustainability. This past term he co-taught with Janet Moore in SFU’s Undergraduate Semester in Dialogue on the theme of Designing the Future. His research centers on sustainability learning in higher education, aiming to understand how design can proceed in ways that matter to the atmosphere. He asks, how can the environment be better because of our work? Duane is currently responsible for emitting .3 tons of CO2 per year into the atmosphere, and has crossed the Pacific Ocean in a sailboat five times. He received a degree with honors in architecture from the University of British Columbia for his thesis on alternative urban housing.
ORGANIZING COMMITTEE:
Linus Lam, Director, Architecture For Humanity Vancouver
Patrick F. Chan, Educator, Architecture For Humanity Vancouver
Jason Heard, Show Director, IDSwest
PROJECT SHOWCASE
At the Interior Design Show West, we are constantly striving to introduce new architectural concepts through event features - from the Concept Condo (a 300 sqft ‘living display’ at the inaugural show) and The Pod (complete fold-together structure in Year Two) to the Smallworks Studio/Laneway home showcased at the 2007 show. We are again looking to push the boundaries of architecture on the West Coast through a competition based on concepts for pre-built structures.
IDSwest, the Architectural Institute of British Columbia, Azure magazine and Architecture For Humanity Vancouver will present PREFAB 20/20 – Visions for 400-square-foot homes, An Open Ideas Competition at IDSwest 2009. A 20ft x 20ft floor space will be dedicated to highlighting select entries for this exciting competition. Selection, made by show management, will be based on compatibility with the show. The display will be hosted at IDSwest from September 17 to 20, 2009.
SPONSORING ORGANIZATIONS
Interior Design Show West
IDSwest is Western Canada’s annual design show and event, attended by design professionals, an affluent consumer audience and media. Participation is open to manufacturers, distributors and importers, retailers, designers and others interested in marketing, selling and promoting Canadian and International products and services for residential design.
www.idswest.com
AZURE Magazine
AZURE’s international scope covers the best innovations in architecture and design, from the latest green designs to cutting-edge technology and building materials. Published eight times a year, AZURE is an indispensable resource for architects, designers and the design-savvy public.
www.azuremagazine.com
Architecture For Humanity Vancouver
AFH Vancouver is a registered not-for-profit society promoting architectural and design solutions to local, social and environmental issues. Through design/build projects, competitions, workshops, educational forums, partnerships with related organizations and municipalities, it strives to create opportunities for Vancouver architects, designers, and artists to improve quality of living through design, and to help communities in need. We believe innovative, sustainable and collaborative design can make a difference. Reflecting the multi-disciplinary nature of the practice, our volunteers are consisted of Architects, Planners, Interior Designers, Engineers, Artists, Industrial designers, Graphic designers, Educators, Community Activists, and Students.
www.afh-vancouver.org
Architectural Institute of British Columbia
The Architectural Institute of British Columbia (AIBC) is a self-governing body dedicated to excellence in the profession of architecture for the benefit of society, the environment and its membership The AIBC is responsible for registering and regulating architects throughout British Columbia. Through its many professional programs, partnerships and community initiatives, the organization also strives to be an ambassador on behalf of the profession and its practitioners in B.C.
Through the AIBC, architects are licensed to assure the public that individuals calling themselves architects have the necessary qualifications. The AIBC is also mandated to promote and increase the knowledge, skill, and proficiency of its members in all things related to the profession, and to advance and maintain a high standard for the practice of architecture.
www.aibc.ca
QUESTIONS can be directed to prefab@afh-vancouver.org
